Hasta La Creative!

Just days after announcing his resignation from Saatchi & Saatchi New York, Con Williamson has landed a new gig at Erwin Penland, where he takes on the role of chief creative officer and work with clients including Denny’s, an account the agency took over a few months ago. Initial word last week was that Williamson would be starting a new shop, but that is not to be obviously. The 15-year creative says in a statement regarding his move, “I immediately connected with [Erwin Penland president] Joe [Erwin[]when we met over a year ago and instantly related to Erwin Penland’s sense of purpose, its entrepreneurial drive and more than anything the team’s conviction. They aren’t just talking about ‘changing the game’ or ‘being digital,’ the agency is already doing these things. We want to shake things up together and I’m glad to have the opportunity to do it with amazing people from the leadership team down.”

Along with the hiring of Williamson, who also spent time at the likes of what was Euro RSCG as well as Fallon/Duffy and JWT during his 15-year creative career, Erwin Penland has also appointed fellow Saatchi NY alums John Cornette as SVP/ECD and John Dunleavy as managing director for the agency’s New York office;/director of account management for the entire agency.

(pictured l-r, Cornette, Erwin, Williamson and Dunleavy)

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Old Spice’s Isaiah Mustafa is back, but this time with a project aimed at the U.K. market. Now he’s on a hunt not just for manliness but gentlemanliness, as epitomized by the traditional British gent. Mustafa will travel through the City of London for the Old Spice Gentleman City Tour, where he will be inviting journalists, bloggers and fans onto his carriage for photos of man-iconic landmarks, which apparently include St. Paul’s Cathedral. Meanwhile, Old Spice will release a number of its trademark social-media videos, where Mustafa will share his views on the quirky regional differences in gentlemanly behavior across Britain’s biggest regions and cities. All the content posted on the Old Spice U.K. Facebook page and on Instagram during December is hashtagged #GentleManHunt.

Old Spice has also conducted its own research, with a sample of over 2,000 U.K. adults, into views of masculinity (for example, the brand found that less than two out of 10 men thought a modern man should wear speedos or a sarong).

The work is by Leo Burnett, the P&G roster agency for Old Spice in the U.K.

Continue reading at AdAge.com

Martin Sorrell said on Monday that caution remained the watchword for marketer clients of agencies owned by WPP and others.

ESPN has a new in-house effort promoting their NBA Christmas lineup, and Calvin Broadus has yet another name. Santa Snoop narrates the effort, which riffs off the classic poem “A Visit from St. Nicholas” (better known by its first line, “‘Twas the Night Before Christmas”).

The NBA Christmas spot is about as straightforward as it gets, supplementing Snoop’s narration with highlights of the teams featured in the Christmas day matchups. It all works, thanks mostly to Santa Snoop’s immediately recognizable voice. Who doesn’t love to hear this this guy? He could narrate a shopping list and make it sound intriguing. Beyond that, I really like the idea of Santa Snoop. He’s probably skinny enough to actually fit down a chimney, and I imagine he brings the kind of treats Santa normally wouldn’t feel comfortable trafficking in. So keep an eye out for Santa Snoop this Christmas morning and if you’re a hoops fan, tune in to the NBA on ESPN and ABC. The opening game between the Brooklyn Nets and the Chicago Bulls tips off at noon, followed by a doubleheader on ABC (Knicks/Thunder, then Heat/Lakers), and capped off with a prime-time doubleheader on ESPN, with the San Antonio Spurs hosting the Houston Rockets at 8 p.m., followed by the Golden State Warriors hosting the Los Angeles Clippers at 10:30 p.m. Credits after the jump. continued…

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This Social Media Pocket Guide (one of the best we’ve ever seen!) from Spredfast, part of the Adrants whitepaper series, outlines six objectives every brand should have at the core of its social strategy.

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• Real-world social media campaign examples
• The best measurement methods for determining social media ROI

Download the Pocket Guide Now to ensure you are doing all you can to fully implement social for your brand.

Last week, we took a look at what’s hot and what’s not in terms of design trends for 2014. Today, we’re going to take a look at the top visual design trends for 2014. Just like last week’s Hot or Not Design Trends piece, iStock queried creatives from around the world so see where design is headed for 2014.

There are 13 visual design trends to look for next year. They have been compiled on an interactive infographic here and we’ve also listed them below:

1. Diverse Women. Bring on real women of all shapes, races and ages that don’t fit a cookie-cutter mold.
2. Hands-On Dads. Take away the briefcase and we see a real-life dad who gets dirty with his kids.
3. Beards. That old itchy stubble will grow into beards of wisdom and masculinity.
4. Lens Flare. Lens flare is no longer seen as a technical mistake but a way to achieve authenticity.
5. Man as Machine. For better or worse, technology has turned us into data-driven human robots.
6. Cameras We Wear. Technology, of all things, will help us capture and share real life as it happens.
7. Multi-Racial Models. Models with multiple ethnicities are the new face of global advertising.
8. 2014 FIFA World Cup. World Cup mani will rival any religion for the largest following in 2014.
9. Witches (Bye, Bye Vampires). Witches are the new pop-culture queens, lighting up the silver screen and runways in 2014.
10. Handcrafted Vectors. Sketchy, hand-drawn illustrations remind us there was an artist in the process.
11. Instagrammy Food Shots. We trust food that looks like it was shot with a friend’s iPhone and posted online. #yum.
12. Experience Over Things. Mix together flour, milk and eggs and you have skill for life. Paddle, lift and ride and you have an experience for life. Pack a sleeping bag, axe and beans and you have stories for life.
13. Creative Collaboration. Creative collaboration trumps competition because two heads really are better than one.

Speaking of McGarryBowen, we’ve been swamped with tips this morning about cuts and now, we’ve received confirmation that the Dentsu-owned agency has cut approximately six percent of staff across departments on a global scale. From what we’ve been told, McGB houses approximately 600 staffers in the network, so you can do the math from here. Sources in the know tell us that the cuts were part of a restructuring as McGarryBowen is veering from traditional to a more digitally-focused agency in 2014. To address certain tips we were receiving, we’ve been told that United Airlines is still partnering with the agency, though the JPMorgan Chase digital consolidation at Publicis Groupe a couple of months ago did have some lingering effect.

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