Hasta La Creative!

LONDON – InBev is axing its Bock brand from the Artois family and replacing it with a new beer in the on and off trade.

South Carolina gets most of its visitors in the summer months. The South Carolina tourism office with the help of Greenville shop, The Bounce Agency wants to change that with a new campaign that specifically targets Chicagoans.

The Palmetto State’s “Time to Thaw” messaging doesn’t do much for David Gianatasio at Adfreak though.

The effort includes: 360-degree elevator wraps “that literally put passengers inside South Carolina locations”; phone kiosks in which the handsets have been refitted with conch shells; and a wall of hand dryers in the Grant Park North lobby that read, “Press button for warm South Carolina breezes.” There’s actually more, but why go on? It’s already too awful for words.

LONDON – Freedman International, the marketing efficiencies specialist, has appointed David Wethey, chairman of Agency Assessments International, as non-executive chairman.

LONDON – TVCatchup, the recently-launched website that acts as an online video recorder, has been shut down by its web host.

Fast Company just published its list of the world’s 50 most innovative companies. (It’s not online yet.) The top three won’t surprise anyone—Google, Apple and Facebook. Naturally, I went looking for the brightest lights of agencydom. After all, the magazine’s criteria should be a readymade fit for agencies: “companies that dazzle with new ideas—and prove beyond a doubt how business is a force for change.” Fast Company musters a little love for the agency world. Anomaly checks in at No. 24, even though it goes to great pains in its blurb to say it’s not just an ad agency. (The magazine rightly praises Anomaly’s work for Virgin Atlantic, leaving out the inconvenient fact that it lost the account.) It’s not until No. 48 that another agency pops up: AKQA, lauded by Fast Company for combining creative ideas with the tech firepower to bring them to life. You won’t find the shops that usually win the laurels—no TBWA, no Goodby, no Droga5, and—wait for it—no Crispin Porter. Fast Company even passes over its favorite wall-breaking agency.

—Posted by Brian Morrissey

(TrendHunter.com) As older people are prone to forgetting their medicine and keeping track of what they should and should not eat, Marcela Kawka and Izabela Cichecka have created the “Health Guard” concept for NOKIA. The Health Guard targets the upcoming generation of senior citizen baby boomers who are tech savv…

LONDON – Bill Muirhead, the agent general for South Australia, has approached comedian Sacha Baron Cohen asking him to reprise his role as Ali G for a TV and cinema campaign encouraging young professionals to move to Adelaide.

In this first commercial for Verizon’s FiOS TV and Internet campaign, Jerry Bruckheimer’s boy, Michael Bay, is seen hyping his own over-the-top obsession to blow things up.

LONDON – Ink Publishing has won the contract to publish a new in-flight magazine for Kuwait and Dubai-based airline Jazeera Airways.

LONDON – Digital marketing agency Steak Media has appointed Chrysi Philalithes as launch managing director for its new Steak New York unit.