Hasta La Creative!

A couple of weeks ago we learned that Dan Treichel, a well-respected (per our sources) creative director at Barton F. Graf 9000, would be leaving New York City for Amsterdam.

While we didn’t have much to go on at the time, we can now fill in the blanks: Treichel and his BFG colleague Dave Canning have landed at 180 Amsterdam, where they will be co-executive creative directors. Check out the lede from the press release, which refers to the duo as “the most awarded US creative team in 2014?:

“Following weeks of global speculation, today sees the appointment of New York creative duo Dave Canning and Dan Treichel to 180 Amsterdam…[the hire] comes on the back of the agency’s recent high profile work for global brands…”

The release also tells us that the agency’s search for a new executive creative team took more than a year and involved “meeting prospective candidates in China, Africa and Asia.”

Prior to the move, the duo had been working together at BFG for over a year. Canning, who began his career as a freelance art director at Droga5, joined the agency after spending a combined five years writing copy for Y&R and W+K while Treichel held the art director position at CP+B and Droga5 and the ACD title at Y&R New York before moving to BFG in 2012.

The two will report to Al Moseley, W+K Amsterdam veteran and current president/CCO at 180 Amsterdam (whose client list includes DHL, Qatar Airways, Asics, Playstation, Lilly, and more).

In other 180 Amsterdam news, the agency won attention in late 2014 for campaigns promoting PS4 and Replay, among others; its co-founder and original partner Guy Hayward also recently left Havas property BETC Worldwide to lead KBS in New York.

No word on Barton F. Graf 9000’s plans to replace Canning and Treichel.

Gerry Graf’s Barton F. Graf 9000 NY has worked with production company Psyop, fresh off their game-developing debut with the Susan Sarandon-narrated Nightmare: Malaria, to develop this charming spot for the Supercell-developed strategy game Clash of Clans.

The one-minute anthem ad places the viewer in the middle of the action, on the same level as the melee taking place. To bring the game to life in the spot, Psyop “embraced the bright, stylized and saturated look of the game,” explained Psyop Director Fletcher Moules. “We wanted to fully conceptualize what the world would look like if we were running alongside the horde of barbarians, what would it feel like to be covered in their saliva.”

The impressively animated ad really does a good job transporting the viewer into the world of Clash of the Clans, thankfully without any saliva. One noteworthy moment occurs when two giants chuckle as they are hit with cannonballs. It was one of Psyop’s favorite segments to animate, as well. “It added the heart and the warmth that was only achieved when we removed ourselves a little from the ruckus to enjoy it from their perspective,” said Moules.

It would appear that Supercell’s audience is enthusiastic about Clash of Clans as well. The video was released on December 23rd, and garnered 14 million views in its first week. Credits after the jump. continued…

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