Hasta La Creative!

Lord, forgiveth as we’ve receiveth this news from the newswire and not a scoop, but yes, as you’ve probably seen in other realms, Tim Maleeny has been appointed as chief strategy officer for Havas Worldwide’s flagship New York office. You might remember back in the day, when hires, etc. were in bullet point posts on this here site, but yes, Maleeny joins from Ogilvy, where he spent nearly four years as a senior partner/head of account planning.

We’ll spare you the hellishness of the usual hyperbolic quotes and just tell you that Maleeny will work alongside Havas Worldwide Chicago CSO James Lou, who has been with said agency for 18 months (dating back to when it was still Euro RSCG) and has served on the strategy side at the likes of DDB and McCann during his career. As for Maleeny, the newest Havas exec will now lead strategy for clients including Dos Equis, New York Life, Charles Schwab, Merck, and IBM.

New Career Opportunities Daily: The best jobs in media.

Well, Team Detroit has been its usual uncommunicative self, but after hearing about it through the Spy line for nearly a week, the proof’s now in the punch that Brad Audet has moved from said Detroit-based, Ford-focused agency to fellow WPP-owned shop, Garage Team Mazda. Audet has now assumed the role of EVP/general manager at the Irvine, CA-based GTM (or TheGarage as the kids are calling it nowadays), which was set up three years ago and has lured over the likes of fellow JWT alum Harvey Marco as its creative chief since its inception.

Audet spent nearly five years at Team Detroit, where he initially signed on as new biz head before moving up to both EVP/managing director and co-president of its small-mid-sized client-focused unit, Pulse. Once again, we’re checking with Team Detroit to see if there’s a replacement in the works, but as usual, we’re hitting a wall. Anyhow, during his career, Audet has held senior account positions at the likes of the aforementioned JWT (on Ford, natch) as well as Mullen and McCann.

New Career Opportunities Daily: The best jobs in media.

In this episode of Cubes, the crew takes its first trip across the East River to see the DUMBO digs of ad agency Huge. No, they don’t live in a Disney film, DUMBO is New York for “Down Under the Manhattan Bridge Overpass,” meaning it’s in Brooklyn.

And under that Manhattan Bridge Overpass, the mediabistro crew found the Huge folks hiply ensconced in the same space where the cardboard box was invented. OK, so maybe you’re not so into the whole ‘cardboard box thing.’ You’ll most likely want to watch as the wordplay ensues with Huge Dogs, Huge copy machines named after Huge Dogs, Huge conference rooms named after celebrities who are huge but not Huge and a really cool space where Huge staffers get to do their thing.

You can view our other MediabistroTV productions on our YouTube Channel.

New Career Opportunities Daily: The best jobs in media.

If his subtle Instagram post from a few days ago (above) doesn’t provide a clue, a handful of tweets late last week from Mike Jacobson  (below) basically confirms that the veteran 72andSunny strategist is heading east and taking a job at Dentsu-owned 360i next month.

We’re trying to get confirmation/details from either 360i or its new hire, the latter of whom recently (and perhaps unfortunately) received a heap of backlash in the comment thread of our post regarding his efforts to raise money for Boston Marathon first responders. We’ll avoid dwelling on it further so as not to rain on his parade. So, let’s just tell you that Jacobson, who as some of you may know also has a second  career as a magician, spent five years in all aat 72andSunny, leading day-to-day strategy for clients including Activision (on Call of Duty: Black Ops efforts) and NBA 2K12.

Update: Sources familiar with the matter confirm that Jacobson is joining 360i as a strategist in mid-June.

Update 2: And Jacobson himself has responded in kind, confirming that, ” Yes. But this move is mostly to be closer to the AgencySpy headquarters.” We’re not sure if we should be thrilled or worried. Carry on.

New Career Opportunities Daily: The best jobs in media.

It’s time to dust off the blind item category once again as we received a couple of tips on this and are still checking in on things, but since we’re getting the cold shoulder, figure it’s best to leave it our readership to decide. Here’s the last word from the Spy line that we received over the weekend. Feel free to weigh in. Names have obviously been redacted, but it does involve a holding company you’re all familiar with and one employee (at least) who seems to have had it.

“[Redacted} ad agencies continue to be on salary freezes. Some employees haven’t had a raise in 4-6 years. [Redacted] profits continue to rise, as does executive compensation. But for 95% of employees, wages have actually gone down when you factor in real increases like medical, dental premium increases, etc.”

Hmm, maybe it was that pesky payroll tax that played into the mix? Whatever the case, we’ll keep looking into this.

New Career Opportunities Daily: The best jobs in media.

In case you’re not attending or could care less about the 2013 CLIOs on May 15 at the Museum of Natural History in NYC, here’s a quick breakdown for you. A jury including W+K Entertainment president Bill Davenport and Wunderman EVP/chief creative officer Nick Moore have decided to bestow the award show’s highest accolade to the brands/agencies/people below. See if you agree or disagree and go here for more information.

·       Hall of Fame, Design: Turner Duckworth, San Francisco

·       Hall of Fame, Film & Print: DDB New York

·       Hall of Fame, Audio: The Richards Group, Dallas

·       Agency of the Year: Marcel Worldwide, Paris

·       Agency Network of the Year: Ogilvy & Mather, New York

·       Production Company of the Year: Biscuit Filmworks, Los Angeles

·       Advertiser of the Year: Google

·       Brand Icon: Coca-Cola

·       Lifetime Achievement: George Lois

·       Honorary CLIO: will.i.am & Patricia Field

New Career Opportunities Daily: The best jobs in media.

If you don’t feel like watching the whole 3-minute Portfolio Night Boston clip from SapientNitro above, here’s a brief summary: A hipper-than-thou ad creative pitches a wealth of concepts to an agency head. The problem is, that this mustache-sporting creative’s ideas hinge on a litany of buzzwords and tech-y hoopla, which the agency head (OMG! Look at his CLIOs! Look at Cannes Lions!) shakes his head at. The creative is then escorted out of the building, and we see the words “Idea Before Everything” flash across the screen.

You’ve probably seen this execution done hundreds of times before, many times made by agencies that see these little vignettes as an opportunity to advertise themselves as shops that “get it.” They do so by making fun of whatever new ad trends are the talk of the town right now, making sure that the viewer (who is generally either an employee or someone who works at another agency, like you) knows that they don’t buy into bullshit hype and that their work is somehow pure. But, let’s be honest, does anyone really believe that? Has anyone won new business that way? Can any of you say that you never worked at an agency that unironically bought into these kinds of hype-driven executions this video mocks? Sure, it has to done, because that’s what clients want, but let’s not pretend that all of us have clean hands.

I guess what I’m asking for is that agencies who preach innovation to start marketing themselves in an innovative fashion. That, or how about we actually practice what we preach and don’t make creative that actually does hinge on whatever buzzword Mashable puts on their homepage (not going to happen). For the record, I’m not calling out SapientNitro in particular. I’m just tired of seeing this idea.

New Career Opportunities Daily: The best jobs in media.

Advertising Agency: Leo Burnett Dubai Creative Directors: Peter Bidenko, Nabil Rashid Art Director / Illustrator: Rafael Augusto Junior Art Director: Mahdy Elhosseny Copywriter: Sunny Deo Via [AdsOfTheWorld]

With Portfolio Night 11 drawing nearer, we’re starting to receive an increasing amount of content from agencies who are either hosting or just celebrating the fact that their city’s taking part in the annual global recruiting/review event. We’ll try to keep the coverage to a minimum since we actually have no stake in PN 11, but a few entries have caught our eye over the last week or so including Doner’s tribute to Eminem and 8 Mile.

The latest interesting submission comes to us from Sid Lee New York, which is serving as Big Apple host for this year’s event. As mentioned in the headline, the agency has decided to create a speed dating atmosphere for creatives complete with speed-dating style tables (with tablecloths) and chairs), ’90s-style name tags (whatever those look like), ’90s dating videos playing on a projector (think those old “Great Expectations” commercials), breath mints, disco ball, a car keys bowl for creative directors to leave business cards and even a photo/”kissing” booth. Considering the ’80s-style promo above (with a track that sounds like M83) and the disco ball, though, we’re not sure what decade Sid Lee is exactly waxing nostalgic about. Whatever the case, the agency will try to play Cupid in its NY PN 11 installment, which takes place at the Art Directors Club on May 22 in Chelsea. Get full info here.

New Career Opportunities Daily: The best jobs in media.

Now that Creature has offered its twist on window shopping during the holidays, the Seattle-based agency returns with another outdoor effort of sorts, which it’s dubbing “You Were Here.” Celebrating the clash between “vanity and voyeurism,” the shop has adorned its storefront window with what seems to be a two-way mirror not unlike one you’d see in any interrogation during a cop drama. Well, just as you’d imagine, Creature’s eyes are on you as well and by using two laptop-controlled cameras complete with motion-sensing programs, the agency captures the various passersby and posts the images to a Tumblr site.

As Creature explains, the goal of “You Were Here” is to not only gain attention from pedestrians, but play up the fact that many of those wandering by have no idea what the hell the agency does. We’re not sure if this somewhat invasive, but fun effort makes it any clearer, but enjoy the show if you’re in the neighborhood while it lasts.

New Career Opportunities Daily: The best jobs in media.