Hasta La Creative!

MRM//McCann promoted Ariana Stolarz to the role of global chief strategy officer.

“Throughout Ariana’s U.S. and international agency career, she has developed smart brand strategies focused on understanding consumer behavior as it relates to the fast-evolving world of digital technology,” said Bill Kolb, president, diversified agencies, McCann Worldgroup. “In her expanded role, she will help MRM//McCann continue to integrate brand insights with data and technology in ways that help our clients generate innovative and business-building customer-relationship solutions.”

Stolartz joined MRM//McCann in October of 2013 and led the New York and Princeton strategy teams before being promoted to  global director of strategy two years later. Before joining the agency she spent nearly four years as managing director, experience strategy with mcgarrybowen, leading digital and social media strategy for the agency on all accounts. Prior to that she spent nearly six years with The Vidal Partnership as director of digital strategy, following over a year and a half as regional project manager, direct and digital for JWT Miami.

She appears to be the MRM//McCann organization’s first strategy leader on the global level. Her promotion follows a May executive shakeup that saw CEO Michael McLaren depart along with the agency’s head of client services; MRM//McCann has yet to name a new chief executive, though McCann Worldgroup president of diversified agencies Bill Kolb has been handling those responsibilities for the past four months. The move followed client Verizon’s earlier decision to consolidate its FiOS direct marketing business with independent agency Rauxa.

“No matter how complex the marketing landscape gets, we still need our best and brightest focused on finding strong human truths that help inspire the ideas we make, no matter the form,” said McCann Worldgroup global CSO Suzanne Powers. “Ariana’s got it all: From her experience in social sciences and all things digital to her strong strategic acumen and intuitive understanding of brands and people; she’s the perfect blend.”

Yesterday, General Mills CMO Ann Simonds revealed to AdAge that the company has some very specific diversity requirements for its creative review: it wants its agencies’ creative departments to be staffed with at least 50 percent women and 20 percent people of color. Regarding the new quotas, she added, “we are very excited about that. If you are going to put people you serve first, the most important thing is to live up to it and make it a key criteria.”

Simonds is leading that review — which was launched a little over a month ago and originally thought to be closed — along with CCO and former Fallon chief strategy officer Michael Fanuele. Fanuele told AdAge the goal of the review is to find “one core agency to handle the bulk [of the work] but to supplement with other partners, which might be technology platforms or media partners,” or, put another way, “an anchor agency supplemented with a roster of interesting partners.”

According to our sources, the review is now down to three unnamed finalists from a pool including 72andSunny, McCann, Deutsch, Mother, Ogilvy and a Publicis “holding company solution.”

Fanuele told AdAge that McCann pitching as an IPG holding company solution remained a possibility, saying, “The clay is still wet on the proposal,” and “This an exercise in finding the right partners, not the right model.”

The fact that the diversity requirements specifically target agency creative departments is telling. It speaks to recent discussions spurred by groups like the The 3% Conference, whose most recent survey found that just 11.5 percent of agency creative directors are female.

The significance of the diversity requirements and the possibility it may impact other brands in the future is not lost on Simonds. “It feels like a first,” she said. “I think it’s rare and it is important.”

So far there’s no word on how, exactly, General Mills plans to enforce these requirements … or how quickly the agencies in question are scrambling to meet them.

McCann New York appointed Nir Refuah as executive creative technology director. In the position, he will focus on on developing technology-driven creative content and communications solutions for the agency.

Refuah joins McCann New York from MRM//McCann Romania, where he has served as chief innovation officer for the past three years. During his time there, he helped MRM//McCann become the top Romanian digital agency while working on the “Bucharest, Not Budapest” project and work for brands including KFC, Nespresso and MasterCard. Prior to that he spent five years as vice president, creative at McCann Digital in Tel Aviv, where he worked on the “Drugs Set Your Timeline” campaign for the Israel Anti-Drug Authority, as well as work for brands such as Huggies and Roots. That followed three years as head of interaction at Walla Communication.

“We have been big fans of Nir’s work for a long time,” said McCann New York co-CCO Sean Bryan. “From the Rom Bar campaigns to a much-followed Shepherd to a new take on pie charts, Nir has always found a way to bring the attention of the world to the brands and causes he works on. He is going to be a huge addition to our team here in NY.”

“We are going through a creative revolution that has disrupted the term ‘digital’ by making technology and innovation the initiators of storytelling,” added Refuah. “I’m humbled to join an agency that aced this year in doing such projects, and to get to work with huge creative talents like Sean Bryan, Tom Murphy, Eric Silver and Rob Reilly.”

Refuah’s appointment follows McCann New York bolstering its creative and production departments with a handful of new hires in March.

You may recall that the office also just won the Chick-Fil-A account…

MRM//McCann Detroit has parted ways with vice president, group creative director Murray Grondin.

An agency spokesperson confirmed that Grondin is no longer with the agency but has so far not specified whether MRM//McCann is seeking a replacement. It’s also unclear where Grondin will end up following his departure. 

Grondin joined the agency in July of 2013, following six years as vice president, creative director with Team Detroit. Prior to that he spent around seven and a half years serving as a senior art director with Y&R Detroit, leading a creative team on the agency’s Ford Credit account. That followed a year as a senior graphic designer with Y&R Toronto, leading design on Ford, Sears and AT&T Canada.

Before joining Y&R he spent six years as a senior graphic designer with Saatchi & Saatchi Toronto, working with clients including P&G, Toyota, Hewlett-Packard and Rothmans Benson & Hedges.

MRM//McCann has made several executive-level changes in its New York and Detroit offices in recent months. In April the Motor City shop named Jeff Cruz as its new EVP/chief creative officer, and in May CEO Michael McLaren and others departed in Manhattan after client Verizon decided to consolidate the digital portion of its FiOS business with Rauxa.

Microsoft’s $26.2 acquisition of professional network LinkedIn will not immediately impact its relationship with creative agency partner BBDO.

Today a LinkedIn spokesperson writes, “Our relationship with BBDO does not change. Until this deal closes, each company will continue to operate independently.”

Sources close to the matter tell us that BBDO’s San Francisco office has been working with the professional networking company on a per-project basis and that it will continue doing so aside from the acquisition, which was announced this morning.

While the agency’s relationship with the client will not be impacted in the short-term, the future of the business is unclear. For now, at least, we should expect more LinkedIn work from BBDO San Francisco following February’s launch of the brand’s first broadcast ad, “You’re Closer Than You Think,” which debuted during ABC’s broadcast of the Academy Awards. 

Microsoft mostly works with McCann’s dedicated unit m:united on creative, such as this International Women’s Day effort celebrating female inventors. In April, McCann hired former Havas executive creative director Jim Hord to work on the account. 

McCann Worldgroup’s San Francisco agency twofifteenmccann appointed Kelly Johnson as its first president, Adweek reports.

Johnson received the promotion from managing director, a position she has held at twofifteenmccann since November of 2013. She originally joined the agency as a group account director seven months earlier, following over six years as an account director with Goodby Silverstein & Partners. While with GS&P, she worked with brands including California Milk Processor Board, Comcast, Doritos, Yahoo! and Cheetos. Prior to GS&P she spent around three and a half years with CP+B Miami as a management supervisor and account supervisor, working with brands including Burger King and IKEA. That followed two years as an account supervisor and account executive at Publicis & Hal Riney, where she worked with brands such as HP, First Union National Bank and Siebel Software.

During Johnson’s tenure at twofifteenmccann, the agency has doubled in size to about 50 employees. Recently, twofifteenmccann has added such clients as Hulu, Machine Zone, Workday and Lookout, while continuing to work with founding client Xbox. In January, the agency brought on executive creative director Adam Reeves from GS&P. Its most recent work for Hulu includes a spot starring Aaron Paul.

New parents eventually get so sick of advice, they’ll want to wipe their baby’s butt with it. And now, infant feeding brand Tommee Tippee has made that possible—with a limited run of baby wipes made from actual parenting advice.

The new Advice Wipes—made from a recycled mix of parenting books, magazine articles, printed-out blog posts and more—aren’t available for sale to the public (yet—they might be someday). Rather, they’ve been made in a limited edition for special distribution as part of a new campaign from McCann themed “#ParentOn,” which aims to give parents the confidence to put away the baby books and trust their instincts when it comes to raising their kids.

Check out the brand’s new video about the Advice Wipes here:

An established baby brand in the U.K. that is looking to expand further in the U.S., Tommee Tippee came to McCann with Eric Silver when he arrived earlier this year as North American chief creative officer. (Silver + Partners had picked up the brand earlier.) It’s been a while since Silver was a new father—his daughters are 16 and 14—but he’s still plenty familiar with the pressures of modern parenting, which Tommee Tippee is trying to ease.

“One of the lines we used early on with the client was, ‘Humans were having babies for 200,000 years before the first baby book was written,’ ” he says. “We’re saying to new parents, ‘You got this. You know what you’re doing.’ “

Not only weren’t there baby books in prehistoric times, there also wasn’t an Internet half a century ago (when Tommee Tippee was founded) to amplify the pressure on parents, as the brand’s #ParentOn site reminds us.

“When questions were raised on how to raise a child, you just figured it out,” says a post on the Tumblr-like site. “There was parent and child. There was instinct. And there was Tommee Tippee. For 50 years we’ve made products that are smart and simple, innovative and intuitive. For 50 years, we’ve helped parents parent the way they were made to.”

The site also includes this anthem spot:

The baby-products industry in many ways is invested in making parents feel insecure—so the products can be the antidote. And while a handful of brands, including Similac and Plum Organics, have acknowledged that fact, and turned it on its head, the Tommee Tippee campaign is one of the first to say parents can really do just fine on their own.

And it does so with an approachable, fun-loving vibe—and with elements like the Advice Wipes that could get some buzz. Says Silver: “We thought it would be funny to take all that advice and actually wipe a baby’s ass with it.”

For more about the avalanche of advice doled out to new parents, check out the Tommee Tippee infographic below, based on the brand’s survey of 1,000 U.S. moms:

Mad Men creator Matthew Weiner was nothing if not detail-oriented—each scene had to have the right wardrobe, furniture, tchotchkes, and so forth, for the time period—so it makes sense that at the end of the show’s seven-season run there would be quite a few props leftover.

Roughly 1,400 items are currently up for auction on Screenbid until Aug. 6, and they range from iconic and practical to altogether odd. (Sadly Ginsberg’s nipple isn’t for sale.) 

Here are the weirdest (and yes, there will be spoilers for those who haven’t watched all the way through):

Lane’s Rope — $225

Description: “It all became too much for Lane. He was found in his office late in season five, hanging from this rope just inside the door.” 

Only someone who’s a fan of the macabre would want this. 

Ken’s Eye Patch — $200

Description: “The things Ken Cosgrove did for his clients. In the twelfth episode of season six, he returns to the office wearing this eye patch, after a duck hunting trip with his clients at Chevrolet results in him accidentally being shot in the face.” 

Just think about how much sweat from actor Aaron Staton’s face is on that patch. 

Roger’s LSD Sugar Cane Tray — $300 

Description: “Yes, you too can imagine you’re watching the 1919 World Series! From a bathtub! While on LSD! This Suisse Langenthal ceramic plate with golden-colored plating was used to serve Roger and his wife LSD in the sixth episode of season five.” 

If you’re looking to have a trip like Roger, purchasing this tray isn’t the way to do it. Plus, this is certainly more expensive.  

Duck’s Duck Print — $175 

Description: “Herman ‘Duck’ Phillips took his nickname seriously. This is one of two large, framed duck prints we found in his office.”

Duck’s drinking problem makes more and more sense. 

Sally’s Psychiatric Evaluation Folder — $125

Description: “Sally Draper needs a shrink… or so her mother is convinced. Sally exhibits some disturbing behavior in the fifth episode of season four and Betty wastes no time trying to find out what is happening to her little girl. Here is a black folder containing young Sally’s psychiatric evaluation by Dr. Edna Keener.” 

Yes, the psychiatric evaluation of a fictional teenage character is valued at $125. 

Don’s Note to Megan on Whale Picture — $325

Description: “In the ninth episode of season five, Betty discovers this drawing of a harpooned whale (“Why is he smiling?”) and a note from Don to Megan on the back (“Lovely Megan …”). This leads Betty to reveal part of Don’s past to Sally.” 

While the note did factor into the show’s plot in a major way, the actual whale drawing, credited to a young Bobby Draper, really isn’t much better than any other small child would do. 

Joan’s Ceramic Clown in Frame — $100  

Description: “This ceramic Chinese girl sits alone in a black frame, with no back cover. An interesting piece that belonged to Joan.” 

Not even the auctioneers knew how to sell this one. And no one should ever own clown art, even if it belonged to Joan Harris.

Playtex Media Plans —$125

Description: “‘Playtex protects a woman’s touch,’ some excellent work from Sterling Cooper Draper Pryce’s star copywriter Peggy Olson. Here are two of the Playtex Media Plans offered to executives in season four episode eleven of ‘Mad Men.'”

These might be a good investment, if you had a one-on-one pitch meeting with Peggy.  

Don’s Why I’m Quitting Tobacco Newspaper Ad — $3600

Description: “It’s among the more memorable moments in the entire run of “Mad Men.” In the 12th episode of season four, without informing the other partners, Don pens the letter ‘Why I’m Quitting Tobacco,’ which is placed as a full-page ad in the Sept. 16, 1965 edition of The New York Times.” 

Buying this piece of memorabilia isn’t all that odd but its price sure is. 

Don’s Typed Pages About Advertising — $950

Description: “‘It’s bigger than a car. It’s everything.’ In the eighth episode of season six, Don typed this rambling page of thoughts on advertising while in a drug-induced haze.” 

We watched Don Draper pontificate about the ad business for seven seasons. Is it really worth buying a printed version of his Jack Kerouac-esq ramblings, too? 

The popular knock against the lottery is that you can play it, but you’re an idiot if you do, cause nobody ever wins. But a new campaign for the New York Lottery is about a different kind of problem—someone who actually won, but who’s yet to claim the $7 million prize, and almost a year later, is about to run out of time.

McCann New York has posted street fliers in Canarsie, the Brooklyn neighborhood that’s home to Milky Way Deli, where the winning ticket in a Cash4Life game last summer was bought. A sketch of the ticket and the headline “Have You Seen Me?” adorns one flier. A stick figure smiles dumbly on a second with the headline “Is This You?” The subtext of both is: Are you the fool who’s about to let seven figures slip through your fingers?

In other words, the whole thing is devious and hilarious because it’s playful and it also reinforces the perception that people actually win—and invites everyone who sees it to imagine how much smarter they would be if they did.

Of course, it doesn’t really seem like the New York Lottery’s heart is really in the mission of finding the lucky lost soul. The winner, whoever he or she is, bought the ticket last July 24 (and needs to come forward by the same date this year, or the money goes back into the pool). But the lottery only started its canvassing campaign yesterday (July 22)—and the super high production values of its posters pretty much say it all.

Maybe the whole thing is a grand hoax—and the organization has the really winner stashed away somewhere, to roll out at the last minute—or there’s no winner at all. Then again, none of that really matters in the end, because whatever $4 million lump sum pittance would be left after taxes still isn’t enough to live in New York anyway.