Hasta La Creative!

Category: Beyond Madison Avenue
Summary: As Corporate America and Capitol Hill continue to battle for ultimate supremacy, the AdLand community is at times thrown in the middle of the fight. It is difficult for many advertising professionals to choose the best side, since AdLand is a reliable partner to both communities.

But this time, it is not so hard to pick.

We covered this story a while back, but in case you all do not remember, there is a bill underway in Congress that would strip the the ability to deduct advertising expenditures from business taxes.

Chicago-based BMO Harris, which is currently one of the largest banks in the Midwest, has launched an agency review.

The official comment from a company spokesperson:

“We have an agency review under way for a part of our advertising portfolio. We use an agency of collaboration model and it is not unusual for us to bring new talent into the team as our needs evolve.”

Incumbent Y&R confirmed that it will not participate in the review.

BMO Harris’s last creative search occurred in 2012 after a merger. Y&R Chicago, then led by CCO Bob Winter, won part of the business, which had been with Element79 for five years. In November 2013, the client officially named Y&R its creative agency of record, expanding the existing relationship so that Y&R’s offices in Chicago, Toronto and New York would handle all marketing responsibilities across digital and traditional platforms.

The agency’s best-known work for the client, which also debuted in late 2013, featured players from the Chicago Bulls and Blackhawks. Subsequent campaigns also used the hometown teams to promote the bank, most recently with the #BMOBiggestFan hashtag.

The client has made some organizational changes. Mark Furlong, CEO of Canadian parent company BMO Financial Group, retired on June 1st, and the company told analysts last month that it is “in cost-cutting mode” in order to “drive operating efficiencies” by thinning the ranks of its management. This almost certainly means less money spent on advertising as well.

No word at the moment on which shops are involved in the review or when it will be completed.

In this amusing 90-second spot for Rolling Stone, men and women of all sorts dress up like Apple’s late co-founder Steve Jobs. They don wire-rim specs, black turtlenecks and blue jeans as they question aspects of their lives, large and small, ranging from health regimens and toupees to technology’s impact on the future.

The patently absurd sight of a geeky Steve army marching down the street is like an image plucked from Bill Gates’ darkest dreams. (Heck, it’s enough to give anyone nightmares!)

Produced in English and Spanish by The Community, the ad targets young adults in Argentina, encouraging them to “Question Everything” and find ways of improving their situations. It closes by showing a 2011 Rolling Stone cover: “The Steve Jobs Nobody Knew.”

The visuals here are pretty memorable, but the concept feels like a stretch, and doesn’t tie back to the magazine as well as it should. (The Community’s recent Corona spot, with winter narrating mournful letters to summer, is equally offbeat but more on brand.)

Mostly, “The Steves” reinforces Jobs’ standing as an icon of the highest magnitude. Ironically, that’s a distinction Rolling Stone itself once enjoyed, and the magazine’s effort to piggyback on the tech pioneer’s lasting relevance speaks volumes about our changing cultural landscape.

CREDITS
Client: Rolling Stone
Agency: The Community
Chief Creative Officer: Joaquin Molla / Jose Molla
Executive Creative Officer: Ramiro Raposo, Fernando Sosa
Art Director: Fernando Zagales
Copywriter: Juan Mesz
Group Account Director: Sebastian Diaz
Executive Account: Lucas Saez
Audiovisual Producer: Matias Castro
Responsible for the Client: Branowski Bárbara, Paula Rottenbücher
Production Company: Barry Company
Director: Mariana Youssef
Director of Photography: Adolpho Veloso
Director 1st Assistant: Elton Takii
Art Director: Guilherme Marini
Production Director: Tadeu Piantino
Wardrobe: Heloisa Cobra
Account Manager: Juliana Martellotta
Executive Producer: Krysse Mello
Editor: Alexandre Boechat / Rodolpho Ponzio
Postproduction: Fulano Filmes
Postproduction Coordinator: Karina Vallesi
Postproduction Supervisor: Ale Cois
Postproduction Supervisor Assistant: Sabrina Comar
Sound: Animal
Music Production: André Caccia Bava

Kohl’s is widening the role of its customer chief, who oversees marketing, to lead merchandising, planning and allocation, and product development. Chief Customer Officer Michelle Gass, who is in the running to succeed CEO Kevin Mansell when he retires, took on the newly created position of chief merchandising and customer officer today. To free Ms. Gass up for this broader role, Mr. Mansell will handle digital, ecommerce and operations, which she previously oversaw.

The company is also holding an external search for a chief operations officer, another newly created role, to oversee store operations, logistics, digital, e-commerce, and store design among other duties, which currently are handled by Mr. Mansell. The new hire will also be a candidate for the CEO role when Mr. Mansell departs, the company said.

Ms. Gass, a former Starbucks executive who joined Kohl’s in 2013, has overhauled the retailer’s marketing over the past two years in the absence of a CMO. She has steered the company towards more emotional messaging and away from promotional ads with campaigns like “Find Your Yes” and “Holiday Magic.” She also upped Kohl’s investment in TV while pushing the brand into the digital and social space.

Continue reading at AdAge.com

David Nevins, Mr. Blank’s second in command, will become chief executive on Jan. 1, the network announced on Thursday.

Volvo has dropped Grey London as its global creative agency and will now run its creative out of the U.S., Sweden and China, Campaign reports. The agency will continue to work on global coordination and U.K. initaitves.

Grey London was named Volvo’s global creative agency in December of 2013, following a review which ended an over six-year relationship with Arnold. The agency debuted its first work for Volvo last September. Their most recent work for the brand is featured above. Campaign reports the upcoming work from the agency includes “a global print campaign, idents for Sky Atlantic and the second phase of its LifePaint safety product.”

The move follows Volvo’s selection of AKQA as its new digital agency in May, following an unannounced review, as the brand continues to shift its advertising strategy.

“On advertising, we have decided to go for global campaigns,” Alain Visser, senior vice-president, marketing, sales and customer service at Volvo., explained to Campaign. “The Avicii campaign [recently created by Forsman & Bodenfors] is an example of a truly global campaign. In the development of the global campaigns, we work with Grey New York, Grey Shanghai and Forsman & Bodenfors in Sweden, which all pitch for a creative concept.”

As more millennials enter the workforce — with a whole different set of values and expectations — companies should capitalize on the opportunity to recruit them and use them as brand ambassadors, according to a new study by the CMO Council.

However, many companies are failing to do this, starting with defining a formal brand platform at the highest level to providing opportunities for collaboration and open communications in the workplace.

The study, “Making the Workplace a Brand-Defining Space,” was based on interviews with 230 senior marketing and HR leaders during the second quarter, and was conducted by the CMO Council, Executive Networks and CultureSphere. More than half of the respondents were from b-to-b companies.

Continue reading at AdAge.com

The 84-year-old media mogul is planning to hand over the media company’s reins to his son James.