Hasta La Creative!

In this week’s roundup of the best creative ideas in marketing, Gucci stages a stylish protest recounting a historic Paris uprising, Adidas taps Pogba, Messi and Suarez to “direct” their own ads, home improvement brand Hornbach throws down a major challenge, insurer Hiscox’s billboard reveals the harsh realities of cyberhacking and KFC gives a stellar response to its chicken screw-up.

Presented by Creativity Editor Ann-Christine Diaz. Title Design by Hue & Cry.

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Happy Friday and congratulations again to all of the agencies on any part of Ad Age’s 2018 A-List! For those who don’t know, today is National Toast Day, and while it’s referring to bread, I’m going to suggest that you all grab a drink alcoholic or not and cheers to your success.

Now onto this week’s agency news.

Bolder and older

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The first wave of layoffs in the 12-year history of Droga5’s New York headquarters saw the agency part with 5 percent of total staff today.

According to several parties who reached out to us, approximately 42 individuals first heard the news this morning.

“Droga5 has made the difficult decision to reduce its workforce in New York by approximately 5% in order to reshape the business in line with current business demands,” said an agency spokesperson. “We express our gratitude to the effected employees for their many contributions to Droga5.”

As one party put it, “Just got laid off w/40 other people.”

The agency representative declined to elaborate on the reasons for the shift or offer specifics. We have heard from multiple parties, however, that most departments were affected. Some smaller teams, like legal and public relations, may have been untouched, but at least two human resources staff members were let go.

It is not clear whether any senior-level Droga5 employees lost their jobs today. This news follows the recent firings of COO Ted Royer and London ECD Rick Dodds, but their departures do not at this time appear to be directly related to the layoffs.

On the business front, sources speaking on background confirmed that Mattress Firm and Tencent have significantly reduced their remits with Droga5, though they technically remain clients.

Mattress Firm has not responded to requests for comment, but its parent company Steinhoff International has been in legal and financial trouble amid reports that it inflated financial reports. CEO Markus Jooste stepped down last December amid a significant drop in both sales and stock prices.

Mom is non-threatening. She wears a cardigan, she’s rarely seen outside the home and she adores her family. She’s not a unique individual with her own will and wishes at all–just a prim, proper, wholesome mother. We’ve all seen that narrative portrayed in 1950s-era consumer products ads from the likes of Tide, Coca-Cola and, of…

Droga5 has laid off about 5 percent, which is approximately 40 people, in its New York office.

The layoffs were across all major departments at the agency, including several people in HR. Droga5 declined to comment on specifics around the job cuts.

“Droga5 has made the difficult decision to reduce its workforce in New York by approximately 5 percent in order to reshape the business in line with current business demands,” an agency spokeswoman said in a statement. “We express our gratitude to the affected employees for their many contributions to Droga5.”

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Nike-owned Converse, best known for those timeless Chuck Taylor sneakers, has placed its global media buying and planning business in review.

Multiple parties close to the matter confirm that the company recently issued an RFI. According to these sources, the query included questions about various global regions. Converse purportedly looks to consolidate the entirety of that business with a single agency network.

A spokesperson for PHD, which is incumbent on the U.S. business, confirmed that the review is active and that it will not be pitching. The Omnicom agency won Converse away from Mediavest in early 2015.

Sources say Nike has reached out to WPP, but it’s not clear at this time which networks are involved. Spokespeople for GroupM and MEC did not respond to emails regarding the review, and Converse PR has not responded to multiple emails and phone calls this week.

The precise scope of the review is also unclear. It follows AdAge’s January report on Nike’s “reverse auction” reviews, which are designed to reduce overall agency fees.

Sales of Converse shoes dropped significantly last year, with the biggest hit coming in the North American market. But Nike implied that this was part of an intentional effort to make the shoes more desirable, citing “a purposeful tightening of supply in North America” along with considerable gains in China.

According to our sources, the review does not touch on creative, which has been with Anomaly since 2007.

Greg Paull, co-founder and principal of international search consultancy R3, estimated that Nike spends around $100 million each year promoting the various Converse brands around the world.

Kantar Media’s latest numbers, however, have the U.S. totals at only $3.5 million for 2016.

You may wonder, how is it that innovative brands like Microsoft, Netflix, HBO and GE stay ahead of the competition? A lot surely goes into answering that question, but search consultancy VentureFuel claims to be a small sliver in the pie. Launched four years ago, VentureFuel actively vets hundreds of global startups daily and then…

Jessie Diggins made history in Pyeongchang earlier this week when she, along with team sprint freestyle partner Kikkan Randall, won the first Olympic gold medal for the U.S. in cross-country skiing. Diggins’ come-from-behind win inspired some truly epic announcing and also led to her selection as the U.S. flag bearer for Sunday’s closing ceremony. Fans…