Hasta La Creative!

Leo Burnett Chicago launched a New Year’s spot for Allstate featuring the brand’s long-running Mayhem character, as portrayed by actor Dean Winters, (who played one-time Liz Lemon boyfriend/Beeper King Dennis Duffy on 30 Rock).

This time around, Mayhem has changed his tune. In fact, he claims his New Year’s resolution is to stop causing mayhem, with a look back at the various forms he’s taken over the years. Instead, he wants to be something that helps keep people safe, like that tennis ball in your garage that prevents you from pulling in too far.

The spot ends with a knowing wink via the line, “Resolutions are made to be broken,” followed by the tagline “Are you in good hands?” After years of the same schtick, the spot represents an interesting change of pace for the character, with a promise of a return to form at a future date.

The ad is part of the first phase of Leo Burnett Chicago’s new “#ResolutionsAreMayhem” campaign for Allstate, which kicked off on December 29. According to The Drum, the next stage of the campaign will roll out on January 8, during the national broadcast of the College Football National Championship game. In addition to the ads, the campaign also includes digital and social components utilizing the “#ResolutionsAreMayhem” hashtag.

Credits:
Client: Allstate

Agency: Leo Burnett Chicago
EVP, Executive Creative Directors: Mikal Pittman & Dave Loew
VP, Creative Directors: Chris Von Ende & Mike Ward
Senior Producer: Leah Karabenick
SVP, Executive Producer: Denis Giroux
VP, Account Director: Bianca Bradford
Account Supervisor: Ryan Seagram

Production: Epoch Films
Director: Phil Morrison
Director of Photography: Jess Hall
Line Producer: Martha Davis
Executive Producer: Melissa Culligan

Editorial: Whitehouse Post
Editor: Matthew Wood

Post FX: The Mill Chicago
Color: Luke Morrison
VFX Supervisor: Udesh Chetty

Sound Design: Another Country
Sound Engineer: John Binder

Mike Germano, the founder and CEO of Vice-owned digital agency Carrot Creative and chief digital officer of its parent media company, was suspended today pending the results of an internal investigation into harassment claims against him.

The announcement comes via an internal memo from Vice COO/CFO Sarah Broderick. Variety broke news of the memo today before Bloomberg followed up with its own report. Germano was not the only executive affected; Vice president Andrew Creighton was also suspended.

These moves follow the December 23 publication of a long-rumored New York Times expose on Vice’s history as a “toxic environment” for women. That story included two specific incidents regarding encounters between Germano and women who worked with him, both of whom spoke to NYT on the record. In a statement, the executive acknowledged that his behavior toward one of these women had been “inappropriate.”

Vice itself adopted a very apologetic tone, with co-founders Shane Smith and Suroosh Alvi expressing “extreme regret for our role in perpetuating sexism in the media industry and society in general.”

Today’s memo states that Germano has “encouraged” the current investigation, which will be led by Vice’s HR team and an unnamed “external investigator.” In the meantime, Carrot Creative president Adam Katzenback will take his place and report to Vice creative agency Virtue COO Ryan Mack.

Read the full reports for more.

-W+K Delhi launched this “Let Your Sound be Seen” spot for Budweiser to promote the brand’s Budweiser Experiences initiative in India (video above).

-Project Worldwide agencies Wondersauce, Spinfex, Praytell and George P. Johnson will now have a centralized office in London as Project expands its European operations.

-LendingTree selected R2C Group as its new media agency partner, following a review.

-Southern California cannabis retailer MadMen wrapped Whiskey a Go Go in OOH ads to celebrate the legalization of recreational cannabis in the state.

-Philip Morris claims its resolution is to “give up smoking,” is totally into vaping now, bro.

-San Francisco agency Odysseus Arms welcomed account supervisor Gillian McBrayer and junior strategist Caroline Sinclair to its account team.

-Station-free bike share program ofo selected Catch New York as its agency of record.

A month after the Papa John’s debacle that saw American neo-Nazi site The Daily Stormer calling the brand the pizza of the alt-right, it’s been given an unexpected holiday gift: a tweet from rapper Lil Jon, who said he’d like to be the company’s CEO.

Now it seems the tossed-off proposition has begun to evolve into an actual relationship.

The latest twist in a very twisty year for the pizza chain began last Friday, when John Schnatter, Papa John’s controversial founder, said he’s stepping down from his post as CEO, handing the reins over to Chief Operating Officer Steve Ritchie as of Jan. 1. This followed his blaming of the brand’s weak sales, during an earnings call, on the NFL national anthem protests and the league’s response.

Continue reading at AdAge.com

Vice Media Inc. suspended President Andrew Creighton and Chief Digital Officer Mike Germano while it investigates harassment claims against them, according to a memo obtained by Bloomberg.

Allegations against Germano will be reviewed by an external investigator, Chief Operating Officer Sarah Broderick said in an email to staff. The claim against Creighton was already looked into by an outside firm and was found to lack merit, but board members will examine it as a further step, she said.

Vice’s co-founders told employees last month the company had “failed” them after the New York Times published a story describing more than a dozen cases of sexual misconduct and legal settlements paid to four women. The article described a $135,000 settlement paid by Creighton to a former employee who said she was fired after rejecting a relationship with him, and had two accounts of women who said Germano made inappropriate overtures to them.

Continue reading at AdAge.com

Subway has tried a variety of campaigns from a variety of agencies in the past few years aimed at getting customers to stop thinking about its $5 Footlong sub sandwich. Now it’s shaving a penny off that abandoned price point and hyping the price in the hopes of getting people to think about visiting the chain.

The $4.99 Footlong Favorites offer follows the December departure of North American Senior Marketing VP Karlin Linhardt, who left Subway after just eight months amid a report about friction between the sandwich chain and its franchises over the $4.99 approach. The New York Post last month referred to it as a nationwide revolt. The company declined to comment on whether his departure was related to the footlong promotion.

A third highlights the price with a switch in music.

Continue reading at AdAge.com

KBS is saying goodbye to Patrick Scissons, who joined the MDC Partners agency in June 2016 as its first global chief creative officer.

“We will be replacing Patrick with a New York CCO in the near future,” said Guy Hayward, global CEO of KBS, via email. “In the interim, the department will be led by the existing creative leadership team.”

Hayward declined to go into detail about Scissons’ departure, but said the global CCO role will be eliminated. However, someone with knowledge of the matter told Ad Age that Scissons’ exit was KBS’ decision as part of the agency’s shift to put focus more on creative in the U.S. and New York.

Continue reading at AdAge.com

After an investigation by The Times, the company reconsiders sexual harassment allegations against its president and chief digital officer.