Hasta La Creative!

Cognizant’s purchase of Zone is symptomatic of an industry shift, as chief marketers look beyond advertising.

Dish Network is set to bring on The Richards Group as its new creative agency, according to people with knowledge of the matter.

The Dallas-based agency was selected following a competitive review which was handled by Avidan Strategies, they said. Representatives from Richards Group and Avidan were not immediately available for comment.

Camp & King, Dish Network’s previous agency, declined to participate in the review. The shop declined to comment on why they decided not to compete for the business.

Continue reading at AdAge.com

The agency business is melting down. We’ve seen this before; nevertheless, it is disruptive and there are real people suffering behind the statistics. Derek Thompson of The Atlantic notes: For the first time on record, the number of advertising-specific jobs in the U.S. is declining in the middle of an economic expansion, according to government […]

The post One Day You’re On Fire, The Next Day You’re Having A Melt Down appeared first on Adpulp.

NBC executives will be likely be content with ratings for the first weekend of its 2018 Pyeongchang Olympics coverage, particularly its Total Audience Delivery, or TAD, on Sunday. NBC Olympics posted a TAD of 26 million viewers Sunday in prime time (7 p.m. to 11 p.m.). That was down 1 percent from the first Sunday…

-Seattle-based agency DNA wants to kick off a “Year of Love” a “Love Starts Here” message displayed on 28 windows across the agency’s south and west walls  (video above). “Trust is at an all time low in society – trust in government institutions, business and brands. And that’s a sad commentary on where we are today,” DNA president, chief growth officer Chris Witherspoon said in a statement. “But there is also an opportunity here for brands and businesses to step forward and be a force for good.”

-Dentsu Aegis Network acquired San Francisco-based brand and design agency Character.

-Deutsch New York welcomed Husani Oakley in the newly-created role of senior vice president, director of technology.

-Superunion, WPP’s recent combination of five consultancies and design agencies into one entity, hired Sabah Ashraf as CEO, North America.

-BBDO launched a “What Matters” campaign for GE humanizing the brand’s tech.

-L’Oreal cosmetics brand Vichy assigned its global account to McCann Paris.

-Nordic-based communications group The North Alliance acquired global experience agency North Kingdom.

-Humble added comedic duo The Director Brothers to its directorial roster.

Creative agencies: Get ready to go duck hunting. Insurer Aflac is reviewing its creative account after a long run with Publicis and its predecessor agencies.

“We know that our creative work historically has an impact on distribution and want to ensure that as trends continue to evolve and emerge, we are delivering in meaningful, relevant ways,” said Catherine Hernandez-Blades, senior VP and chief brand and communications officer for Aflac, via email. “As the marketplace evolves and consumers are looking for different options, we want to ensure we are meeting them where they want to be met through robust distribution channels, spectacular customer service and products that are second to none.”

Hernandez-Blades told Ad Age that the process is being managed by Aflac’s Strategic Sourcing and Procurement team. She declined to disclose which agencies are competing for the business.

Continue reading at AdAge.com

Four years into creating an industry standard for viewability that was meant to assure advertisers humans are seeing their online ads, brands are still fine-tuning the metrics used to gauge whether someone saw a promo. And in turn, tension between advertisers, publishers and ad-tech companies is increasing from the manual work needed to change processes….