Former JWT CCO Launches New Project, Pitches Lyft

Regular readers of this blog will almost certainly remember that Chief Creative Officer Jeff Benjamin announced his plans to leave JWT New York last summer in what some called an ouster and others called a mutual decision.

The agency’s release and Benjamin’s own statements held that he was leaving in order to launch his own creative venture. We didn’t get any details on that venture at the time, but now Benjamin seems closer to unveiling it; we only know that it goes by the name Disco.

In what appears to be the venture’s first publicly shared project, Benjamin and his crew joined the “wild card” crowd pitching ride-share service Lyft yesterday.

The concept: call a driver in Brooklyn and pay him to hang out with them all day rather than provide rides to others. There’s ice cream, table tennis and a trip across the old Brooklyn Bridge:

Yesterday, Benjamin tweeted what appears to be a list of collaborators:

Influencers don’t like being called influencers. @samthecobra, @jerm_cohen, @dave_krugman are awesome connected creators to work with.

— Jeff Benjamin (@jeffb) June 9, 2015

Of course the Lyft “review” is ongoing, but Disco did get the company’s attention yesterday as both the “startup” and its CMO Kira Wampler (formerly with Trulia) favorite the submission on Twitter.

We’ve been unable to reach out to Benjamin directly so far, but we expect to hear more about Disco soon (location, number of employees, points of differentiation, etc.). Of course we welcome him to give us more information.

W+K Plants Tongue in Cheek for Andy Awards

W+K finds a unique and amusing way to call for entries to the 2015 Andy Award in a new campaign featuring a a member of a bomb squad, neurosurgeon and firefighter all discussing a career that takes real courage: advertising. Each spot ends with the tagline, “Where only the bravest get rewarded.”

In “Neurosurgeon” the discussion happens during brain surgery, as the surgeon in question asks, “How do you know when you sell an idea to a client that the idea is actually going to work?” He asks for the scalpel and then continues, “It’s like its one big conceptual umbrella and then what do you do with that?” He goes on with his hypothetical scenario, in which the client kills the idea in favor of a brand manifesto with “hard hitting VO,” he sighs. “And then wait ’til AgencySpy gets it,” the surgeon ads. “It’s brutal.”

In the other spots a firefighter marvels at the difficulty of balancing TV, digital and social, and the bomb squad member trembles at the thought of having to “come up with a groundbreaking social media campaign in a week.” Obviously the point of the ads is to point out that advertisers aren’t doing anything as courageous or important as saving lives, knocking down the self-importance of award shows a peg or two in the process. The videos are supported by display and social media ads depicting big name creatives like Gerry Graf, Susan Hoffman, Jeff Benjamin and Dan Wieden being congratulated by firefighters, astronauts, surgeons and the like. Stick around for “Hurt Locker” and “Firefighter” after the jump. (more…)

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Adam Kerj Named CCO at JWT New York

Adam KerjJust over two months after the announcement that Jeff Benjamin would be transitioning out of his role atop JWT North America’s creative department, the agency has named a new CCO for its New York office.

Adam Kerj joins the agency after serving in the same role for headline-winner 360i (which, coincidentally, just announced the appointment of its own new CCO). Kerj joined the digital shop in May 2012 and recently told Digiday that “there is no such thing as creative genius” while using the same headshot you see here.

The new chief creative spent a decade of his career at Saatchi & Saatchi’s Stockholm office, which he co-founded; prior to that period, he worked in creative positions at Leo Burnett’s Chicago and Denmark locations as well as TBWA Sweden.

Kerj is replacing Matt MacDonald, whose position has been empty since he left last November to help run the AT&T account under BBDO’s David Lubars.

He will report to worldwide CCO Matt Eastwood, and the release tells us that he will work on Macy’s, Johnson & Johnson, Puma, Vonage and Royal Caribbean (among other clients). Eastwood went all out on the quote as well:

“Adam is the ultimate modern communicator. He has achieved sweeping success as a digital pioneer, but has a background rooted in traditional advertising. He is an exceptional creative, a brilliant leader and a great human being. A true global citizen, he has lived and worked around the world, and we are thrilled to have him join our flagship New York office.”

Anyone have anything to add?

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DigitasLBi Adds Emilie Vasu as VP, Group Director of Business Development and Marketing

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.

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CCO Jeff Benjamin Out at JWT

We can officially confirm a series of tips we received this morning: chief creative officer Jeff Benjamin will soon be former CCO at JWT.

Despite the claims of several tipsters, the agency’s press release holds that Benjamin will leave to launch “a new creative venture” (though we get no specifics on that project).

One source says that Benjamin, who joined JWT from CP+B in 2012, was “very out of place” at the agency from the start. Contrary to prevailing stereotypes, he was more “an indie agency guy than a Mad Man”, and his non-traditional way of doing things (which often included working unusually long hours and calling fellow creatives at odd times) did not sit well with upper management.

(more…)

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JWT Nabs Puma Biz

puma

“Forever Faster.” Remember that mantra as it’s the 2014 tagline for Puma, which has now appointed JWT as its global creative agency in a move that will span North America, Europe, Latin America, Asia-Pacific and Middle East/African regions. In a statement, the sports/shoe/apparel brand’s CEO Björn Gulden says, “In JWT, we have found an agile agency with a global reach that understands the PUMA brand and culture. The team quickly proved that they could deliver on our new mission to become the Fastest Sports Brand in the World. Together we’ll craft a more nimble creative structure that will allow us to support all of the company’s sporting and lifestyle categories with a single consumer message and streamlined creative concept across territories.”

JWT New York will spearhead creative on the account, which was previously handled by Droga5. According to sources, BBH and Barton F. Graf 9000 were also in the pitch, which we hear JWT wasn’t initially invited to but eventually became a “dark horse.” Yet, “chemistry” worked out and due to touting a “small agency-style creative” at a network agency, which the brand didn’t expect, JWT won out thanks to a pitch led by the agency’s NY CEO Peter Sherman, North American CCO Jeff Benjamin and director of business development Emilie Vasu.

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Draftfcb, R/GA Among 2013 Facebook Studio Award Winners

Today, the social network has unveiled the winners of its second annual Facebook Studio Awards, which honors the ad industry and its various socially inclined campaigns from the last year. Among those making the grade this year, as chosen by a jury that included familiar names from the biz such as Colleen DeCourcy, Nick Law, Jeff Benjamin, Tor Myhren and Rob Reilly, are Draftfcb and 360i, which earned the top Blue Award for their “Daily Twist” work for Oreo. Other winners include R/GA, which made the list twice, once for Nike work and the other for the intriguing “One Copy Song”Facebook app the agency developed for Swedish rapper, Adam Tensta, a year ago (it’s also up for a Webby this year).

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Kutscher Out at JWT NY

JWT New York has confirmed that as of today, it’s decided to part ways with co-chief creative officer Ryan Kutscher, who has been with the agency for less than a year. JWT NY would not comment beyond the confirmation, but as a result of its move, the creative leadership at the office now rests in the hands of Kutscher’s now-former partner-in-crime Matt MacDonald and JWT North America CCO, Jeff Benjamin.

Kutscher joined JWT NY as MacDonald’s co-CCO after spending five years at CP+B, where he last served as creative director and worked on VW  as well as the award-winning “Whopper Freakout.” He and MacDonald replaced Peter Nicholson as JWT NY’s top creatives last May.

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Our SXSWi Begins with Revelry in JWT’s Turf

Yeah, the time change didn’t work in our favor,  but yes kids, we are here and broadcasting as well as we can. After flight delays and getting our badge just in the nick of time last night before the Austin Convention Center shut down, we hit up the JWT party at Lustre Pearl. Following a brief encounter down the street with a very cordial Alex Jones, who was doing his usual ranting and raving fresh off a protest downtown, we ventured down Driskill and encountered the homely spot, Lustre Pearl, where JWT played host to the band, Walk Off the Earth (below). Gotye cover aside, we were not so enthused with the multi-instrumental act, which sounded like a jam-band version of Arcade Fire, if that’s possible.

Nevertheless, talking shit with industry heads and all the JWT top brass including Jeff BenjaminMauro Cavelletti and Perry Fair, the last of whom is promoting the agency’s pop-up shop, Walter, was fine enough. Besides, don’t tell me you wouldn’t dance like an idiot in a sea of fog to Tiffany’s “I Think We’re Alone Now” if you didn’t just retain a major client. We will be hitting up Draftfcb, Crowdtap and Barbarian events tonight and will promptly be in bed my midnight. But we’ll talk to you beforehand with some panel thoughts.

 

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