Hasta La Creative!

Huge confirmed today that it will close all offices in Brazil, ending its presence in the South American nation after approximately 6 years.

Following the announcement, the IPG digital agency will consolidate its business on the continent within two offices in nearby Colombia.

The given reason for the move concerns the ongoing economic crisis stemming from the collapse of Brazil’s government.

A Huge spokesperson provided the following statement:

In recent years, Brazil’s severe economic problems have made the marketplace unsustainable for our business. Accordingly, we’ve made the difficult decision to consolidate our Latin American business into our Colombian offices in Medellin and Bogota. We are incredibly proud of what our team has achieved in Brazil and the contributions they have made to Huge and we are doing what we can to support them during this transition.

Huge Rio De Janeiro officially opened in 2011 to work with clients in the country’s “financial, telecommunications and media industries,” according to the agency’s website. Less than two years ago, Huge opened a new location in Brazil’s largest city of Sao Paulo and a studio in Porto Alegre.

Despite the fact that the latter announcement cited “an impressive 126% growth in Brazil in 2015,” sources tell us that Huge has struggled in Brazil as the country itself goes through a massive economic and political crisis that started more than two years ago and shows no sign of resolution.

The crisis led to the impeachment of former president Dilma Rousseff and the (unsuccessful) indictment of current president Michel Temer. One executive at another Brazilian agency recently explained the situation by saying, “our society has collapsed.”

Huge has declined to elaborate on the above statement. It is unclear how many staff members have been affected and how many will transfer to Colombia. The global organization has a considerable number of Brazilan employees, many of whom currently work in the United States.

[Pic via Huge]

Roger Bova, a Barton F. Graf and Anomaly alum, joined Publicis Groupe shop Deutsch New York last week as head of design.

Bova, most recently head of design at Barton F. Graf, will report directly to Deutsch New York CCO Dan Kelleher, working across all accounts including Busch, Johnson & Johnson, Siemens, DraftKings and PNC Bank.

“Roger is everything we could want in our head of design—brilliant art direction and creativity, as well as great leadership and a genuine passion for the business,” Kelleher said in a statement.

As head of design at Barton F. Graf, Bova worked with brands such as Clash of Clans, Ketel One and Snyder’s of Hanover, as well as The Coverage Coalition for the Affordable Care Act. Prior to that, he was design director at Anomaly, where his work for Budweiser was credited with reshaping packaging and brand guidelines.

“I can’t state how excited I am that Dan brought me aboard to lead design,” said Bova. “Deutsch’s roster of established and upstart brands are fertile ground for bringing a strong design [point of view] to all of their clients’ touchpoints—from ?screens to shelves. It’s going to be fun. I can’t wait to get going.”

This year, Bova also opened his own studio, Roger&Co, which collaborates with various clients, design firms and ad agencies such as Arnell Group, Rockstar Games and Abrams Books.

Bova replaces former Deutsch New York head of design Craig Ward, who left after just one year in the role. Along with being given the head of design title, Ward was appointed executive vice president in September 2016. He left the agency this past September.

Executive producer Amy Miranda founded Toronto-based creative services company Lunch in 2009, following stints at TAXI and Grip Limited, offering advertising, marketing and content production services. Lunch has worked with brands including Paramount Pictures, Red Bull, Clorox of Canada, Brita Canada, Pee-wee Herman and Nickelodeon, as well as a number of agencies.

Now Miranda is launching Lunch 2.0 with an all-female creative leadership team.

In addition to Miranda, the leadership team includes: documentary filmmaker, writer, and educator Chanda? ?Chevannes as factual content lead; Natalie? ?Urquhart, who worked as an associate producer on NBCUniversal’s Suits, joins as narrative content lead; executive producer Jen Mete will serve as integrated and experiential lead; Stripe & Crane Consulting founder, managing director Elaine Li joins as strategy and media lead; painter Sasha Pierce will serve as fine art lead, Tornto based artist Irene? ?Angelopoulos will serve as illustration and animation lead and Gloria? ?Ui? ?Young? ?Kim and Avery? ?Plewes will both serve as creative leads.

“Lunch is almost 9 years old and part of the model has been really being agile and being able to reinvent ourselves and form almost like Voltron around our clients based on what they need,” Miranda said in a statement. “However, this year was different, for a number of reasons. A lot of systems are proving to be ineffective in the world right now. Right down to capitalism and how businesses are run, and the political climate has definitely had an impact on how everyone is feeling, so I noticed it was taking a toll on our creators, both women and men.”

“We have always done business differently and been transparent with how we work, but I think a lot of things were spelled out this year. The inequality, the lack of diversity, the issues with the standard model of business. Advertising has always been a business that has been male dominant and this year I started to really notice it more and more, and it caused me to look at what we do, and how we do it. Same goes for the business side,” she added. “I started to think about the whole model. How could I adjust to not only give more women more opportunity but how could I also change the model to benefit the creators making the magic happen.”

“I’ve had a lot of relationships with female creative leadership, but I’ve always been the one at the helm at Lunch. So I started to look at my own teams and whether I was doing the best I could, and I realized I could do better,” Miranda added. “However I’ve also always been a huge supporter of being transparent and fair with our teams and creators…So not only did I want to reinvent the model to do what I could to lead the charge with putting an all female leadership team together to lead different verticals, I also wanted to make the model more attractive because with talent there’s attrition. ”

In addition to its all-female leadership team, Miranda said that the new model also provides senior creatives and leadership “the ability to benefit from the work they attract and bring in. I was compelled to put a stake in the ground, not just for us but for the industry. To say, here’s a way to do it. I felt a compulsion to do something that would hopefully inspire others to think the same way.”

“I also wanted to do something about the amount of creative content being produced for women, that is not being produced by women. Sometimes women aren’t even touching the work yet it’s being made for them as consumers,” she added.

Lunch 2.0 also includes a “code of conduct on the #MeToo movement,” of which Miranda said, “I am a survivor myself and do work with women recovering so it was also a personal commitment from me, that I was going to provide a safe space for everyone. Our male collaborators have been incredibly supportive, when I shared with them what I was planning to do, their response was ‘Great!’.”

Former JWT Toronto chief creative officer Ryan Spelliscy (pictured right) is launching an independent agency in Toronto called Juliet, along with co-founder, head of art Denise Cole (pictured left) and co-founder, chief strategy officer Sarah Stringer (pictured center).

“Juliet doesn’t need to be your full service anything,” Spelliscy, who will serve as Juliet’s chief creative officer, said in a statement. “We’re a tap made up of creative strategists, writers, designers, producers, media planners and other rebellious minds, that attaches to your existing infrastructure. Our one true love is creative-thinking.”

“We don’t believe that any one place can do everything well,” he added. “For example, analytics isn’t our speciality. But we have huge respect for it. So we partner with the best player in that field rather than try to be them.”

Spelliscy spent the past four years at JWT Toronto, serving as senior vice president, executive creative director and then chief creative officer. Before joining JWT he spent a year with BBDO Toronto as an associate creative director, followed by nearly two years as co-creative director for Sid Lee Toronto.

Stringer explained that the agency’s name was inspired by a certain Shakespeare character.

“Juliet was a badass who had the conviction to chase what could be over what’s always been,” she said in a statement. “We can relate because we believe a lot of what’s always been in the advertising industry should be left behind. If we want to connect with human beings, we need to tell more interesting stories, in more interesting places, and add real value to their lives. Helping brands reach their true potential requires solving challenges beyond the walls of traditional marketing departments.”

Stringer most recently served as vice president, human insights and brand strategy at Tornto consultancy Jackman Reinvents, following around a year and a half as vice president, strategic planning director at JWT Toronto. Prior to that she spent a year as director of strategy for KBS+ Toronto and has previously worked in account supervisor and account director roles with Ogilvy & Mather New York and BBH New York, working with clients including Kraft, AT&T, Unilver and Levi’s.

Cole arrives following nearly four and a half years with JWT Toronto, as art director and associate creative director. Prior to joining JWT she served as an art director with TBWAToronto for over four and a half years, working with brands including Visa, Energizer, Nissan, Infiniti, Whiskas and Yellow Tail.

Juliet also launches with Susan Holden as chief financial officer. Holden spent nearly five and a half years as chief financial officer for Mother New York, where she also ran a venture investments profile. She went on to serve as a member of the Hillary for America Finance Committee and then served as chief financial officer for experiential agency Midnight Commercial and Lone Mountain Wagyu. She also happens to be a two-time Emmy nominee.

“I think the fact that our CFO has been nominated for two Emmys tells you just how committed we are about having creative thinking permeate all aspects of this company,” Cole said in a statement. “No one really knows what questions tomorrow will bring, but the answers will always be found in creativity. We believe that with all of our heart. Even if it kills us.”

Publicis Groupe has seen the future, and it looks increasingly like production and post-production work.

Last week, the network announced that it has acquired Harbor Picture Company, a New York-based studio that works on film, TV and commercial projects. Moving forward, that operation will become part of Prodigious, the holding company’s in-house production unit.

Publicis North America CEO Andrew Bruce announced the news in an internal email last week. The specifics of the deal were not disclosed.

“Prodigious, the cross-media production platform of Publicis Communications has acquired HARBOR, a New York based production company specializing in high-end, talent-driven production and post-production for feature films, episodic series and commercial communications,” said a Publicis spokesperson. “Prodigious is driving to build the premiere global creative production and post-production network.”

Harbor Pictures is a seven year-old company that has worked primarily with fashion brands on the commercial side, based on its Vimeo page.

Prodigious officially launched in 2013 as a consolidation of Publicis-wide print, digital and video production entities. At the time, it was framed as a way to further separate the creative and production aspects of the holding company’s work.

The production division is also part of the larger Publicis Communications unit announced by future CEO Arthur Sadoun back in January 2016, which includes all of the creative agencies within the network (Leo Burnett, Saatchi & Saatchi, BBH, etc.)

Since then, PG has taken several steps to grow the global footprint of Prodigous while expanding its offering. For example, Prodigious offices recently opened in India and Vietnam, and in August it acquired the language services company Translate Plus.

The underlying goal here is to reduce overall expenses by handling more of the production work in-house. Production and post-production is, by many accounts, the most profitable element of the entire agency equation, and holding companies aim to boost those totals. As analyst Brian Weiser put it back in 2013, all the major groups have “placed a heightened emphasis on the production decoupling business as well,” estimating that they can save 20-30 percent of total expenses via “labor arbitrage” or outsourcing the work.

In short, the competition between the Big Five holding companies to own a greater share of the production and post-production work on all their agencies’ campaigns continues apace.

[Image via]

Last week, founder and executive creative director Charles Hodges launched Arts & Letters Creative Co. in Richmond, Virginia, with Google as a launch client, along with veterans of The Martin Agency and W+K, and VCU Brandcenter alums.

“We owe a lot to that place,” Hodges told Richmond BizSense, referring to the school. “It has a rich tradition of creating world-class thinkers and problem solvers, and that had a lot to do with our decision to start it in Richmond.”

“We’re constantly focused on the problem at hand and trying to fail early, versus trying to be right,” Hodges told the publication of the agency’s approach. “It’s much more focused on the end-user and the end-audience than on the exact media we’d be trying to fill. If it ends up being an advertising campaign, that’s great; if it ends up being something that’s more outside the traditional media landscape, even better.”

He added that Arts & Letters is “extremely focused on our flagship client at the moment.”

Before launching the agency, Hodges spent nearly three years with TBWAMedia Arts Lab as creative director and then group creative director, following a little over a year as creative lead for Google Lab. Prior to joining Google, he spent nearly three and a half years as a copywriter with W+K New York, working with brands including Nike, Brand Jordan, ESPN, Heineken and Delta.

The leadership team also includes managing director Rich Weinstein, Letitia Jacobs, Katie Hoak, Ian Fairbrother and Andy Grayson.

Weinstein and Jacobs arrive from The Martin Agency, where Weinstein served as a group account director and Jacobs as executive producer.

Business director Katie Hoak and creative director Ian Fairbrother are W+K New York veterans. There, Hoak spent over five years in roles as an account executive, account supervisor and management supervisor, and Fairbrother spent a year and a half as a senior creative before joining MullenLowe as an associate creative director in October of 2016.

Director of strategy Andy Grayson is a veteran of GS&P, where he served separate stints as brand strategy director and head of brand strategy, and W+K Portland, where he spent three years as group strategy director on Nike.

Much of the rest of the agency’s staff (it counts 14 employees on LinkedIn) is made up of VCU Brandcenter grads.

“I think the general belief is that the big idea is very much alive, but it may not take 500 people to bring it to life anymore,” Hodges told Richmond BizSense. “That being said, we’re having a lot of conversations with a lot of people and are expecting more additions very soon.”

GEICO is a heavy advertiser. The Berkshire-Hathaway owned insurance company drops a lot of money into the TV advertising bucket every year because they see a return on investment. That’s the way of Warren. Thankfully, GEICO’s ad agency, The Martin Agency in Richmond, VA continues to find new and different ways to pitch and amuse […]

The post How To Promote Price Over and Over Without Missing A Beat appeared first on Adpulp.

Today, Publicis Health announced the integration of Publicis LifeBrands Medicus (PLBM) into Saatchi & Saatchi Wellness (SSW), effective immediately.

All employees of PLBM moved into the headquarters of the latter organization at 355 Park Avenue South today. A spokesperson clarified that the move is an integration, not a merger, and that no staffing reductions took place as a result.

Moving forward, Saatchi & Saatchi Wellness managing director JD Cassidy will hold the same role in the new organization, which will also bear the SSW name. This change applies only to North America, and the PLBM brand will live on in Japan.

According to a press release, the combined entity will create a new “Wellness Intelligence-driven agency designed to help health and wellness-oriented audiences navigate the expanding ‘Wellness Culture.’”

The move follows Publicis consolidating Publicis Life Brands Medicus and Digitas Health LifeBrands last year.

“Healthcare professionals, caregivers and patient-consumers are empowered and engaged in well-being like never before, and healthcare communication needs to keep pace in order to help change behavior and improve lives,” global group president, communications and media, Publicis Health Alexandra von Plato explained in a statement. “By combining PLBM’s expertise in the professional space with SSW’s executional excellence and data and creative prowess, we can leverage the best of both brands to make a creative and strategic powerhouse that continues to exceed client expectations and motivate people to action.”

According to a press release, “wellness culture,” or consumers increasing concern with the impact of their consumption habits on their bodies and the environment has contributed to a wellness industry that grew 11 percent last year to total of over $3.7 trillion. Saatchi & Saatchi Wellness will be responsible for creating “work that helps brands and people navigate their way through this evolving phenomenon.”

“Wellness Culture is increasingly becoming an important factor in society and in communications,” added Publicis Health global chief creative officer Kathy Delaney. “Wellness Intelligence gives us the ability to harness the power of scientific storytelling to translate complex, abstract medical or scientific ideas into simple, motivating human terms, thereby making creative that resonates on a personal, human level.”

“The consolidation of PLBM and SSW lets us create brands within health and wellness that are more responsive to consumer needs, resonate in today’s Wellness Culture, and over-perform in the marketplace,” added Cassidy. “I look forward to taking the new SSW to the next level.”

According to the spokesperson, additional leadership changes should be announced in coming weeks.

Fake news is such an innocent term. The fact that it masks what it really is—propaganda—seems to get lost in the equation. Nevertheless, what does “fake news” actually look like? It looks like this: Sadly, fake news, a.k.a. propaganda is not innocent, nor does it exist in a bubble. According to Bloomberg, Russian meddling is […]

The post We Have A Big Fat Platform Problem appeared first on Adpulp.

So, did you hear the one about the guy who trolled top White House officials and convinced the editors of Breitbart that he was Steve Bannon?

Some agency folks may be proud to learn that it was one of their own.

A couple of weeks ago, Wired revealed the name of the self-described “Email Prankster” behind the Twitter account SINON_REBORN: he is designer James Linton. Over the weekend, The Daily Mail also published an exclusive interview naming his employer of the past six years, TBWAManchester.

The latter story came after Linton achieved his latest success: convincing high-powered attorney Lisa Bloom that he was former client Harvey Weinstein right after she officially stopped representing him. This thread earned responses not only from Bloom herself but also from former Obama administration communications director Anita Dunn and lawyer Lanny Davis of Clinton-era fame. And all for a mail.com address.

NEW: HARVEY WEINSTEIN, LISA BLOOM & LANNY DAVIS.
Why his legal representation ditched him this weekend.

Support https://t.co/KSa1IjkZqZ pic.twitter.com/jGvAwFwWnh

— EMAIL PRANKSTER™ (@SINON_REBORN) October 10, 2017

The number of people Linton has trolled is quite impressive. He convinced the editor of Breitbart to discuss a “conspiracy” involving the “evil” Jared Kushner and Ivanka Trump, got short-lived White House communications director Anthony Scaramucci to compare a person who he thought was Reince Priebus to Othello, and convinced Kushner’s own lawyer that he was the president’s son-in-law concerned over “adult material” involving “half naked women on a trampoline.”

In his interviews with The Washington Post and The Daily Mail, Linton emphasized how easy it was to fool so many people including Eric Trump, Russian ambassador Jon Huntsman Jr., White House spokesperson Sarah Huckabee Sanders and homeland security advisor Tom Bossert.

From the Daily Mail piece:

“It’s a bit worrying how easy it is to fool these people; Eric Trump, Sarah Huckabee Sanders and Kushner’s lawyer, all highly-paid, powerful people who let their guard down and divulge confidential information. Imagine if I had more sinister intentions. I’m not some hacker sat at his computer at night—I’m just a guy who found an email address online and thought I’d have a laugh.”

Indeed, he simply guessed at these individuals’ email addresses and used the barely-believable mail.com URL.

At any rate, he no longer works for TBWA. According to the Mail, he quit his job at the Manchester office after his bosses suspended him because they (correctly?) guessed that he was trolling at work.

This year i’ve..
Been in rehab
Been hospitalized by rehab
Given up p/script drugs, gambling, alcohol
Prank’d White House
Ended up jobless

— EMAIL PRANKSTER™ (@SINON_REBORN) September 22, 2017

…and now he would appreciate a donation.

I’m like you. If you hate self-serving morons doing what the fuck they want, then pls consider supporting me ? https://t.co/KSa1IjkZqZ

— EMAIL PRANKSTER™ (@SINON_REBORN) October 10, 2017

A TBWA spokesperson declined to comment on the case. We also contacted the man himself via his open DMs and will update this story if and when we hear from him.

(That’s Kushner’s official government headshot, by the way.)