Hasta La Creative!

(TrendHunter.com) These August 2016 cosmetics trends range from personalized floral fragrances to halal nail polish lines that target a diverse demographic of religious consumers. Other standouts include skincare…

(TrendHunter.com) teamLab is a Japanese creative collective that’s known for its stunning immersive art installations—a collection which now includes an LED labyrinth located in Tokyo that invites patrons…

(TrendHunter.com) This post-Playboy photography was taken by Nadav Kander and features ex-Playboy models from several decades ago.

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Those who praise President Obama for his current rhetoric on Cuba seem unaware of U.S.-backed atrocities under cooperative dictators like Pinochet, Somoza and the Duvaliers in Latin America. Of special note was Panama’s Manuel Noriega: paid by the CIA until he became too independent for their liking. In the eyes of U.S. power brokers who viewed Cuba as American property, excessive independence was Cuba’s greatest sin.

Would Canada or America accept a foreign prison like Guantanamo Bay on their soil? After ejecting U.S. organized crime from Cuba, Castro made the mistake of defying the Monroe Doctrine and pursuing an independent course. The Monroe Doctrine, for those unfamiliar with it, was a turn of the century understanding that North and South America were U.S. territory and therefore off-limits to the European powers, with the exception of the existing colonies that doted the Caribbean.
While Castro’s regime was undoubtedly guilty of human rights abuses, a little perspective is necessary before passing judgement upon him. It is reasonable to assume that the Cuban government, like any other, found it necessary to pursue and prosecute foreign-backed agents working to destabilize it from within. Since protection of state institutions is the rationale behind our own Bill C51, it shouldn’t be too difficult for us to empathize with the Cuban situation.
The CIA waged a covert terrorism campaign against Cuba from 1959 until the late 1990s and possibly beyond. Yet, a Republican Congressmen criticized Canada for failing to, “…denounce human rights abuses in Cuba.” According to leaked internal U.S. documents, “…the United States [also] accuses other countries, including China, Russia and those in Latin America and Africa, as taking a ‘best friends forever’ approach in Cuba, which avoids raising human rights abuses in private or in public.” We may trace Cuban engagement with these States, specifically Soviet Russia, to the early 1960s, when the suffocating U.S. trade embargo forced the Cubans to seek assistance.
The state of Florida is home to any number of anti-Castro militants recruited, trained and shielded by the CIA. In Cuba, they stand accused of various crimes of terror that occurred between the years 1960 through to the late 1990s. People like Orlando Bosch, who lives free in Miami after being pardoned by George H.W. Bush for his role in the 1976 destruction of a Cubana airliner that killed 76 people.
In 1998, the Cuban government invited the FBI to Havana, providing them with extensive evidence of anti-Castro terrorism and the identities of several Cuban agents who had infiltrated the anti-Castro terrorist cells in Miami. Ironically it was the infiltrators, not the terrorists, who were arrested and sent to U.S. prisons. I doubt if these facts will appear on the pages of our mainstream press.

–Morgan Duchesney writes political essays and short fiction.

The post A Little Perspective appeared first on Adbusters | Journal of the mental environment.

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Managing partner Don Lane, who has been with Arnold Worldwide in Boston for more than two decades, will leave the agency later this month to take a top marketing position with Boston-based fantasy sports giant DraftKings.

A statement from an Arnold spokesperson:

“After nearly 21 years with the Arnold Worldwide family, Managing Partner, Executive Director Don Lane will be leaving the agency on August 15th to pursue a terrific new client-side opportunity. We thank Don for his many contributions and wish him all the best.”

Lane graduated from the University of Richmond with a degree in journalism and sports management, joined Arnold in an accounts role in 1995, and continued to move up within the organization over the next 20 years. He led the team behind Volkswagen’s “Drivers Wanted” campaign and also helped develop work for client ESPN’s various properties, including its Fantasy Sports division.

After serving as SVP/group account director, Lane was promoted to EVP/executive director in 2008 and later became a managing partner.

Lane confirmed today that he has accepted a job with DraftKings. His title will be SVP of brand & creative, and he will be working closely with CMO Janet Holian, who joined the company in January. A company representative declined to comment on the news.

“It’s a once in a lifetime experience to build a great brand in a category I love,” Lane says. “I had an incredible run working with some amazingly talented people at Arnold … I’m very excited to challenge myself and do something new.”

His hire comes at a very good time: Three days ago, the Massachusetts general court passed a law that would effectively legalize the services of DraftKings and its competitors within the state. This legislation was attached to a larger economic development package passed during the final day of the now-elapsed summer legislative session. It has yet to be signed by Governor Charlie Baker, but it follows a similar law passed by New York State in June to “legalize and protect daily fantasy sports” businesses. That law negated a March arrangement in which DraftKings and Fan Duel agreed to stop taking bets in a compromise with state Attorney General Eric Schneiderman. (New York is currently the largest source of business for both companies.)

Last July, DraftKings chose Butler, Shine, Stern & Partners as its creative agency of record after a review. The company spent $35 million on paid media in 2014 according to the most recent numbers provided by Kantar Media, but last summer Adweek reported that review participants had been told that the total could rise to as much as $200 million annually.

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Agencies looking to land a beer account might have a willing listener in Anheuser-Busch InBev. The brewing giant has begun discussions with shops about its Shock Top wheat beer brand, AB InBev confirmed to Ad Age.

“What we’re doing right now is simply having a few conversations with leading creative agencies,” Jake Kirsch, VP of Shock Top, said in a statement. “This isn’t a review, as we haven’t had a creative AOR for some time. As we plan for 2017, and beyond, we’re having these conversations as part of our normal course of business. Shock Top is always open to new ideas and discussions with the best and brightest creative minds in the industry.”

The brew had been using Anomaly, Toronto, which this year created the brand’s first Super Bowl spot as part of the “Live Life Unfiltered” campaign. The campaign starred comedian/actor T.J. Miller bantering with Shock Top’s orange “Wedgehead” mascot. The brand had previously used 72andSunny. But that relationship ended a couple years ago, prior to Shock Top beginning its first national TV campaign in early 2014, which was handled by independent agency Group 360, St. Louis.

Continue reading at AdAge.com

Simon Dumenco, aka Media Guy, is an Ad Age editor-at-large. You can follow him on Twitter @simondumenco.

Continue reading at AdAge.com