Hasta La Creative!

The cabinet office has named RKCR/Y&R as lead strategic and creative partner for the GREAT Britain campaign, which “unites government departments in promoting Britain oversees.”

Last summer RKCR/Y&R won a GREAT tourism initiative working with Visit Britain, developing the “Sounds of GREAT Britain” campaign. Apparently the campaign impressed the Cabinet Office, and now the agency will partner with central GREAT Cabinet Office “to grow the brand, develop increased and deeper relationships with supporting brand partners and to evolve the GREAT campaign.” RKCR/Y&R will be tasked with creating an extended multi-disciplinary team to deliver brand and digital strategy, develop and manage partnerships, secure talent and drive PR.

“We are honoured to be supporting the GREAT team in developing this fantastic and ambitious brand and be able to reinforce our commitment to marketing  British brands here and overseas,” said Vicky Jacobs, managing sirector, RKCR/Y&R.

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Creative agency Zambezi has just announced the hiring of Ricardo Diaz, who will serve as their new director of digital.

Diaz will fill the role of “digital zen master” for Zambezi, having emerged from a computer science background and over eighteen years of digital marketing experience. As director of digital, he will be responsible for “guiding brands through innovations and progressive methods to amplify their message and make fans out of consumers.”

Diaz joins Zambezi from TBWA/Chiat/Day, where he worked from 2007-2013. He has helped create award-winning campaigns for the GRAMMYs, Gatorade, Pepsi, Nissan, Sony, VISA and Adidas. Prior to TBWA/Chiat/Day, Ricardo worked at The Cannery, a small production company, dating all the way back to 1999. Zambezi adds that “His laugh is infectious, and no cure exists.”

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Yes, word is out that Bob Winter, former Y&R (what was then Chicago) CCO who left for Crispin Porter + Bogusky in late 2012, has found a new gig at VSA Partners. Winter, who helped create the Bud Light “Real Men of Genius” campaign while at DDB and led wins on Dave & Buster’s and Famous Footwear during his stint at Y&R, will now take on the role of partner/executive creative director at VSA, which houses offices in its homebase of Chicago as well as Detroit and NYC.

In a statement, said agency’s CEO, Dana Arnett, says, “The addition of this world-class marketing talent just continues to advance VSA’s legacy of designing powerful, human-centered experiences across channels that are realized to the highest creative and strategic standards. When those dots are effectively connected, clients and consumers always benefit.”

As mentioned before, during his career, Winter also served as a creative director at Goodby and an SVP/CD at Leo Burnett.

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As we briefly mentioned two weeks ago, Omnicom-owned, Fort Lauderdale-based agency Zimmerman is opening up a new, 130,000 square-foot space, and now we have a bit more info and visual representation of what to expect from the unveiling this Friday, March 28. While we won’t be back in our old FTL hometown for the unveiling, we’ve been sent some images above and below of what to expect from what’s being dubbed Zimmerman 3.0. We’re still awaiting a couple of quotes from self-appointed “maverick ad man” Jordan Zimmerman, he of sizable portrait below:

In the meantime, though, here are some takeaways from the new office:

-Open office concept and design to encourage “collaboration, appealing to the average employee age of 26″ (1,100 full-time associates are in the mix). Well, it is all the rage these days in the agency world.

-Floor-to-ceiling writeable walls in every office to facilitate creativity.

-Customizable color lighting in elevators to embrace national clients, and finally, what we feel is the coup de grace…

-Departments organized as “neighborhoods,” each portraying a Zimmerman value — i.e. the “Fearless” neighborhood is lined with punching bags (below).

This might be the first type of agency office accoutrement we’ve seen like this and maybe it’s just a way to take out one’s aggression at times. Or, hell, we’ll just say it’s installed for the symbolism. And finally, here’s one more shot from the new FTL space, which was designed by architectural/design firm, Gensler.

Over the years, Zimmerman has worked with clients ranging from Office Depot and Papa John’s (the latter of which moved to Grey last month) to CBS and White Castle

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San Francisco-based Pereira & O’Dell were recently invited onto ABC’s Nightline for a segment exploring the recent “hunkvertising” trend, and even created a “hunkvertisement” for the show.

The five-minute segment, entitled “The Art of the ‘Hunkvertisement’” features executive creative director Jaime Robinson and Renuzit director Chris Applebaum explaining the phenomenon to Nightline reporter Nick Watt. After exploring the ins and outs of “hunkvertising” the pair, along with the rest of their team, coach Watt on how Nightline can appeal to more women, and even film a 30 second “hunkvertisement” for the program produced in-house by P&O’D.

It’s kind of fun to watch Watt struggle with the concept of mixing male sexual objectification and humor in ads targeting women, which he at one point labels “bizarre” and then attempt to star (rather uncomfortably) in his own advertisement. Nightline approaches all kinds of reactions to the supposed trend, including the idea that these kinds of ads empower women, that it’s sexist to assume women need a hot guy to sell them kitchen and household items, and the crazies at One Million Moms doing what they do best (being crazy). The segment runs through a number of prototypical “hunkvertisements” in their examination of the phenomenon, notably Renuzit’s “Scent Gents,” which we’ve included after the jump. continued…

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It’s been six months since we first heard that Wells Fargo was looking for a new agency partner after working for nearly two decades with DDB. Now, the search has come to an end as fellow Omnicom agency BBDO has taken over on the financial institution’s agency of record duties.

In a statement regarding the decision, which marks BBDO’s return to the bank biz after losing Bank of America in 2012, Wells Fargo CMO Jamie Moldafsky says. “BBDO demonstrated exceptional creativity and big ideas, which made a compelling case for moving forward and officially establishing this new relationship. As our new brand agency of record, we’re confident that BBDO will bring world-class strategic expertise to tell the Wells Fargo story and communicate the value of our products and services to the consumer.”

The Wells Fargo account will be run out of BBDO San Francisco, which also counts clients including Gallo and Mars. The BBDO appointment, though, will not affect the rest of Wells Fargo’s agency roster as MRM will continue to lead digital creative, OMD and UM will continue to serve as media agencies, and the company’s specialist agency roster will remain unchanged.

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Back in November, we brought you news of Laser Cat, the giant art-eating cat that projects the art he ingests from his laser eyes. Launched by Hungry Castle and Umbrella and constructed by ADC Hall of Famer and SVA teacher Kevin O’Callaghan, Laser Cat solicited submissions from agency creatives, as well as artists everywhere.

The original (unrealistic) goal was to gain one million submissions, allowing Laser Cat to project the art on the moon at this year’s ADC Annual Awards of Art + Craft in Advertising and Design at the Bass Museum in Miami Beach on April 8th. Unfortunately, the moon is out, but Laser Cat will be on hand at the ADC Awards in Miami to project 10,539 artworks onto the Bass Museum. In addition to submissions from many top agencies, Laser Cat was able to garner some pretty impressive celebrity submissions, including those from Banksy and David Lynch. For more, check out the videos above and below, or head on over to the Laser Cat site. And if you’d like to see Laser Cat in person, buy tickets for the ADC Awards in Miami Beach.

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Grey New York is dabbling in the art world as it’s now been global ad agency for the Whitney Museum of American Art following a review. From what we’ve been told by sources, Grey beat out three other agencies in the pitch including Mother NY (Update: We’re now hearing from other sources that Mother actually declined to pitch. The saga continues). First up to bat for Grey, which is officially being dubbed “exclusive marketing partner” for the New York-based Whitney, is an integrated campaign breaking this week with the launch of the Museum’s 2014 Biennial.

In a statement regarding the agency decision, Whitney chief marketing/communications officer, Jeff Levine, says, “This is a transformational moment in the Whitney’s history and we are delighted to partner with Grey. Grey’s creativity, the strong,
clear tone of voice present in all of its work, strategic insights, integrated digital and social capabilities and global reach made Grey the ideal choice.”

In addition to the Biennial work, Grey NY will also provide marketing support for the Jeff Koons: A Retrospective exhibit that will be unveiled in late June and build brand awareness to hype the Whitney’s move to NYC’s Meatpacking District in spring of next year.  The Whitney Biennial, by the way, runs through May 25 at the museum’s Madison Ave. space. Prior to Grey, the Whitney worked with the likes of Ogilvy, though there was no incumbent in this current review.

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IPG Mediabrands collaborated with TubeMogul, “the leading advertising software company for digital branding,” to create the Ad-Tech Apprenticeship, “the first apprenticeship in the advertising technology industry.”

The one year program sends apprentices on an intensive training program that involves six month rotations at IPG Mediabrands and TubeMogul offices in California, allowing successful applicants to experience “a vast media agency capability at IPG Mediabrands, and an entrepreneurial, technology-focused organization at TubeMogul.” Apprentices will gain an understanding of the digital business, as well as a full skill set in programmatic advertising.

“As we enter a data-driven age where software powers the execution of brand advertising, there is a need for a new generation of professionals with distinct skills. This apprenticeship is specifically designed to foster that talent, combining IPG Mediabrands’ leadership in moving the industry towards automation with TubeMogul’s innovative, technology-driven environment,” said Brett Wilson, CEO and Co-Founder of TubeMogul.

The Ad-Tech Apprenticeship began accepting applications last month, so head over to the site and apply now if you’re interested (or would just like to learn more). TubeMogul and IPG Mediabrands will be looking for “the most curious, ambitious and creative graduate talent and will give successful candidates the opportunity to start their media careers at TubeMogul or IPG Mediabrands.” Selected applicants will begin the year-long program in June.

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After spending nearly two-and-a-half years at Energy BBDO, where he last served as SVP/group creative director on accounts including Wrigley, Chicago native Rick Hamann has moved on to a fellow Windy City operation, The Onion, where he now joins up as SVP and head of the satirical pub’s in-house creative agency, Onion Labs. In a statement, Onion CEO Steve Hannah says, “With over-15 years in advertising and experience working for a wide assortment of brands, Rick is the perfect person to head up Onion Labs. It will be his job to make sure that the most original, inventive comedy and pop culture ideas are created for our clients, and that they are absolutely aligned with their business goals.”

Here are some recent campaigns here and here if you need a refresher on the Onion Labs. During his time at Energy, Hamann moved up from VP/CD to his most recent GCD role, working with the likes of the aforementioned Wrigley (with ex-Energy BBDO AD/CD Jimmy Dietzen) as well as Quaker, Pearl Vision on various print/TV/digital efforts in the process. During his career, Hamann has also served as a copywriter at JWT Chicago and now-defunct Element79 before moving to up senior creative roles at Factory Design Labs and Cramer-Krasselt.

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