Hasta La Creative!

CreativeDrive, a production company or “global content provider,” has agreed to acquire Carlsbad-based “motion content agency” PIA. PALAZZO served as financial advisor on the deal. Specifics have not been disclosed.

The former organization is part of private equity firm Bertram Capital’s portfolio, along with such widely varied businesses across the healthcare, ecommerce and auto industries.

Moving forward, PIA will help anchor and expand CreativeDrive’s “crowdsourced freelance management system.” In short, it is a platform that looks to bypass the agency model altogether by connecting clients to its network of “25,000 video creators and journalists in 180 countries.” Perhaps you’ve heard of this approach.

“PIA’s premier, award-winning storytelling combined with their creative and strategic oversight of our designated video freelancers will provide clients with all manner of video content needs—from short-form and real time, to long-form and culturally relevant—all with cinematic quality and leading finishing,” said Myles Peacock, the former Omnicom production executive who joined CreativeDrive in 2017.

Here’s the kicker: PIA will help CreativeDrive “address the process challenges many clients face when working with freelancers, whether it be having the appropriate staff with the time to write compelling and comprehensive briefs, or managing how those briefs are ultimately interpreted by the freelancers.”

So they will perform most of the duties that would normally fall to a “traditional” agency “with ownership and accountability of the story and final creative.”

Agency CEO Cheryl Pia and president, CCO Cliff Pia will retain their roles while accepting new responsibilities; the former will head up the recently launched Women’s Leadership Council while the latter will lead creative for the larger CreativeDrive organization.

As an example of PIA’s recent work, here’s a video created to honor MLK Day “in reaction to the escalation of racially driven acts of violence.”

PIA’s clients have included P&G, PepsiCo, HP, Disney and Microsoft, among others.

Cathie Black is a media superstar and a force to be reckoned with. She was the first female publisher of New York Magazine, president and publisher of USA Today, president of Hearst Magazines (home of Harper’s Bazaar, Cosmopolitan, Esquire, and Town & Country), and the New York City Schools Chancellor. Black is also one of […]

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TBWA’s cultural insight studio, Backslash, unveiled its 2018 Pre-Trends report today, with input from 250 TBWA creatives and strategists from around the word.

According to the report, the five big trends you can expect in 2018 are: genetic activism, “vapourware” or fictional fashion, bot-manufactured content, the rise of block chain and meme money and a social media leader starting a cult.

The agency walks through its top five predictions in a video featuring two Backslash employees, as well as the implications for brands.

After watching the video we still have a few questions, such as: Why is what appears to be an old truck with a pair of surfboards on the roof parked in what we assume is the middle of Backslash’s office? We also have to admit we still don’t completely understand what Blockchain is.

In regards to genetic activism, the agency summarized, “As DNA technology empowers people to predict and manage their healthcare, they will rise up to demand solutions and pharmaceutical investment for conditions they may not yet have.”

The idea is that as people have more access to genetic information through services like 23andMe, they will “demand action, treatment and recognition based on their DNA profiles.”

The agency coined the term “vapourware” for the predicted phenomenon of “computer-generated goods like lenses, filters and virtual designs created purely to be worn for social media.” Kids these days.

Bot-manufactured content isn’t hard to explain, nor much of a surprise in the wake of AI-CD ?, McCann Japan’s AI creative director. As you may recall, creative director Mitsuru Kuramoto defeated his artificially intelligent counterpart in a subsequent creative battle and AI-CD ? went on to make some, uh, questionable decisions when asked to create a music video for Kawaii pop girl group Magical Punchline. Still, Backslash predicts that “human made” tags may be required in the near future.

The idea of a social media influencer starting a cult, sadly, is all too believable.

McCann’s London division has won the global advertising account of Pernod Ricard-owned Scotch whiskey brand Chivas Regal, following a competitive four-way pitch process.

Along with the IPG creative shop, Bartle Bogle Hegarty, Crispin Porter + Bogusky and Wieden + Kennedy participated in the pitch, according to a person close to the matter.

“The McCann team impressed [us] with their fresh creative and strategic thinking, which we believe will help take Chivas to the next level,” said Richard Black, Chivas Regal global marketing director. “We look forward to a long and fruitful partnership.”

The global account used to belong to Havas Worldwide. The agency, which did not immediately respond to a request for comment, was responsible for Chivas Regal’s 2014 “Win the Right Way” campaign, which honored entrepreneurs that operate their businesses to better society.

Founded in 1909, Chivas Regal describes itself as the “world’s first luxury whiskey” and a “truly global brand,” having a presence in 150 countries.

“We are over the moon with our appointment on the Chivas brand,” McCann London CEO Alex Lubar added. “To date, the team has been a wonderfully collaborative  partner and the opportunities for the brand moving forward are immense.”

A McCann London spokesperson said the agency’s larger global group supported it through the pitch.

Back in February, Office Depot moved its account to Zimmerman Advertising without a review, ending its relationship with McCann and IPG.

Ten months later, following a series of executive changes at the company that include new CMO Jerri DeVard, CEO Gerry P. Smith and chief digital officer Kevin Moffitt, the chain has once again placed its business in review. And this time, Zimmerman won’t be participating.

Agency CEO Michael Goldberg declined to comment, but one party with knowledge of the business confirmed that they won’t defend the account.

Zimmerman launched a campaign for Office Depot over the summer that revived the 1974 Bachman-Turner Overdrive song “Takin’ Care of Business” as the brand’s theme song. The agency had formerly served as OD’s creative lead beginning in 2011, with the chain then selecting McCann New York and UM as its agency partners following a review in the summer of 2014.

Earlier this week, we learned that Zimmerman won the majority of McDonald’s regional business when the chain decided to shrink its agency roster on the accounts over the summer.

Well, it happened again.

A little over a year after picking up Karmarama, Accenture Interactive announced its acquisition of Irish creative agency Rothco yesterday.

“Clients are looking to create human-centered brand experiences by connecting every interaction they have with their customers,” Anatoly Roytman, Accenture Interactive’s Europe, Africa and Latin America lead said in a statement. “Bringing Rothco into Accenture Interactive will extend our ability to accomplish this and create the greatest experiences on the planet.”

Accenture’s acquisition of the Dublin-based full service agency further expands its creative capabilities in Europe and complements its existing offerings in the U.K. and Ireland. According to a press release, Accenture plans to scale Rothco internationally. The acquisition adds a team of around 150 creative, strategy, tech, design, production and product management professionals to Accenture.

“We’re delighted about welcoming such a talented group of creative professionals into the Accenture family. Rothco is a great fit for our business in Ireland. Dublin is not only an innovation and technology hub, it is a creative and cultural capital,” Alastair Blair, country managing director of Accenture in Ireland said in a statement. “Experience is the new battleground and we are creating new ways for our clients to engage with their customers. Once the acquisition is completed, more than 150 professionals from Rothco will join Accenture to help our clients innovate and lead in their markets.”

“When this came about it felt like a very natural conversation to go along with and really for the last year we’ve been in the process of getting to know each other philosophically and practically,” Rothco CEO Patrick Hickey told LBB.

“We’re in the creative business and we wanted to do something with partners that was going to give the people here a bigger stage to perform on. That’s why we ended up doing this with Accenture interactive,” he added. “Their technology capabilities are world-renowned and we do great creative ideas and when you combine the two it has the potential to be magic.”

Hickey founded Rothco along with Paul Hughes and Patrick Ronaldson and 1995. Its client roster includes Heineken, Tesco, Lyons, Gas Network Ireland and Defence Forces Ireland.

About two and a half years ago, we first learned about The Annex. It was a new project from the folks at Havas Chicago, who weren’t quite ready to discuss it at the time.

Since then, it has grown!

Today the agency put out a press release and flashy sizzle reel all about how Annex is BLOWING THE FUCK UP because they just don’t sleep out in Chi-town.

Notice a couple of brands in there: American Spirit and Camel.

We aren’t familiar with the intricacies of contracts with tobacco companies, but Havas has never directly confirmed that they won the RJ Reynolds business from BFG Communications around three years ago.

Both Leo Burnett and Havas also declined to discuss their tobacco clients for last month’s Adweek piece about the new, court-mandated anti-smoking campaigns. Now it seems as if Annex is a bit more upfront about marketing these products to young people, though the client doesn’t get a mention in the press release.

“Instagram influencer Jason Peterson” (their words) does get a few choice words in, though:

“I clearly saw a huge gap in the industry. The first campaign shot on the iPhone should have been a wake up call to agencies, but many weren’t listening. While other agencies observe emerging trend and culture and try to latch on, we knew we had to be creators of it. We hire through any emerging platform and get the voices of the moment inside our business, instead of standing outside trying to keep up. As we’ve seen many times, the cost of being tone-deaf is high. The pulse of the Annex tells us where to be and how to be there.”

Dude is onto something, because this year the Annex expanded to New York, Atlanta and Singapore, with the former arising from the ashes of the Omnicom consultancy Flamingo.

From the release we also learn that each office will have “its own unique value” and that a music-focused service is coming in 2018. Business Insider also ran a more in-depth piece that tells us a bit more about how The Annex is moving away from traditional agency models.

It’s worth noting, in that story, that the agency’s own estimates of its annual revenue were revised from $80 million to $30 million.

In an effort to cut costs, McDonald’s consolidated its local advertising business this summer with just seven agencies, a sharp decline from the 58 it used to employ, according to sources with direct knowledge of the situation.

One person, who spoke on condition of anonymity, confirmed that the agencies chosen were longtime partners Lopez Negrete, Bernstein-Rein, Moroch, Davis Elen and H&L and newcomers Zimmerman and Doner.

Another reliable source confirmed this lineup, which was first reported by AdAge, and added that Zimmerman has since lost an unspecified portion of the business—which amounted to 19 regional co-ops including Ohio. The chain’s 180 cooperatives had been consolidated to 50 prior to the review. Each then chose an agency partner from the list of 7.

It’s unclear why Zimmerman lost a portion of its responsibilities.

“Building the modern, progressive company that we aspire to be involves changing the way we do business,” a McDonald’s spokeswoman wrote in an email to Adweek. “In order to accelerate our efforts to engage customers across all platforms to advance our brand vision, we aim to streamline and modernize our local marketing efforts in 2018.”

She declined to comment further.

Zimmerman also declined to comment, deferring to the client. The agency had not previously worked with McDonald’s, but the primary source said McDonald’s relationship with Omnicom—centered on the dedicated agency We Are Unlimited—played a key role in the chain’s decision to assign the work to the Florida agency.

The decision to consolidate came from McDonald’s executives, who are being pressured to deliver on a pledge they’ve made to produce $300 million in cost savings over the next five years, according to the primary source.

McDonald’s CEO Steve Easterbrook has been laser-focused on what he calls a “velocity growth plan” to reduce costs and streamline operations as the fast-food chain invests heavily in new technology and works to return capital to shareholders.

Per a Kantar Media report, McDonald’s spent $791.3 million on advertising in the U.S. in 2016 and $350.7 million in the first half of this year.

Anomaly London got some serious star power for the agency’s holiday video about a girl named Hope who addresses a letter to Satan instead of Santa.

Sir Patrick Stewart provides narration for the animated comedic tale of a misaddressed letter which would “changes the very face of Christmas.”

The only thing Hope wants for Christmas is a puppy, but her letter arrives in hell rather than the North Pole. There Satan has all the feels when he reads Hope’s kind words. This really shakes things up down in hell, leading to a chain of events that has quite the impact on Christmas Day. Think South Park meets The Nightmare Before Christmas and you sort of have the idea.

We’re not normally fans of agency holiday vanity projects, but Anomaly did something really out of the ordinary with this outlandish animated tale. It seems safe to say you won’t see anything quite like it from the batch of agency holiday stunts this year. Plus, who can resist Patrick Stewart?

Interpublic named Kristen Cavallo as the first female chief executive officer of the Martin Agency in Richmond. Cavallo, most recently U.S. chief strategy and growth officer at MullenLowe in Boston, will succeed current CEO Matt Williams, effective immediately. Earlier this month, the Martin Agency dismissed its chief creative officer, Joe Alexander. The dismissal followed an […]

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