Hasta La Creative!

The Martin Agency hired Jerry Hoak as senior vice president and group creative director, working across multiple accounts and on new business. He started the new job last week.

This news marks a homecoming of sorts for the 2005 VCU Brandcenter graduate, who comes to the IPG agency from Droga5. He originally joined Droga5 as an art director back in July of 2011 and went on to collaborate with copywriter Ray Del Savio on Prudential and other accounts. The two discussed the client’s “Day One” campaign in a 2014 Creative Interviews Q&A, with Hoak calling the work “unscripted,  completely genuine, and as far from an ad as anything I’ve ever worked on.”

“From IBM to Prudential to Android, Jerry’s portfolio really demonstrates how brands need to behave today,” The Martin Agency CCO Joe Alexander said in a statement. “The Prudential ‘Day One’ campaign is personally one of my favorites. Maybe because I’m really getting a lot of gray hair  — well — what’s left of my hair.”

Hoak, who was promoted to associate creative director, CD and GCD during his five-year stint at Droga5, has also spent time as an art director at Ogilvy & Mather New York and TAXI New York.

The New York offices of Grey have parted ways with some employees following AT&T’s decision to consolidate its creative and media accounts with Omnicom’s BBDO and Hearts & Science earlier this month. Grey had been AOR on DirecTV, which is now part of the larger telecomms organization — and according to Kantar Media, the client spent at least $2 billion in measured media last year.

An agency spokesperson writes, “Grey New York has had a staff reduction of a little over 1% primarily due to the AT&T/DirecTV move.  We’ve also had to rebalance our staff due to changes in our clients’ marketing priorities/spending on some accounts across departments.  These are very difficult decisions and we wanted to give people notice, provide severance and begin the process of seeing if there are job opportunities available at other WPP companies.”

The Grey rep declined to elaborate further or name individuals who have left, but our sources claim that much of the DirecTV creative and production teams, along with several account executives, are no longer with the WPP shop. The 1 percent number would put the total affected in the low double digits.

While DirecTV was a significant loss, Grey has also recorded several new business wins and account expansions in recent months including GSK, Marriott, Weber, Kellogg’s, Best Buy and P&G’s shaving brands. Grey London is currently hiring as well after winning retail giant Marks & Spencer. We know because one of our contacts is applying to work there, but don’t ask about starting salaries for junior copywriters.

Lil Dicky, the chart-topping MC, is back with more comedy gold for Trojan condoms.

David Burd, whose 2015 debut studio album Professional Rapper hit No. 1 on both Billboard’s rap and comedy charts, anchored a clever, nervous, long-form PSA earlier this year, sponsored by the condom brand, about the dangers of unprotected bathroom sex.

Now, he’s starring in two much slicker but plenty ridiculous new TV commercials, created with agency Colangelo, slated to first air this Sunday during the MTV Video Music Awards. (Trojan has a broader partnership with the youth-focused network, funding its how-to guide on sex and relationships.)

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LGBTQ youth are four times more likely to attempt suicide than their straight peers, but a creative outlet can help stem the tide while time does its work. This is the insight, brought to life, in a PSA bluntly labeled “Suicide,” from nonprofit Mythic Bridge. 

Directed by Xander of Backyard Productions, it opens with a young man stumbling onto a rooftop, clutching his phone and walking toward the edge as accusing hisses and whispers swirl around him. He approaches the ledge and looks down, and for a minute we can see his phone messages: They’re all from him to his family—an apology for existing that doubles, in this case, as a suicide note.

He climbs the ledge, and the city spreads out below him, dark silhouettes against a gray sky.

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