Hasta La Creative!

According to an internal memo sent to staff by creative chairman John Patroulis and obtained by Ad Age, BBH North America CEO Pat Lafferty and BBH New York CCO Ari Weiss are both leaving the agency.

According to the memo, Lafferty and Weiss are leaving the agency to pursue unspecified, but separate, opportunities. It also states that the agency plans to “immediately start the search for the next CEO,” although the scope of the new appointment will be New York, rather than North America, according to AdAge’s sources. BBH global chief growth officer Mike Densmore will also fill the role of interim CEO during this search. 

Lafferty joined BBH in the North American CEO role in May of 2013, following nearly three years at McCann Worldgroup. With McCann he served as managing director, global brand community and then COO, North America. Prior to joining that shop, he spent three and a half years serving as CMO for Travel Channel, following two years as senior vice president, marketing for Discovery Communications.

Weiss was promoted to the chief creative officer role in January, when Patroulis ascended to his current creative chairman role; he originally joined BBH New York in March of 2011 as executive creative director after serving stints in CD roles at BBDO, GS&P and 180LA and writing copy for Cliff Freeman & Partners and W+K.

Patroulis will move back into his former CCO role in addition to his creative chairman duties. “This has the benefit of creating a simpler leadership structure – creative/strategist/account – which has worked out pretty well for BBH throughout its nearly 35-year history,” he wrote in the note to staff.

Today the New York offices of BBH enhanced production capabilities by promoting Kate Morrison, former Executive Producer, to Head of Content Production.

Over the past decade, Morrison has held production roles at various agencies including 180, BSSP and twofifteenmccann; her promotion arrives after spending seven months spent in the EP position and working on the PlayStation “Perfect Day” spot that won a Gold Lion at Cannes. In the newly created role, she will help lead and manage the production of all of the agency’s content.

CCO John Patroulis writes:

“Kate Morrison has made a massive mark on the work at BBH New York…like every producer here, [she] puts the quality of the work first and foremost.”

The promotion is the latest move in BBH New York’s recent expansion: earlier in the year the office hired Carey Head of Barton F. Graf 9000 as Head of Integrated Production and Technology and Art Director Marcos Kotlhar of Brazil’s AlmapBBDO to strengthen its content production offering.

Morrison will report directly to Head.

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BBH New York have teamed up with production company The Corner Shop to produce this new spot promoting Sony’s new Playstation Plus network.

The 1:19 spot continues the trend of depicting gamers in real-life situations mirroring the games they’re playing, in lieu of actual gameplay. In this way, the spot shows a group of friends transition among a series of games (at one point one of the players says, “Guy’s it’s me,” but they’re no longer playing on the same team and just laugh), displaying the Playstation Plus’ “New Games Monthly” and “Next Gen Multiplayer” features simultaneously. It’s something of a spiritual successor to BBH’s lauded “Perfect Day” spot from October, although it doesn’t have quite the same swagger. Credits after the jump. continued…

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During the NBA Finals last month, PlayStation debuted a new mini-film from BBH NY titled “Greatness Awaits” which featured a wide array of game characters and a whimsical narrator talking sternly to the camera (much like in this 2009 spot BBH NY did for Johnnie Walker). With over 5 million YouTube plays, the big budget ad was hailed as a mild success, falling somewhere between “Hedgehog Reacts to Fart” and “One Direction Crash Barbie’s Party! 1D Dolls Party All Night! OMG !.::Original Video::.”

To the untrained eye, it would appear that the spot’s success was owed to its subtle nods to some of PlayStation’s biggest titles paired with the sort of over-the-top visual effects that gamers subsist upon. However, any true gamer knows that the ad’s success is owed predominantly to the elaborate costuming employed, causing PlayStation to make a second ad in order to offer the costumes as prizes of some sort. Yes, it’s an ad for an ad, or “Adception” if you will.

Anyway, gamers can bid of the costumes from the spot using trophy points or something that they earn by being good at video games. Then everyone will play dress-up and have a great time. Learn more at bidforgreatness.com and view credits after the jump.

continued…

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It took six months and change, but BBH has finally selected a new CEO for North America in Patrick Lafferty, who joins said agency after spending two-and-a-half years at McCann and the last 18 months as its North American COO. Lafferty replaces Greg Andersen, who was one of those affected by BBH’s major “restructuring” last fall. Lafferty, who will officially assume his CEO title at BBH this summer and based out of its New York office, rounds out a leadership team that includes CCO John Patroulis, CSO Sarah Watson and chairman, Emma Cookson.

Lafferty’s soon-to-be boss, BBH Group CEO Gwyn Jones, says in a statement, “Patrick has a really calm authority and such a rich body of experience. He has seen and done a lot both within and beyond our industry – embracing client side, media ownership and the military. We have great strategic and creative strength in the business, and I think Pat will bring outstanding leadership to that offering. On top of all that – I think he is just a great person.”

As you’d expect, Lafferty, who was, yes, a former platoon leader/company commander in the U.S. Army, will be tasked with running both BBH New York, which of course handles Axe and now Playstation, and L.A., which services clients including Red Bull. During his career, the exec has also worked on the account side at Leo Burnett and as CMO at Travel Channel.

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