When Kevin Roberts joined troubled Saatchi & Saatchi Worldwide as CEO more than five years ago, he was greeted by serious problems on two flagship brands of the agency’s oldest client, Procter & Gamble. Before he had time to save Ivory soap, it had moved to Grey. The outlook for Tide detergent, and for the agency itself, for that matter, wasn’t much better. Roberts, a former P&G executive himself, was warned by top brass that the packaged-goods giant was about to pare down its agency roster and that Saatchi would be the first to go.

So Saatchi’s 20 percent jump in billings last year, including significant assignments added from bedrock clients P&G and General Mills, was more than an enviable new-business performance in an appalling industry environment.