Hasta La Creative!

Plenty of agencies are working with clients on projects beyond the realm of communications. But JWT New York’s recent collaboration with Northwell Health may be unique.

The agency helped develop the Fin, an amphibious prosthetic leg, along with development partner Dan Lasko. A Marine veteran who lost his leg in Afghanistan, Lasko is also a triathlete, but the lack of a prosthetic that could function in or out of water made the transition to and from swimming difficult. He’s also the father of two songs who love the pool.

“The Return” celebrates the creation of the Fin, and its importance to Lasko, to promote Northwell Health’s veterans’ services. It’s an examination of both Lasko’s story and the work that went into developing the Fin.

“The Return” concludes with the testing of the Fin, an emotional moment which saw Lasko in the pool with his sons. The Fin was up to the test, with Lasko at one point even doing a flip off the diving board into the pool below.

“We were asked to promote Northwell’s veterans’ services and communicate its promise to raise the standard of healthcare through innovation,” JWT New York executive creative director Ben James told Adweek. “We said, let’s create a prosthetic that gets a veteran back to something they want to do, to return to something active in life. To ‘return’ meant it needed to go further than the physical. It would encompass the emotional side.”

“There isn’t any sort of amphibious leg prosthetic that allows a wearer to embrace a more natural swim—[combining] land and aquatic activities—so we set out to change that,” he added. “We went in hoping to find someone looking to get back to the water. Someone who would want to be so active it challenged us. In interviews, Dan talked about doing triathlons, but also swimming with his kids [sons Luke and Ben, ages 6 and 2]. Keeping up with the kids is maybe the tougher challenge!”

James told the publication it took about five months to make the Fin a reality for Lasko’s test swim in a Long Island pool. In addition to the above spot, the campaign also includes a digital content hub, a social media component and PR support.

Credits:
Client: Northwell Health
Ramon Soto, Chief Marketing Officer
Don Simon, Vice President, Marketing
Jennifer Nelson, Senior Director Advertising
Katie Irizarry, Advertising Manager
Agency: J. Walter Thompson New York
Chief Creative Officer: Brent Choi
Executive Creative Director: Ben James
Creative Director: Karl Ackerman, Sean Ellman, Itai Inselberg
Creative: Bob Broadfoot, Rob Colucci
Business Director: John Danbeck
Account Director: Javier bracero
Account Manager: Vincent Falcetano
Strategist: Marina Pen
Head of production: Anthony Nelson
Director/Producer/Editor: Tom Mishra
Director of Digital: Jennifer Usdan McBride
Director of Technology: Kamran Aslam
Associate Director of Technology: Juan Turcios
Digital producer: Angela O’Neill
Project manager: Christine Fiorentino
Media: Metavision Media

It’s kind of a toss-up who’s more bedraggled and pitiful in this new ad for Coldwell Banker–the sad dude sleeping alone in a queen-size bed, or the stray mutt cowering on a dirty blanket in an alley. Talk about hangdog times two. Then they meet, and the clouds lift. All together now: Awww. The real…

A fledgling independent newcomer in Montclair has pitted itself against a community staple purchased last year by a major media company.

Canada-based WPP agency Blast Radius hired Kevin Drew Davis as chief creative officer, tasked with leading creative across its offices in Vancouver, Toronto and Chicago for accounts including BMW Canada, Lavazza and Huawei.

Davis joins Blast Radius from DDB San Francisco, where he was promoted to chief creative officer last July. He spent most of the last four years in various creative leadership roles with the agency’s offices in Canada, San Francisco and Chicago, where he worked on McDonald’s.

The new CCO has focused on the digital side of things for most of his career.

Before joining DDB, he spent two years as executive vice president, executive creative director with DigitasLBi in Chicago and San Francisco. After beginning his career at GSD&M, where he served as creative technologies director, he later spent six years as global digital creative director at Wieden+Kennedy, working with clients including Nike, Coca-Cola, ESPN, Microsoft, Calvin Klein, Audi and Miller and later rejoining the Portland office as a director of digital. After that he moved on to similar roles at Publicis Seattle, FCB Chicago and DigitasLBi.

Davis told Adweek Blast Radius has “all the tools that CMOs are looking for,” adding, “the key is putting creative on top of it. I think it’s easier to add creative to data than the other way around.” But one of his key reasons for switching agencies was the appeal of home.

“We’re thrilled to welcome Kevin to the Chicago office,” Blast Radius U.S. managing director Lothar Boensch said in a statement. “He’s a proven creative leader with deep roots in social, digital, data and experience design—exactly what our clients need in order to achieve the awareness and recognition they’re looking for.”

“Kevin’s career spans brand communications, digital and traditional, which makes him a ‘triple threat’ and the perfect fit for our clients who are hoping to make maximum impact with their consumers in new and unconventional ways,” Blast Radius Canada president Michel Sergio added.

He will be first to hold the CCO title for the agency in over six years since Chip Reingold left to lead Cibo (which is also headquartered in San Francisco) in 2011.

But trying to get an ad in front of the president is still a losing game.

Deutsch has hired Heather English and Marques Gartrell as vice-presidents, creative directors. The pair have been freelancing at Deutsch for the past two months, and will join officially on April 10. English has freelanced at agencies including Joan and Figliulo & Partners and prior to that was a creative director at 360i on Oscar Mayer. Her background also includes time with Grey NY, Hanft Raboy & Partners and at Merkley & Partners. Gartrell’s agency experience includes recently freelancing at Joan on General Mills and Booking.com. Prior to Joan, he worked at BBDO on Priceline, Bud Light, and AT&T. He also spent time at Grey NY, TBWA/Chiat/Day, Saatchi & Saatchi and Fallon.

Continue reading at AdAge.com

Imagine life if everything were an Ikea product. Including you. A $79 sheepskin rug rolls out of bed as if it were human, at the sound of a $9 alarm clock, in a new ad from the Australian arm of the Swedish furniture chain. It turns out the anthropomorphic floor covering, who lives in an…

Ad Age “Media Guy” columnist Simon Dumenco’s media roundup for the morning of Monday, March 27:

As we continue to plow through the Trump administration’s first 100 days, and the president’s approval ratings sink to historic lows (for a modern-era president this early in his tenure), how should we think of Donald Trump now? The Tweeter in Chief? Putin’s White House Buddy? (See No. 3, below.) The Golfer in Chief? (See No. 6, below.) The Trump Brand Ambassador in Chief? (See No. 6, again.) Any branding experts out there want to help the man, uh, reposition his brand? Anyway, let’s get started …

1. “A top U.K. official is targeting WhatsApp, after reports that the terrorist who killed four people used the Facebook-owned messaging app before launching his attack in London this week,” Recode’s Peter Kafka reports. “Home Secretary Amber Rudd complained that WhatsApp’s end-to-end encryption system offered terrorists a safe way to communicate, and said government agencies need to be able to peer inside the messaging app.”

Continue reading at AdAge.com

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