Hasta La Creative!

(TrendHunter.com) These April 2017 travel ideas range from gourmet bus tours to inclusive tourism campaigns like a recent Toronto tourism ad that celebrated the city’s diverse population that consists mostly of…

E-Trade has appointed MullenLowe as its new creative and strategic AOR, following a competitive review.

The review, which was supported by Hasan & Co., came two years after the digital trading firm hired sibling Interpublic Group agency R/GA to lead the creative business. Representatives from R/GA were not immediately available for comment.

“Our brand is firmly installed in the hearts and minds of consumers,” said Lea Stendahl, senior-VP and head of marketing at E-Trade, in a statement. “Yet in an industry defined by fierce competition, it is increasingly difficult to break through the clutter and articulate why we are the clear choice for digitally inclined traders and investors.”

Continue reading at AdAge.com

The six-time Grammy winner Steve Lillywhite selects music to sell at the restaurants alongside buckets of fried chicken.

Cheil Worldwide hired Cathy Butler as CEO for digital agency The Barbarian Group, with hopes that new leadership can help put the agency back on track after a rough couple of years that saw the departure of major clients such as Pepsi.

Last August, Barbarian Group co-founder Rick Webb told Digiday, “The fact that it’s still around at all is a testament to its heritage, since right now it is literally being run into the ground.”

In December of 2015, CEO Sophie Kelly left the agency to be replaced by Peter Kim, who was then succeeded by interim CEO Aaron Lau less than nine months later. Multiple sources at the time told us that Cheil Worldwide made the decision to replace Kim, but he disputed that claim in a blog post where he said, “The truth is out there, but only half of it will ever make Agency Spy.”

Last March, co-founder and chairman Benjamin Palmer left the agency after 14 years, and chief strategy officer Ian Daly was part of a wave of executive departures two months later.

Lau told Digiday last August that finding a permanent CEO was a priority, adding, “I’m not here to change history. I’m here to shape the future.”

With the arrival of Butler as CEO, Lau moves into a role as North American CEO and president of international operations.

Butler arrives at The Barbarian Group from DigitasLBi, where she has served as executive vice president, group director, North American digital products since September of 2013, following stints as director of client services and executive client partner, director of client services for MRY U.S. (formerly LBi U.S.). She also spent over two and a half years as product manager, e-commerce for Barnes & Nobles and in production roles with Deutsch, The New York Times and Conde Nast.

“I have a always been a huge admirer of [The Barbarian Group], their point of view around challenging the status quo, and their reputation for being incredibly fearless in terms of the work,” Butler told Adweek. “It’s a great opportunity to bring this thinking to marketers today and demonstrate how we build brands at the speed of culture.”

“America does not need another agency that doesn’t challenge the status quo,” Lau added. “We’re hoping the positioning we have for each of ours will hopefully help break new ground. This is why we feel so excited about [hiring] Cathy.”

Every weekday, we bring you the Ad Age/iSpot Hot Spots, new and trending TV commercials tracked by iSpot.tv, the real-time TV ad measurement company with attention analytics from 10 million smart TVs. The New Releases here ran on TV for the first time over the weekend. The Most Engaging ads are ranked by digital activity (including online views and social shares) over the past week.

Among the new releases, Target and Michaels both serve up Easter-themed ads (though Target’s spot has a way hipper soundtrack, thanks to Lil Yachty and Carly Rae Jepsen). MLB shows Kris Bryant and Anthony Rizzo teaming up on the Bryzzo Souvenir Co. in a lightly comedic short. And T-Mobile hypes its unlimited data offering with a spot set to The Cadillac Three’s “Keep the Party Going” because, you know, you can keep the party going (or stay home alone, though the ad doesn’t get into that) with unlimited data.

Continue reading at AdAge.com

Today Campaign reports that Naked Communications has closed its largest office in London just over three months after shutting down its New York operations.

We first broke news of the New York operation’s demise in January. The reason for both closings, according to our sources and Campaign’s, was the loss of the Virgin Atlantic business, which was Naked’s largest single account and the only business remaining in its Manhattan office as of the first of the year.

The change came after the Richard Branson-owned brand decided to take all of its digital marketing and electronic customer relationship management work in-house. According to a note from Enero Group, the Australian network that owns Naked, Virgin provided 7 percent of global net revenue for the entire organization as recently as last June.

From the Campaign story:

“Following the contract with Virgin Atlantic terminating on 31 March, it is understood that the agency did not have any other clients and has now folded the operation into another Enero unit.”

Naked remains very much operational in Australia, where it recently won creative and strategic AOR duties for Sigma Pharmaceuticals’ retail division, including the Amcal and Guardian chains.

We have reached out to Naked’s head of PR at Enero-owned firm Hotwire, which also saw its global CEO step down last month after more than 16 years. We will update this post if they provide a statement or more information.