Hasta La Creative!

The Detroit offices of Leo Burnett and DigitasLBi (which joined forces to form Engage M-1 earlier this summer) launched a campaign for GMC introducing “The Next Generation of SUV” with a 30-second spot promoting the 2017 GMC Acadia.

The spot opens on a orchestra playing the intro to “Eminence Front,” The Who’s “classic” song from well-past-their-prime 1982 album “It’s Hard.” A voiceover says, “There are conductors and then there are maestros” as the scene shifts back and forth between the orchestra and a GMC Acadia driving into the city. A maestro, it continues, “leads with confidence, exactness, inspiration” — unlike a mere conductor.

At GMC, the voiceover adds, they are “in tune with that degree of precision.”

Apart from the poor song selection — beyond overlooking any number of actual classic songs they could have used, “Eminence Front” has been described by Pete Townshend as being “about what happens when you take too much white powder,” probably not the best choice for a car commercial — the spot is somewhat obvious in its messaging.

The 73 musicians in the spot were led by Kazem Abdullah, “an American-born conductor who serves as General Music Director of the city of Aachen, Germany.” Music house Mophonics were behind the special orchestration of the song, which was performed and recorded live. 

“None of the musicians had met before, but after a couple practice sessions, they sounded like they had been playing together for years,” said Bully Pictures director Sebastian Weiland, who directed the spot. “It was an amazing experience.”

“We use very clean shots throughout,” Weiland added. “It was important to me that we built the story. Near the end, we transition from inside the cabin of the car to a wide shot of the audience giving the orchestra a standing ovation. That leads to our hero moment, as we reveal the car in all its beauty and glory.”

Credits:

Agencies: Leo Burnett, Detroit: Steve Chavez, Chief Creative Officer; Erik Zaar, Executive Producer.
Digitas: Patrick McHugh, Group Creative Director; Bill Woodard, Senior Copywriter; Jason Talbot, Senior Art Director.
Production: Bully Pictures: Sebastian Weiland, Director/Director of Photography; Jason Forest, Executive Producer; Gianfilippo Pedrotti, Executive Producer.
Edit: Butcher Editorial: David Henegar, Editor; Rob Van, Executive Producer.
Music: Mophonics, Kris Roggemann, Executive Producer.

DigitasLBi pushes the limits of the term “fast food” with its new spot promoting Dunkin’ Donuts new on the go ordering app.

The agency teamed up with wingsuit base jumper Ellen Brennan to show off the new service. Brennan addresses the camera from atop a lofty mountain perch on the Aiguille de Varan in Chamonix, France, saying, “Watch how fast I can get my Dunkin’” before ordering with the tap of a screen, pulling on a helmet and jumping. She descends to grab a Dunkin’ Donuts bag, suspended in the air outside a pop-up shop further down the mountain before enjoying a donut. 

It’s kind of a fun way to show off the new app, demonstrating how easy it is to use by displaying it at work in just about the most extreme circumstance possible. The spot arrives quickly on the heels of Hill Holliday’s “Keep On” effort for the brand, which launched earlier this month.

The stunt, of course, wasn’t as easy it looks. Brennan was outfitted with a velcro doohickey (official term) on the arms of her wingsuit so that she could easily intercept the Dunkin’ Donuts bag without using her thumbs, which made it less of a distraction from the task of staying in the air on not crashing into a rocky cliffside. For more on how Brennan, Digitas LBi and Dunkin’ Donuts pulled it off, check out the behind-the-scenes footage below (it turns out it took Brennan a few tries to hit the mark). There’s also a 360-degree video from the perspective of one of the cameramen.

Today DigitiasLBi announced the hiring of Ronald Ng as its newest North American chief creative officer.

Ng is a veteran of the BBDO organization: he joined the agency’s Malaysia office in 2004, relocating to New York for an EVP/ECD role in 2009 and rising to the CCO level at BBDO & Proximity in Singapore three years ago. While leading Proximity, Ng served as head of the Asia Creative Council and won attention for such campaigns as “Two Worlds” for Jeep.

This hire makes Ng DigitasLBi’s first North American CCO since Lincoln Bjorkman. Bjorkman joined the agency in 2004 and led its North American creative department from his promotion in 2010 to his 2013 departure for Wunderman, which inspired heavy praise from CEO Tony Weisman; the position remained unfilled for more than a year until today’s announcement.

(more…)

New Career Opportunities Daily: The best jobs in media.

Today we can confirm that responsibilities for Taco Bell’s digital creative work have shifted from DigitasLBi to Deutsch.

The company’s last real agency shakeup began back in 2012, when FCB (nee DraftFCB) lost the digital creative business to Digitas right after the latter opened its San Francisco office. FCB remained the brand’s official AOR at the time, but the account eventually shifted to Deutsch after a series of what AdAge described as “jump-ball pitches” involving both shops.

You may note that this new business follows Deutsch winning sister Yum Brands chain Pizza Hut in July; the agency’s first ads for that client debuted last month.

A source tells us, however, that the real reason behind the move was the October launch of Taco Bell’s new mobile ordering app.

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New Career Opportunities Daily: The best jobs in media.

While we’ve yet to receive confirmation from our contacts, a source tells us that approximately 60 DigitasLBi UK staffers could soon call themselves former employees.

Here’s the email excerpt we received this morning, supposedly sent to staffers by management at some point this week. It doesn’t sound good:

“Having exhausted all other possibilities we are now left with no other choice but to launch a formal UK-wide redundancy programme that will lead to a number of roles being removed from the business. We have entered into a period of consultation (a formal legal process) with many of our colleagues and are actively looking at alternatives to redundancy. The nature of this process means we are required to consult with a greater number of people than will actually end up leaving the business. We expect this number to be no more than 60 people.”

This would be the first we’ve heard of the news. Otherwise, things seem to be proceeding as usual overseas.

(more…)

New Career Opportunities Daily: The best jobs in media.

DigitasLBi announced the addition of Emilie Vasu as vice president, group director of business development and marketing today. Vasu will be based in New York and report directly to Chief Marketing Officer Kenneth Parks, starting September 8th.

“Emilie is a highly motivated, collaborative professional with exceptional track record discovering and growing new business and strengthening existing relationships. We’re thrilled to have her join our team,” says Parks.

Vasu arrives at DigitasLBi from JWT, where her departure follows that of Ann Mack in April and the news yesterday that CCO Jeff Benjamin is leaving the agency for “a new creative venture.” While at JWT, Vasu served as director of business development. During her tenure she “prospected, pitched and won the Google Enterprise and PUMA accounts, and played a key role on the agency’s Global Growth Team, guiding global JWT new business strategies.”

Before JWT, Vasu spent four years at Venables Bell and Partners as account director. While there she oversaw the launch of Intel’s global “Sponsors of Tomorrow” campaign, and worked on accounts including CLEAR, Odwalla, Pacific Gas & Electric, and eBay. She has also served stints at agencies including Goodby Silverstein & Partners, Deutsch New York and OgilvyOne.

New Career Opportunities Daily: The best jobs in media.

While we’re on the DigitasLBi tip today, we figured we’d provide a quick update on some staffing moves in its Chicago office in case you haven’t heard. We’ve received confirmation that most recently, Stephanie Skinner, who’s served in the Windy City as VP/group director, project management, has resigned from DigitasLBi as her family is relocating. Brooke Skinner, SVP of strategy/account planning at DigitasLBi Chicago and San Francisco since 2011 (and who you may remember from this) actually left the agency two months ago for the head of brand strategy position at Twitter’s central region, a role she officially assumed this month. Finally, David Burns, who’s spent nearly two years at DigitasLBi Chicago as VP/director, experience design, resigned from the agency several weeks ago. As of now, we can ascertain that all said departures are unrelated.

New Career Opportunities Daily: The best jobs in media.

Today global agency We Are Social announced two new senior hires in its New York office.

Jenn Bader joins the agency from mcgarrybowen to serve as group account director; she’ll oversee accounts including current media darling/jewel in the crown Beats by Dre. After beginning her career as a front-end developer, Bader spent six years at Digitas working on Samsung, TGI Fridays and Kraft Foods before heading to mcgarrybowen, where she oversaw digital/social for Chase and Verizon Wireless.

Craig Stauber will be director of research and insights, reporting to department head Peter Fontana. Stauber most recently spent four years as senior manager of analytics at JWT, where he primarily worked on CPG and financial services accounts. His resume also includes three years spent in the Deutsch New York analytics department.

Managing director Leila Thabet calls the two “…talented, well-versed practitioners in their fields who will provide value to clients and keep the agency on its fast growth trajectory.”

New Career Opportunities Daily: The best jobs in media.

Former Digitas VP and group media director Michael Lampert has relocated to MediaCom, where he will serve as managing partner and group digital director.

This blog post from February makes clear that Lampert has been with the agency for several weeks, but the announcement is new; it reads that Lampert will “lead digital efforts in the U.S. for clients including Dell and Volkswagen.”

At Digitas, Lampert oversaw digital acquisition strategy for American Express, and his 20-year career has included time working for a considerable range of clients and agencies including OMD, PHD, Universal McCann and MPG/Media Contacts.

Lampert will report to Steve Carbone, MediaCom’s chief digital/analytics officer.

New Career Opportunities Daily: The best jobs in media.

DigitasLBi San Francisco has hired Ben Pfutzenreuter, who previously served as an intern and was co-creator of the popular “Concepting with Convicts” program, which utilized the Federal Bureau of Prison’s pen pal program to allow collaboration with inmates to create speculative ads. Ben created the program with fellow intern Pat Davis, with the goal of proving that “Great ideas can come from anywhere.” Inmates provided either copywriting or art direction for each ad; art directors Marcus Löf and Luis Gonzalez also collaborated on the project.

Pfutzenreuter began work this week as an associate copywriter. The Miami Ad School grad interned with Digitas LBi this past winter.

“We’re incredibly proud of the work that Ben and Pat have done independently with Concepting with Convicts, and we’re thrilled to have Ben join our San Francisco team,” said Dave Marsey, EVP/Managing Director, DigitasLBi San Francisco. “The spirit that good ideas can be born anywhere, is our philosophy here in San Francisco.”

New Career Opportunities Daily: The best jobs in media.