Hasta La Creative!

W+K London promoted Neil Christie to the role of global chief operating officer, making him the first to hold the position in over three years. In the role, he will manage the agency’s day-to-day operations and work closely with W+K global chief creative officer Colleen DeCourcy while reporting directly to W+K president Dave Luhr.

“Neil exemplifies strong W+K business leadership,” Lurh said in a statement. “He knows great creative work and is never afraid to push for it internally or with clients. This relentless drive has powered W+K London to become globally recognized for great work and strong results for clients. I have no doubt he will apply the same drive and innovative thinking in his new global role.”

“Wieden+Kennedy was founded to be a place where people could do the best work of their lives, and we have had a pretty good run with that so far,” Christie added. “It’s an honor to help continue that legacy, and to define what that means for our people and clients globally as we look ahead to our future.”

Christie has served as managing director for W+K London since his arrival from Euro RSCG, where he served as a marketing director, at the beginning of 2004. Prior to Euro RSCG he spent a year as a marketing director with Partners BDDH and eight years as a managing director with TBWA.

Deputy managing director Helen Andrews will be promoted to fill Christie’s former role, tasked with running the London office alongside executive creative directors Tony Davidson and Iain Tait while reporting to Christie.

Andrews joined W+K London almost nine years ago and was promoted from director of account services to deputy managing director in 2014. She has worked on accounts including Three and Lurpak, and recently helped lead successful pitches on T.K. Maxx and Sainsbury’s.

“Helen has played a huge part in W+K London’s success over the last decade,” Christie said in a statement. “This promotion is richly deserved and will be celebrated by all who are lucky enough to have worked with her. Helen will take W+K to the next level of success for its work, its clients, and its people.”

BBDO’s New York and Atlanta offices launched a March Madness campaign for AT&T centered around unexpected renditions of a certain infamous Aerosmith song (you know, the one from Armageddon) performed by comedian Dan Finnerty (The Hangover, Old School). 

The idea is that with AT&T’s DirecTV service you can stream March Madness games via the Bracket App on a variety of devices and not have to miss a game. In the most recent spot, a woman is stuck in a sales review meeting when Finnery informs her of the service, via song, and hands her a tablet to watch the game. All the lyrics of the tune are changed to reflect the sales pitch, with lines referring to her being  “stuck in sales review” while there are a “boatload of games this afternoon.”

It’s certainly a goofy approach, but it’s also one likely to stick in viewers’ heads (whether or not they want it to). BBDO manages to sneak in a quirky last line about Q3 not looking so hot for the company. We don’t recommend watching games during business meetings, though.

Other spots in the campaign apply the approach to situations such as a “Parking Booth,” and getting your bald head powdered in preparation of going on live TV, and also feature broadcaster Greg Gumbel.

The campaign follows previous March Madness themed campaigns such as 2015’s “Legends” campaign and last year’s effort, which also featured an employee watching the game at work. It also follows on the heelos BBDO’s “Everywhere” spot for DirecTV in January, its first post-merger effort for the now AT&T-owned brand.

Credits:
Agency: BBDO
Client: AT&T
Title: “Don’t Want to Miss a Thing”

Chief Creative Officer, Worldwide: David Lubars
Chief Creative Officer, New York: Greg Hahn
EVP, Executive Creative Director- AT&T: Matt MacDonald
EVP, Executive Creative Director- AT&T Entertainment Group: Steven Fogel
EVP, Executive Creative Director- AT&T Entertainment Group: Doug Fallon
Associate Creative Director: Geoff Proud
Associate Creative Director: Eduardo Peterson
EVP, Managing Director: Doug Walker
SVP, Senior Group Account Director: Allie Clark
Account Director: Andrew Woodruff
Account Director: Amy Rodriguez
Account Executive: Anna Bartok

SVP, Group Executive Producer: Julie Collins
Senior Producer: Jessica Coccaro
VP, Executive Music Producer: Melissa Chester
Integrated Producer: Andrea Segura
Business Manager: Ashley Lipham
Integrated Business Manager: Meg Foley
Integrated Talent Supervisor: Dawn McCormick

Production Company: Smuggler
Director: Randy Krallman
Director of Photography: Jeff Kim
Executive Producer: Shannon Jones
Line Producer: Ian Blain

Editing Company: MackCut
Editor: Ian Mackenzie
Editor: Erik Laroi
Editor: Nick Divers
Assistant Editor: Mike Leuis
Assistant Editor: Nellie Phillips
Assistant Editor: Kenneth Munoz
Executive Producer: Gina Pagano
Sound Engineer: Sam Shaffer

Finishing Company (TV): Spontaneous
Executive Producer: Bryce Edwards
Director of Visual Effects: Andy Milkis

Telecine Color: Fiveone Color
Telecine Artist: Aline Sinquin
Executive Producer: Christophe Legorju

Music: Butter Music + Sound
Owner/ CCO: Andrew Sherman
MD, Executive Producer: Ian Jeffries

(TrendHunter.com) An Australia-based cosmetics brand by the name of ‘Mermaid Salon’ is now accepting pre-orders of its newest unique makeup brush, dubbed the ‘Chubby Mermaid.’ The fish-like…

Brit Morin has become the Martha Stewart of sorts for the next generation. Brit & Co., the site she founded in 2011, has emerged as a destination for young women with stories and videos ranging from health and beauty to creativity and work-life balance.

Brit & Co. partnered with Create & Cultivate, a career development and motivational platform, at SXSW this week for a one-day pop-up event featuring speakers like actress Kristen Bell, model Brooklyn Decker and former CNN anchor Whitney Casey.

Ms. Morin, who also spoke at the event, sat down with Ad Age to discuss branded content, marketing, politics and the future of digital media. It was the same day that Brit & Co.’s line of DIY kits debuted nationally at Target stores.

Continue reading at AdAge.com

Wake up, go to work, come home. Wake up, go to work, come home. It’s an invariable grind that’s almost impossible to see past. The logistics alone of even tiny weekend trips can stop us from starting the process at all, leaving us marinating in unrealized fantasies of escape. But what if getting away for…

Nike Inc. was chided by a consumer-protection show on state-run television in China, giving a black eye to the athletic brand in its second-biggest market.

The annual program, a “name-and-shame” show that aims to uncover abuses by companies, said Nike had falsely advertised basketball shoes. The sporting-goods giant claimed the sneakers had Zoom Air sole cushions inside when they did not, according to the broadcast.

The unwelcome publicity comes at a time when Nike needs China more than ever for growth. The company is facing heavier competition in the U.S., weighing on its plans to reach $50 billion in revenue by 2020. Sales in China, in contrast, have been soaring: Excluding currency effects, they jumped 17% in the most recently reported quarter.

Continue reading at AdAge.com

W+K Portland promoted Jess Monsey to director of client services. She will be tasked with overseeing the account services department for the office, while reporting directly to managing director Tom Blessington.

“Not only has Jess Monsey championed some of this agency’s greatest work over the past decade, she is a true business partner to her clients,” Blessington told The Drum. “She’s also been a key proponent of helping the agency evolve its creative offerings. For these reasons and more, I’m beyond excited to make this announcement.”

Monsey first joined W+K Portland in December of 2005 and has served as an account director on accounts including Coca-Cola/Powerade and P&G’s Ivory and Camay accounts. Over the past two years she served as group account director for KFC and Old Spice, while also taking on business director responsibilities. Prior to joining W+K, she spent four years as an account director with BBH New York, working on accounts such as Unilever, The World Gold Council and Us Weekly magazine.