22squared Hires Matthew Zaifert as Its Newest Creative Director

Independent agency 22squared appointed Matthew Zaifert as a creative director. In the role, he will work out of 22squared’s Tampa office across the several of the agency’s key accounts, while reporting to executive creative director Kevin Botfeld

“Matthew is an extremely talented, no ego creative writer, with a breadth of big brand experience. He’s exactly the type of leader and enthusiastic storyteller we were seeking for the growth of our clients and agency,” Botfeld said in a statement. “We’re excited to welcome Matthew to the 22squared family.”

Zaifert joins 22squared from Publicis New York, where he has spent over two years as a creative director, working with brands including Wendy’s, Cadillac, and Samsung. Before Publicis he spent eight years as an associate creative director with BBDO New York, working with such brands as AT&T, Snickers, M&M’s, Footlocker, Autism Speaks, and Mountain Dew, winning several Cannes Lions for his work on Snickers and AT&T. Prior to that he served a short stint as a copywriter with mcgarrybowen.

The Atlanta headquarters of 22squared has also made several additions to its creative department in recent months since promoting John Stapleton to CCO in the same move that sent Botfeld to Florida. Albert Patton moved over from R/GA to run the team in April, and the indie shop hired Bryan Lee (formerly with BBDO Atlanta) as CD last month.

22squared is All Over the Place with ‘Unexpect Everything’ Campaign for Toyota Corolla

Atlanta agency 22squared just launched their “Unexpect Everything” campaign promoting the Corolla for Southeast Toyota, a campaign targeted at millenials that encompasses  broadcast, influencer marketing, social, digital, mobile, search, desktop gaming, experiential and in-dealership components. This includes the really terrible Tyler Ward music video for “Forever Starts Tonight” (featured after the jump), promoting the Toyota Corolla. I guess I didn’t expect that.

Southeast Toyota’s Tumblr is a huge part of the campaign, with most content driving viewers to the site. The Tumblr hosts a wealth of content, including “Corolla art captured by photographer Jack Parker and photos and videos from 15 influencers across Southeast Toyota’s five-state footprint” and seems to be updated regularly.

The most unique element to the “Unexpect Everything” campaign is definitely CorollaCade, the unfortunately named arcade-style virtual reality Corolla simulator developed in conjunction with Fullscreen and Ogeeku. Using Oculus Rift technology, “Ogeeku product designer Jon Brence built the virtual Corolla to specifications and even coded in key car features such as Bluetooth®, back-up camera, LED headlamps and a moonroof.” The homage to classic arcade driving campaigns breaks from tradition by not being about speed and adrenaline — rather it aims to immerse the driver as an accurate representation of what driving the Corolla is like. It seems like a lot of fun. The CorollaCade team may be expanding the project further. Jon Brence from the development team tells Engadget, “We are in talks with the brand [Toyota] to have another cabinet built for showcase to the public and for several events…” You can check out a video of the making of CorollaCade above. It seems like it was a fun project to be a part of.

Credits and the awfulness of Tyler Ward after the jump. continued…

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