Bravo’s Double Whammy … and more changes.

Changes at The Bravo Group continued last week with the resignation of Carlos Torres, Creative Director who headed Bravo’s direct response unit, and Christine Hahn, who was in charge of Bravo/San Francisco.

An official press release from the agency took care of announcing four internal promotions while carefully shunning from saying a word about the high level departure.

“It’s a spin approach to things,” commented an insider. “A pencil is being sharpened and a press release goes out announcing stellar productivity”.

Among the announced changes, Michael Parker becomes VP Director of Business Management; Tracey Decker becomes VP Director of Media Services reporting to Isabella Sanchez; Ana Franco has been appointed Group Account Director on Wyeth Laboratories and Astra Zeneca; and Mark Ruckman becomes Senior Planner in Chicago.

A lot of “Bravo Talk” happened during last week’s Calle Ocho festivities in Miami. An insider, who requested anonymity commented, “Right now there’s an attempt at damage control because of the stampede of people and the lack of large accounts coming in.”

The absorption of the Sears business into the Y&R Chicago leadership saw the relocation of two Bravo creatives who now report to the Y&R creative director. The move has affected morale.

RFP’s from Kraft and Citibank will not help matters either. Kraft, explained a source, is looking for consolidation of their business among their current roster of agencies.

New management at Miller Brewing Co. and the consolidation of their business at hot creative shop Crispin Porter & Bogusky may not bring good news for Bravo. The agency used to be part of Miller’s creative shoot-outs among competing shops, a practice that may soon be eliminated.

While the agency recently made an enormously optimistic announcement about the Pfizer business, clarity on this matter seems to defy most observers. Handled by Mendoza Dillon in the past, some see a direct conflict with whatever may be left of Wyeth account, whose media duties were removed from Bravo. As far as the Astra Zeneca assignment, it has come to Bravo via the merger with the now defunct Mendoza Dillon.

Interestingly, new ad and marketing agencies, formed or headed by Bravo former executives, sometimes second and third tier, seem to be sprouting across the industry landscape. Among them, Directo Hispano, which just last week grabbed the AARP account for the U.S. Hispanic Market and the territory of Puerto Rico. At Global Hue, Chris Campos, an ex Bravo account director, now runs the Hispanic division. The shop is nicknamed “Little Bravo”.

CMS/Partners, formed last year by Gloria Constanza and Fernando Fernandez, is another good example of a Bravo seed spreading as it has happened with top honcho Ingrid Otero-Smart, who used to head Bravo’s Mendoza Dillon and now presides Anita’s Santiago’s shop in the West Coast.

“No spin can cover up the truth,” said the insider. “People from before have left and now the new ones, who came in with smiling faces, are also skeptical as to where all is going.”

The consensus among many, who lamented the end of the Bravo party that had become a tradition at Calle Ocho festivities, was that something big had to happen soon at the once largest Hispanic agency.

With the abrupt management changes, no big accounts at the door and the threat of more business leaving, no doubt the challenges for Gary Bassell, Chairman and CEO of The Bravo Group continue growing.