Hasta La Creative!

As sources hinted yesterday, we were on to something when we started hearing that longtime creative partners Scott Vitrone and Ian Reichenthal were leaving Wieden + Kennedy New York, which the agency eventually confirmed. Our guess was that the duo, which has been working together for nearly 15 years, was joining Gerry Graf‘s NYC-based Barton F. Graf 9000, a notion that was only heightened when we got this tip around the same time: “Eric Kallman was let go today from BFG9000. It was totally unexpected.” There’s no confirmation on the nature of his departure but yes, that Eric Kallman, the award-winning copywriter behind “The Man Your Man Could Smell Like” for Old Spice who left W+K in early 2011 to rejoin old TBWA colleague Graf, but who’s now been left as a mere footnote in the BFG 9000 news about Vitrone/Reichenthal. When we called BFG 9000 yesterday, we were told simply that Kallman was “not available.” Ah well, why steal the thunder, read on here.

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To compete with the recent wave of extreme pranks from marketers, Toronto agency john st. has launched their own exFEARiential marketing division. Muggings, carjackings, riots – there’s nothing they won’t do to get their client’s brands noticed.

I love how there is no disclaimer at the end of this video, and two “client” videos for further viewing. It makes you wonder if john st. is serious. Although the question here is not, “Is john st. serious?” The question is are the agencies and brands pulling very real stunts on unsuspecting people, serious?

Last month, Luke Sullivan wagered that he’s “not the only one who hates this crap.”

I’ve told several friends how much I hate these fear-producing stunts, and some of my buddies just tell me to shut up and get over it. Maybe I am wrong. Maybe I’ve become the old guy on his porch shakin’ his fist and yellin’ “Now you kids git offa my lawn!”

The ad industry is already thought by many to be a manipulative shell game played by semi-skilled hucksters. Why in the world would we–the ad people of the world–add to this negative public perception with even more manipulative crap?

Are the perpetrators here really that careless, arrogant, and operating with a total lack of respect for the consumer and knowledge about what works?

Clients want to sell their products or services, and they want their communications to create long term brand value while simultaneously driving purchase consideration. It’s fair to ask if live stunts that capture the imagination in a disruptive way do either.

The post john st. Takes Experiential To A Darker Place appeared first on AdPulp.

WPP-owned, Toronto-based john st. continues in its great annual tradition of taking the piss out of the industry as part of its pitch for Strategy‘s Agency of the Year awards (we covered fellow Toronto agency Lowe Roche’s entry earlier today). In its follow-up to last year’s introduction of a “professional clicking service” called Buyral, john st. gets more aggressive, scaring the bejeezus out of total strangers (well, at least let’s play along) as part of the a new marketing strategy that the agency’s christened “exFEARiential.”

It’s just as absurd/amusing, if not more so, than previous john st. AOY videos including Buyral as well as predecessors, Catvertising and Pink Ponies. It looks like we aren’t the only ones that get a kick out of “exFEARiential” as it picked up Best Agency Video at the Strategy awards, where john st. also took home gold for Agency of the Year and bronze for Digital Agency of the Year. FYI, if you stick around til the end of the clip, you can click on separate videos of the stress tests featured above (or if you’re just unwilling to wait, go here and here). Credits after the jump.

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Lowe Roche respects the data. In a video for Strategy Agency of the Year Awards, the Toronto-based company provided some education on the habits of the ad employee demographic. Not just tidbits about dieting and working, but the juicy stuff: you know, alcohol and porn. As someone who works with data just about every day (for sports, not survey research) I definitely appreciate a math-based approach to an industry full of projects that often rely on intuition and copycat trends. Product-research data can always be manipulated or ignored or conducted incorrectly. Steve Jobs once said, “People don’t know what they want until you show it to them,” and he was right. But demographic data is usually helpful and meaningful.

Here are a few lighthearted and self-deprecating mathematical takeaways from the clip, according to PMB Advertising Vertical Analysis 2013:

– Ad people drink nine times as much bourbon as the average Canadian.

– Ad people watch 1.7 times the amount of pornography as the average Canadian.

– And ad people are 1.6 times as likely to mute the sound in TV commercials as the average Canadian.

At least we can all agree that television commercials are typically bad. Buy some Jefferson’s Reserve. Drink up. Credits after the jump.

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A pair of New York-based agencies have aligned as 54-year-old Posner Advertising has merged with Miller Advertising, whose Big Apple roots date back to 1919. We just spoke with Bob Posner, who leads Posner Advertising with brother, Peter. He tells us, “Yes it is true that Posner Advertising has aligned with Miller Advertising. Going forward, the Posner Team will be branded PosnerMiller and we will be a division of Miller Advertising.” Both Posner and Miller, though, will continue maintaining separate offices.

Meanwhile, Bob Posner tells us that the agencies’ respective client rosters, which has included everything from Sbarro and L’Oreal to NYC Department of Health and Quiznos, won’t be affected by the merger. As far as staffing is concerned, though, he adds, “Ownership of both agencies recognized that cost efficiencies could be realized by combining resources.  While this has resulted in scaling back of a few of Posner’s back office personnel, the synergies created will allow us as a group to expand our digital and mobile offerings to stay ahead of the curve in an ever changing media environment.” We’ve been told that total staff count at PosnerMiller now stands at approximately 100.

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Well, this slipped through the cracks while yours truly was on “vacation” last week. Sorry for the lag, but we should mention that Greek yogurt giant Chobani has continued fleshing out its agency roster as it’s now appointed 40-year-old, Southfield, MI-based MARS Advertising as its shopper marketing agency of record. According to those in the know, there was no review or incumbent on the Chobani shopper marketing account. Regarding the brand’s decision, though, Chobani SVP of marketing Brad Charron says in a statement, “When looking for a partner in the shopper marketing space, we simply wanted to work with the best shopper marketing agency in the industry. We found MARS’ ability to shape the consumer buying experience through its deep understanding of today’s shopper invaluable and look forward to a long-lasting relationship with their team.”

MARS, which has also worked with notable clients like Walmart, Pfizer and Diageo, now joins a Chobani agency roster that includes Droga5 and Weber Shandwick, which the brand tapped to handle creative and PR duties, respectively, two months ago.

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San Francisco-based agency Evolution Bureau (or EVB if you will), which is perhaps still recovering from last Friday’s Ad Ghetto Bl0ck Party, has brought on a pair of senior writers in Kate Getty and David Satterfield. Normally, appointments like these might be relegated to the news roundups, but we got a little kick out of the Star Wars-referencing welcome memo sent to EVB staff last week announcing the pair’s arrival. But, as the EVB staffers who happen to be hardcore fans of George Lucas‘s brainchild have pointed out to the authors, the Star Wars quotes are from Episode III while the image toplining the memo is from Episode IV. Tsk tsk.

Anyhow, as elaborated upon below, Getty joins EVB after spending nearly four years as a senior copywriter at Draftfcb San Francisco while Satterfield worked as a copywriter at Boulder’s Made Movement prior to assuming his new role. Read on below for the somewhat colorful memo, complete with Luuuuuke:

“Subject: You were the chosen ones! It was said that you would destroy the Sith, not join them.

 Heroes of The Confederacy! You may have noticed some new faces prairie dogging up from the cubes this week. That is because we have three new members of the EVB team! I know, right?!

Check out Senior Writer Kate Getty. She came to us all the way from across the street. Big fan of bow ties, Bourbon (she’s from Kentucky), and dancing, that Kate. In her own words:

Kate spent the past three-and-a-half years directly across the street at dfcbsf.com, working on Air New Zealand, Kikkoman, Dockers, Ooma, EA and Habitat for Humanity. She doesn’t smoke, but still met Hilldawgg on the corner last year, where they challenged each other to a dance fight. Before that she was working in Austin in the green sector at the social marketing agency Enviromedia.com, working on keeping the world beautiful and water around for a while longer. And before that, she got her start as a bartender at The Cock Pit (really), while working at The Butler Bros. (now Bogusky/Fearless Cottage’s storytelling partners, for the Crispin boys) to get her start, working on Livestrong and Sweet Leaf Tea. She’ll talk to you about: food, surfing, dancing, physics, and spirituality.

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It’s been a few months since we’ve heard about the goings-on at Commerce Bank, which parted ways with Kansas City-based agency Bernstein-Rein after 14 years this past summer. Well, the financial institution has finally made a decision and has appointed Olson as its new agency of record. The Commerce win comes just a week after the Minneapolis-based full-service digital agency took over on North American duties for electronics brand Sharp.

Regarding the move to Olson, which follows a national agency search, Commerce EVP/corporate marketing director Eric Steinhouse says, “We talked to a number of outstanding agencies, but Olson’s strategic and multi-channel expertise set it apart. They connected with us, and they connected all the dots.” As AOR, Olson will pretty much handle it all, from strategy and research to advertising, media buying/planning and analytics for Commerce, a 148-year-old brand that boasts 200 banks from Illinois to Colorado. Sources tell us that Olson beat out Richards Group and Rodgers Townsend for the Commerce account.

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We’re figuring that this just the tip of the iceberg as it’s only day 1 of Movember, the month in which the fellas hide their razors and grow their facial hair in all shapes and sizes (and let’s not forget the ladies have had an increasing presence each year, too) in order to raise awareness (and money) for men’s health issues. We’re sure there will be plenty of agencies chiming in as part of the industry’s annual Movember fundraising competition, but first up to bat is Red Peak Branding, a unit of NYC-based Red Peak Group, whose CEO James Fox sent out a memo this morning regarding his agency’s guidelines for taking part. See below:

“Today is the start of Mo’vember which means the mustache contest is on….

Here is how it works. All competitors must be clean shaven today, or if not today first thing Monday. Joon will be taking pictures today of all the competitors so the judges have a clear before and after shot.

Competitors may grow a mustache, beard, half beard, goatee or whatever until Friday 29th [November] at which point they must convert into a mustache. All competitors must come to the event wearing an appropriate outfit to accompany their mustache (lumberjack, greaser, 1920’s Dandy etc)

 

All the women in the agency who wish to do so will be judges at a special event on the 29th [November]

Competitors will receive points on the following three attributes:

1. Lustre – How bushy and lustrous is the mustache in question (5 points)
2. Creativity – How creative is the mustache and outfit (Gentlemen see mustache chart attached for ideas) (5 Points)
3. Effort – You don’t need a monstrous mustache to win this competition – points will go to the best before and after pics (5 Points)

All those that want to get involved, both judges and competitors will pay $5 on the 29th of [November] and the proceeds will go to the USA Men’s cancer charity”

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The folks on the Spy line were spot-on as we’ve received confirmation regarding the status of Compass Point Media’s longtime relationship with hair salon chain, Great Clips. A spokesperson tells us, “Great Clips has ended its 25-year relationship with our Compass Point Media unit.  We’re proud of the work we’ve done together over the past quarter century, particularly in developing local connection strategies nationwide. And we wish them continued success.”

During their time together, Compass Point, which currently houses over 125 strategists, analysts and negotiators and also works with clients such as Airborne, Supervalu and General Mills, handled media buying/planning across channels for Great Clips from TV and digital to print and outdoor.

As for where Great Clips’ media duties are headed to next, sources in the know tell us that they’ve now been handed over — minus review — to fellow Minneapolis-based agency, Periscope, though the agency is not commenting on the matter as of yet.

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