Hasta La Creative!

Newell Brands Inc. appointed global digital agency POSSIBLE to lead its online strategy.

The agency will be tasked with designing a digital experience that creates global consistency while also staying true to individual brands such as Paper Mate, Sharpie and Graco. POSSIBLE has already begun working on the initial phase of the effort, with the creation of initial brand sites.

“We are honoured to work with Newell Brands to help create a world-class experience that connects with consumers,” POSSIBLE president, Americas Jason Burby said in a statement. “We are passionate about delivering digital products that make a measurable difference. Combining high-consideration baby products from a brand like Graco with high-volume brands like Sharpie or PaperMate is a fantastic challenge.”

The appointment follows Newell Brands transferring global creative duties for brands including Rubbermaid, Sharpie, Paper Mate, Calphalon, Irwin and Lenox from BBH to J. Walter Thompson New York without a review back in May. According to Kantar Media, Newell Brands spent around $91.6 million on measured media last year.

As DMs do Twitter receberão nos próximos dias uma atualização no visual. Elas começarão a dar à ferramenta uma cara de aplicativo de mensagens e menos ‘caixa de mensagens secretas’: as mensagens diretas terão um aviso de visualização. Além de confirmação de leitura, as DMs também receberão aquele indicador de que alguém está digitando e […]

> LEIA MAIS: Mensagens diretas do Twitter terão aviso de visualização

Pinterest has had an extremely busy year to say the least.

It’s acquired several companies. It’s poached executives from companies including Google and Snapchat. It’s also invested deeply in its search advertising biz, to capitalize on the two billion searches it gets every month. In August, the company changed the way it sells ads to let marketers bid on inventory through an auction-based process. And behind the scenes, Pinterest has been busy improving its API and striking deals with tech companies like Acxiom and Epsilon so it can give marketers the same targeting capabilities found on Facebook and Twitter.

Yet its biggest move might also be its most recent.

Continue reading at AdAge.com

Fox News colleagues who challenged Gretchen Carlson’s account of harassment by Roger Ailes find themselves under scrutiny.

Sony released two new versions of its PlayStation 4 gaming consoles Wednesday: the PS4 Pro, a powerful device designed to run virtual reality games and display high-quality video, and a slimmer, more efficient version of the PS4, an incremental improvement on the original, which was first released in November 2013.

The PS4 Pro will go on sale Nov. 10, for $399. The PS4 will cost $299 — $50 less than the standard PS4 today — and will be available in most markets on Sept. 15. Aspects of both devices have leaked out or been openly discussed by Sony over the past several months.

For most consumer electronics devices, it’s not unusual to release updated versions after a three-year rest. But gaming consoles operate on their own rhythm. Seven years passed between the release of the PlayStation 3 and the PS4, Sony’s last new console. The devices unveiled Wednesday don’t technically count as a new generation — the gaming press has regularly referred to the PS4 Pro as a kind of PS four-and-a-half. But they do mark a notable shift toward a strategy of more frequent updates in the hopes that people will pony up for a new console more than once or twice a decade.

Continue reading at AdAge.com

Omaha’s Bailey Lauerman hired RAPP and BBH veteran Greg Andersen as its new CEO. Andersen, who may be best known to our readers for the lawsuit he filed against his former boss Alexei Orlov earlier this year, started the job this week after moving back to his home state of Nebraska.

Bailey Lauerman chairman and chief creative Carter Weitz said: “Greg knows how to inspire teams to develop the kind of work that brands need to be successful today … He also has a great deal of integrity—something that is demonstrated in what clients and colleagues consistently say about working with him, as well as in his commitment to fostering change that is needed in our industry.”

Andersen said, “I am truly honored to be joining Bailey Lauerman. It is an agency that I have known intimately and kept an eye on for some time,” adding that he thinks the shop will compete against other, larger agencies for new business. (Its client roster currently includes Disney, The Nebraska Tourism Commission, Panda Express, TD Ameritrade, etc.)

Andersen replaces Andy Fletcher, who left the agency in July after four years. That news followed a state audit which found that client Nebraska Tourism Commission had gone $4.4 million over budget from 2012 to 2016, though the agency has repeatedly stated that the audit had nothing to do with Fletcher’s departure.

Before joining RAPP in 2013, he was CEO of BBH in the U.S. and previously held top accounts/strategy roles at various New York agencies like DeVito/Verdi, EURO RSCG, Merkley + Partners and Lowe.

The new chief executive made headlines on this blog when he left the U.S. president role at RAPP in April and subsequently filed suit against Orlov. The suit essentially claimed that Orlov fired Andersen for reporting his (alleged) discriminatory behavior to the agency’s HR department, which proceeded to do nothing. Orlov’s lawyers quickly called the charges “outrageous” and claimed that he was justified in firing Andersen, but the CEO resigned the following month.

There have been no major recent developments in that case, which continues to make its way through the Los Angeles County court system.

Bo Jackson really, really, really, really loves Tecmo Bowl.

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