Hasta La Creative!

Former Samsung and Procter & Gamble marketer Vince Hudson is joining Diageo as global brand director for Smirnoff vodka and senior VP for the brand in the U.S., the company said Wednesday. He will report to James Thompson, the liquor giant’s North American chief marketing and innovation officer, and David Gates, Diageo’s global head of premium core brands and global brand teams.

Mr. Hudson worked at Samsung from March 2014 through last October, most recently as VP-U.S. marketing and mobile business unit, a dual role in which he was responsible for “leading the brand management discipline driving $16 billion in revenue,” according to Diageo. Before Samsung, Mr. Hudson spent 20 years at P&G in a variety of roles, including as VP in the beauty care division. He was one of Advertising Age’s “40 Under 40” in 2006, when he was 35, after making marketing director at P&G before age 30.

“We are truly delighted to have Vince’s depth of marketing expertise, his commercial mind-set and his leadership to drive the strategy for the Smirnoff brand and look forward to his many contributions,” Mr. Thompson and Mr. Gates said in an internal memo that was shared with Ad Age.

Continue reading at AdAge.com

H&L Partners launched a campaign for Toyota Prius, promoting the hybrid vehicle’s new model as “Redesigned, CA Style.”

Based around the insight that Californians buy more Prii (according to the pitch we received, the plural of Prius — who knew?) than anyone else, the spot embraces and celebrates some common assumptions/stereotypes about residents of the state.

“California, here we come/ Right back where we started from…”

The two-minute anthem ad introduces the state as the “last stop for every weirdo and wild-eyed visionary who ever had a dream…or at least enough gas to get here” over an acoustic guitar (of course) and footage of the state’s natural beauty. Things take a turn for the even more self-congratulatory when the voiceover claims, “We like to be at the forefront, the first to grab on to the next big thing and make it ours,” championing the state as the birthplace of jeans, the smartphone and “putting avocado on everything.”

It then adds, “Maybe the environment just isn’t that big of a deal to them” about residents of other states who maybe just don’t understands the appeal of Toyota’s hybrid. It’s kind of weird that the one guy seems to be giving his car a luxurious wash though. Isn’t there still a big drought going on over there?

A trio of 30-second spots continues the theme, focusing on common stereotypes of Californians as “Hippies,” “Weirdos” and “Nerds.”

The self-satisfied approach makes sense since Californians already love the Prius. But the effort is targeted specifically at the Northern California market, where its tone is not likely to offend viewers and may stoke state pride, especially among those who are already fans of Toyota’s hybrid offering.

Credits:
Agency: H&L Partners
Creative Director: Rob Bagot
Associate Creative Director/Copywriter:
Dallas Baker
Art Director: Brian G Cheung
Executive Producer: Ted Meyer
Account Director: Trey Curtola
Account Manager: Chris Cronin
Account Coordinator: Camille Kahrimanian
Account Executive: Ongie Chin

Production Company: Caviar
Director: Hugo Stenson
DP: Jac Fitzgerald
Executive Producer: Kim Dellara
Production Contact: Jude Vermeulen

Editorial: Cartel Editorial
Editor(s): Leo Scott, Chris Catanach
Producer: Barbara Healey
Executive producer: Lauren Bleiweiss

Telecine: Electric Theatre Collective
Colorist: Aubrey Woodiwiss

Music & Sound: Barking Owl Sound
Music Producer: Ashley Benton
Final Music: Atticus Ross, Brian Canning,
Seth Olinsky
Sound Designer: Morgan Johnson
Executive Producer: Kelly Bayett

(TrendHunter.com) ‘The Purpose Hotel’ is a new concept from photographer Jeremy Cowart who asked himself: “What if everything in this hotel was connected to a cause or a need?”

As its name…

Danish Director Susanne Bier has joined Smuggler. She directed the Academy Award-winning Best Foreign Language film, “In A Better World,” as well as “The Night Manager,” “Things We Lost in the Fire,” “After the Wedding,” “Brothers,” “Open Hearts,” “The One and Only,” and “Serena.”

Director Matt Ogens has joined Bullitt. The film and commercial director began his career with docu-series for networks including MTV, VH1, CBS, and CNN, and earned three Emmy nominations for his work for ESPN. His work includes “Meet the Hitlers,” “Confessions of a Superhero,” “From Harlem with Love,” “Kid Yamaka,” and projects for brands including Infiniti, Land Rover, Nature Valley, Toyota, Ancestry.com, Craftsman, Mitsubishi, Seattle’s Best, Stand Up2 Cancer, IBM and more.

Continue reading at AdAge.com

Minneapolis-based digital agency space150 appointed Ulli Appelbaum as executive vice president, strategy, tasked with overseeing space150’s strategy practice out of its Minneapolis headquarters, while providing insight, leadership and experience to clients across the agency’s network.

“We continue to invest heavily in strategic thinking and resources to build our business and create value for clients and partners,” said space150 CEO Billy Jurewicz. “Ulli is a rare breed of strategic mind that pushes clients and boundaries, and nurtures new dimensions in our work and teams. As we grow, learn, and expand, Ulli’s talent and leadership will be invaluable.”

The 20-year industry veteran arrives at space150 from First The Trousers Then The Shoes, the small brand agency he founded and led as president for the past two years; that unit worked with brands including Bacardi and Land O’ Lakes. Before that, he co-founded another startup called WeMothers, described as “a social and mobile platform enabling expecting and new moms to receive the emotional support only another mom with shared experiences can provide.”

Applebaum spent nearly four years with SapientNitro, serving as director of brand strategy and customer experience beginning in October of 2009. Prior to that he spent a year as head of account planning at Leo Burnett, before leaving in spring of 2009 to spend seven months focusing on his newborn twins. Before joining Leo Burnett he spent nearly two and a half years at Energy BBDO as senior vice president, group planning director, leading strategy on the agency’s Wrigley account. That followed three years as worldwide group planning director at Fallon, leading strategy on the global Nestle Purina Pet Care business. 

“space150 offers tremendous opportunity to define and set the bar for what brand communication looks like in the future,” said Appelbaum. “I was attracted by the agency’s combination of engineering and technology pedigree with strategic vision, scale, and world-class creative without the baggage of traditional agencies. Further, space150’s unique, entrepreneurial, and very appealing culture is perfectly suited to shape the new communications landscape.”

Appelbaum’s arrival at space150 follows the agency being named AOR for frozen pizza brand Red Baron in February and making a pair of executive promotions this spring.

“Hide your badges,” a motorist at a red light helpfully yelled out to a group of us standing at the intersection of Euclid Avenue and East 9th Street in downtown Cleveland on Tuesday afternoon, “so you’re not a target!”

My fellow pedestrians, judging from the badges hanging from lanyards looped around their necks, were Republican National Convention delegates. (RNC press badges look different than delegate badges, but I still took the motorist’s advice and tucked my credentials into my pocket.) They were heading to the Quicken Loans Arena, like I was.

Though the city and the estimated 50,000 visitors here for the RNC have been on edge for fear of convention-related violence, so far disturbances have been minimal. One notable bit of drama covered by the local media: On Tuesday morning a group of three protesters who snuck onto the grounds of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame engaged in an an act of unauthorized outdoor advertising: They hoisted a banner reading “DON’T TRUMP OUR COMMUNITIES” between two of the museum’s flagpoles (firemen promptly arrived on the scene with a ladder truck to remove the signage and the police arrested the protesters).

Continue reading at AdAge.com

(TrendHunter.com) Like the adobe huts that pocked the plains of Mexico hundreds of years ago, Casa Candelaria is built with a rammed-earth technique that uses materials (i.e. soil) excavated directly from the build…

Sullivan Branding of Memphis, Tennessee has hired veteran copywriter Keith Goldberg as its newest executive creative director.

Goldberg’s chief claim to fame in his two-decade ad career is writing the Capital One tagline “What’s In Your Wallet?” while with D’Arcy Advertising or DMB&B in the very early ’00s, and that effort later landed him a permanent spot on New York’s Advertising Walk of Fame (which we have strangely never seen).

The new ECD joins Sullivan from Seattle’s Bureau155, where he spent 5 1/2 years as a co-founder and chief creative and made at least one ad starring Macklemore.

Last year, Seattle Business named him one of the city’s top creative professionals, and he used the subsequent profile to explain that the now-famous wallet line came from “Helping an upstart credit card issuer … become a major financial services player.”

Agency founder and principal Brian Sullivan positions the Goldberg hire as part of an ongoing attempt to win national business (Sullivan also has an office in New York). He writes, “Keith is a proven leader who knows how to develop teams, inspire great work, and create the fully integrated, multi-platform campaigns that drive growth for brands. His arrival is the result of our nationwide search to ensure Sullivan Branding’s clients continue to benefit from the best thinking and resources available.”

In a piece that ran last week in Commercial Appeal, Goldberg invited us to check out his tattoo and said, “Memphis is a city and Sullivan is an agency that is on the cusp of what’s next.” Sullivan himself said, “We wanted to hire somebody bigger than we are … We are stunned to get him.”

Goldberg started his agency career as a writer with BBDO, JWT and Y&R in New York, working on such accounts as Ernst & Young, Ford, GE and The New Republic before launching Bureau155 in 2011. That shop worked with a range of clients from Frito Lay and Fiji Water to Stacy’s Pita Chips and Target, with Goldberg’s work recognized by Cannes, the Addys, the Webbys and the Mobile Marketing Association.

In the new role, Sullivan’s latest hire joins fellow ECD and onetime FCB New York art director Earl Keister.

“A resurgence of energy and talent and creativity in this town is attracting interest from all over the country,” said Goldberg in the release, “And we want Sullivan Branding to be the destination for clients, regardless of geography, who are searching for a fresh infusion of creativity for their brands.”

(TrendHunter.com) When radio company Pandora needed a new office, the workplace design firm ‘Nelson’ created one for the company that was appropriately music-themed.

The space has many musical elements…

Interpublic Group’s UM has retained BMW’s North American media planning and buying account after a review. The agency has also picked up media planning for BMW-owned Mini, after previously handling buying.

A BMW spokesman confirmed the moves.

The automaker put the BMW brand into review in May 2015, amid a frenzy of other media reviews across various industries that has been dubbed Mediapalooza. UM first won BMW in 2009.

Continue reading at AdAge.com