Hasta La Creative!

New York is a stressful place, and Times Square isn't the most soothing of its neighborhoods. But thankfully, Draftfcb New York and the Jamaica Tourist Board recently plunked down an enormous stress ball on Broadway between 45th and 46th Streets, giving New Yorkers and visitors a chance to "squeeze their burdens away." The giant ball doesn't work like a regular stress ball—you'd never get your hand around it—but perhaps you were meant to just give it a big hug, mon. In any case, its big smiling face served as a de-stresser by itself. And if all else failed, reggae artist and Jamaica native Gyptian was on hand to perform his mellow tunes for the crowd. More images, and credits, below.

CREDITS
Client: Jamaica Tourist Board
Agency: Draftfcb, New York
Chief Creative Officer: Javier Campopiano
Group Creative Director: Kevin Jordan
Creative Directors: Bruno Acanfora, Ariel Abramovici
Associate Creative Director: Lucas Bongioanni
Group Management Director: Wendy Glass
Account Supervisor: Ashley Hughes
Account Executive: Molly Burns
Producers: Joe De Franco, Susie Rofe, Daunno Jason

We’ve been told Carter Murray is announcing this news to staff as we speak. Yes, Lee Garfinkel, who’s spent nearly the last three years at what is now Havas, where he last served as chairman/CCO of global brands, has taken the top seat at Draftfcb New York. As CEO of DFCB NY, Garfinkel will not only run the fort but work in tandem with NY CCO,  Javier Campopiano. Regarding the hire, his new boss Murray says, “Some of the best agency leaders have come from creative backgrounds and I believe that Lee, with his strong creative reputation, is absolutely the right CEO for our New York office at this time. With our world-class chief creative officer Javi Campopiano already in place and Lee as CEO, we have high ambitions for the future of the office. Lee will help ensure that we create strong and memorable campaigns in the years ahead for our clients.”

During his 30-plus years in the ad biz, Garfinkel also served as EVP/ECD at BBDO, chairman at Lowe and chairman/CCO at DDB. While Garfinkel joins DFCB, Debra Coughlin, who’s served as EVP/global CMO for the past two-and-a-half years, is moving out of the leadership role in NY (though sources tell us she’ll be working with Carter Murray somewhat on new biz efforts). Regarding Coughlin, Murray adds,  “Debra, one of the smartest marketers I know and a consummate professional, has been truly understanding of my strategic desire to focus more aggressively on the creative product. So, while she transitions out of the New York role, she will be making sure things go as smoothly as possible until Lee joins forces with Javi and the rest of the New York team in January.”

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Following on the heels of the massively successful centennial “Daily Twist” campaign, Draftcb has teamed up with media agency PHD,  which won JC Decaux’s “Fame – The Agency Edition” competition and secured €150,000 of media space, for an outdoor campaign dubbed “Dublin Twist.”

“Dublin Twist” celebrates unique landmarks and events around Dublin, by depicting them in the medium of Oreo. The fifteen “twists” include Oreo depictions of the maze at Iveagh Gardens, the Bram Stoker festival, the Hugh Lane Gallery, the Abbey Theatre, the Dublin Writers Museum, and others. Draftfcb London’s ECD David Harris describes the aim of the campaign: “Through the iconic images of OREOs, this campaign invites people to get together and discover the less well known, more unconventional parts of Dublin,” he said. The sixteenth and final “twist” on Dublin institutions will be based on a winning suggestion from one of of TheJournal.ie’s readers.

In addition to the aforementioned installations, the campaign will also transform Dublin public transportation. In addition to public bus wraps, a wrapped train called the Oreo Express will dispense Oreo samples at Dublin’s Pearse Station. That is going to make some kids very, very happy. On October 28th, the brand will support runners of the Dublin Marathon with a good luck message and goody bag contribution. The campaign runs through November 4th and also includes print, experiential and social media aspects.

The “Dublin Twist” campaign is a fun and playful extension of the idea from a successful (also fun and playful) campaign. It’s really a can’t miss. What’s not to like about minimalist interpretations of a city’s lesser-known landmarks and events, depicted using only Oreo cookies? Let’s hope Oreo continues this “twist” trend further, as it has worked excellently for the brand and offers a seemingly endless array of possible variations. Credits and more images after the jump continued…

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Former Publicis USA chief marketing officer Chris Shumaker has now assumed the same title at Draftfcb, taking on CMO duties for North America. This actually marks the second tour of duty at DFCB for Shumaker, who served as global CMO at what was FCB prior to the merger in 2006.

During his career, Shumaker also spent nearly a decade at the Martin Agency, serving as SVP/director of development and working with a client roster ranging from UPS to Quizno’s. And yes, we’ve obtained a memo from sources that was sent from DFCB global CEO Carter Murray to staff regarding Shumaker’s arrival. This marks Murray’s second major hire following that of global chief strategy officer Nigel Jones and EVP/strategic planning Vita Harris earlier this month. Anyhow, see note regarding Shumaker below and after the jump.

“Date 26 September 2013

From Carter Murray

To Everyone at Draftfcb North America

Re Welcoming Chris Shumaker

I wanted first to thank everyone I have met in my first two weeks for the incredibly warm welcome to the company. It has been very humbling and inspiring.

This note is to share more news that I think is a step forward for all of us. Chris Shumaker is joining our team as our Chief Marketing Officer for North America, a new role at our agency.

continued…

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And here we go again, party people. In case you missed the Campaign report this morning, Nigel Jones, who has served as group chairman/chief exec of Publicis UK for the past five years, is the latest to join up with Carter Murray and crew at Draftfcb, where he will assume a global strategy role. And wouldn’t you know it, we’ve obtained another memo sent from DFCB’s global CEO to staff regarding Jones’s arrival as well as the appointment of another. Take heed of this latest opus, dubbed “Planning for Success,” below and after the jump.

 ”I am writing this a little sooner than planned because, unfortunately, the news below has leaked in the U.K. press today. I thought it important to update you immediately on a great addition to our team.

I am sure we all believe that best-in-class strategy and planning are essential for our success looking forward. In welcoming our new global Chief Strategy Officer Nigel Jones to the team, I believe our global planning capabilities – which are strong in some markets but need to be more consistent in several others – will make a significant leap forward.

Nigel is one of the smartest people with whom I have ever worked – and in the strategy and planning arena, he is an absolute standout with a humbling track record. He is a quite exceptional, curious, thoughtful and determined person, one who always brings some unique perspective to any conversation. I know that he is going to make an immediate impact on our clients and our culture here.

 

So you can understand him better, I would like to share a few things that show the many dimensions of Nigel Jones:

• Nigel was a semi-professional chess player through his time at Oxford University. He only gave it up when he realised that he would never quite make it to becoming a grand master. He will bring this same intelligent, thought-through approach to any business and brand problem that clients bring to us.
• Nigel ran BMP DDB’s Planning capability during the period when that agency helped redefine brand planning for our industry. To give some perspective to the quality of his department back then, several top CSOs in the U.S. and Europe today worked with and for Nigel.
• During his time in charge of Planning, BMP DDB was Campaign magazine’s “Agency of the Year” three times; it won four times as many IPA Effectiveness Awards as any other agency; it pioneered the introduction of econometrics and the numerical measurement of advertising effectiveness; and it introduced an observational research function – using state-of-the-art digital video techniques to record and then analyse actual consumer behaviour (as opposed to attitudes and claimed behaviour).
• Nigel started a music blog called “A barrel of nails.” This site now has a cult following worldwide and Nigel has become a regular on festival stages at the invitation of avid fans.  (Please do not pester him for tickets – I got there first.) We often talk of the importance of music for brands and creative work, and now we have another aficionado in our midst.

Nigel’s full bio will be on our website soon, where you will also see that over his career he has had an absurdly strong new business track record, and extensive management experience as the CEO of three different agencies. Nigel briefly ran Draftfcb in the U.K. before being poached by Publicis, so he is actually a returning member of the Draftfcb team.

I hope that many of you have a chance to welcome Nigel in person soon. I feel very fortunate to have him as one of my key partners on the global leadership team moving forward.We are also fortunate to have another well-respected and talented agency veteran like Vita Harris taking on a new role at the agency. As EVP, Strategic Planning, she will work on key global initiatives spanning research and planning to get to better, more insightful work, reporting into Nigel.

Vita has made significant contributions to our global network, especially in recent years. She is not just respected for her great thinking and the results she produces but also, as I have heard from many sources, because of her passion for our business and her integrity that run deep. Whilst remaining a key partner on our global leadership team, Vita and I are also exploring an exciting new initiative that would take advantage of her many talents…but we will save that news for another note!

Best as ever,

Carter”

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It took six months, but from what we gather from the memo just sent to us below, Carter Murray has finally assumed the CEO post at Draftfcb Worldwide. Murray was announced as global CEO of the IPG-owned network back in March, taking over for Laurence Boschetto. Previously, Murray served as Y&R North America president/CEO. Anyhow, you can read Murray’s seemingly heartfelt intro to staff at DFCB. Guess you can call it a rallying cry of sorts for an agency that has retained its Kmart business and picked up ad duties for Aramark in the past month. Read on.

“If you are reading this, you are one of the 8,000-plus Draftfcb team that gets up every morning and goes to work to try to make a difference for your clients and this agency.

Today is my first day on the job as the new CEO. To say I am thrilled to finally be here, and cannot wait to get started, would be an understatement.

I thought in this first note I would share some thoughts on what I believe I need to do to help our clients and all of us move forward, including some specifics on what you will see from me over the coming months. I apologize for its length, but after a six-month wait I thought I owed you a detailed first note.

I need to make sure that the most talented people in our industry work at or want to work at Draftfcb, and do all I can to make sure that most of us – most mornings – love coming to work.

continued…

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From Mayo Draftcb Peru, the agency behind the amazing water generating billboard for UTEC, comes a truly awe-inspiring campaign for the Peruvian Cancer Foundation.

The Peruvian Cancer Foundation was truly in need of help, having failed to reach its fundraising goal for the past three years. This year, they launched their campaign among the prisoners of Castro Castro Penitenciary, the most dangerous prison in Peru. They gathered the representatives of each pavilion in the prison, showed them video of children struggling with cancer, and asked them to raise as much funds among the other prisoners as they could. The results exceeded expectations, and news of the prisoner’s compassion spread throughout Peru, helping the Peruvian Cancer Foundation break previous fundraising records. Perhaps most inspiring is the positive effect the campaign had on the inmates of the prison. But words can’t really do it justice, check out the video for yourself. There really aren’t enough stories like this one out there.  continued…

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NZI launched its long-anticipated brand campaign this weekend, along with its creative agency, Draftcb. The campaign is necessary because, according to Karl Armstrong, executive general manager of NZI, “…many business customers don’t know [NZI] by name,” even though they are New Zealand’s leading business insurer.

The campaign creates an animated port town called “Port Avon,” a celebration of a typical New Zealand port town that extends beyond the TV spot to digital, print, direct and ambient advertising.

The clever 60-second spot, “Devil’s Chair,” aired across New Zealand TV Sunday on all channels. “Devil’s Chair” highlights everything that can go wrong at a business, by way of a barrage of small catastrophes all caused by one chair. It’s worth checking out if, like me, you have a soft spot for the unique charm of New Zealand. Or if you have a thing for gratuitous cow excrement. Either way. continued…

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As has been widely reported this morning, Draftfcb has renewed its relationship with Kmart and this statement from a spokesperson for parent Sears Holding Co. (the agency referred all inquiries to the client) basically sums it up: “Kmart has concluded its agency review. Draftfcb will retain its AOR status as well as acquire additional responsibilities for our fashion business.” We’ll let you know if a memo falls into our hands, but it looks like the success of “Ship My Pants” and subsequent play-on-words campaigns from DFCB for the retail chain sealed the deal. We’ve been told by folks on the Spy line that McCann NY “finished a very close second.”

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For their new back-to-school campaign, Kmart and Draftfcb have wrangled Da Rich Kidzz, a rap group from Minneapolis aka the young geniuses behind “Hot Cheetos and Takis.”  In their new release, “My Limo,” Da Rich Kidzz give shout-outs to their school bus, their calculators, and of course, the first day of school. The chorus goes, “My school bus is my limo/I rule back to school with my cap on and my brim low.”

This spot comes after Kmart’s “Yo Mama” video, in which playground kids used the classic insult to compliment one another’s mother’s back-to-school shopping choices. The clincher: “Yo mama’s so fiscally responsible, she got all that on free layaway.” Previous to that, we got a pun-laden diptych in the form of “Ship My Pants” and “Big Gas Savings.”

If Da Rich Kidzz’ spot succeeds in making K-Mart a cool elementary school shopping destination, then power to them. Anything to make the first day of school less nerve-wracking. “Hot Cheetos & Takis” caught on with the young crowd, so maybe “My Limo” will too. But it’s also possible that, like Jay Z with Samsung, the commercial overload will leave a bad taste in consumers’ mouths. And if Da Rich Kidzz are really up and coming, this spot might arrest their creative momentum, forever branding them the K-Mart Kidzz.

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