Hasta La Creative!

TBWA\Greater China is launching its first ever “Young Bloods” program — sort of like the agency’s version of Young Glory or Young Guns — as part of its global talent initiative.

The agency describes Young Bloods as “a fully immersive creative competition whereby successful candidates work alongside members of the agency’s creative department on client briefs, with the ultimate reward of one candidate being offered a permanent role within the agency.”

TBWA’s Young Bloods program began back in 2001, the brainchild of TBWA’s Worldwide Creative Director, John Hunt. “The programme is special because it’s not an internship,” explains Hunt. “The idea is so bloody simple – we just drown the talent with creative opportunity to do real work. It’s the only way to inspire and nurture the best young talent available. The Young Bloods release a lot of energy throughout the agency as well as offer a fresh perspective on our client’s brands. Often we learn as much from them, as they learn from us.”

TBWA/Greater China began the recruiting process near the end of 2013, working closely with The One Club in China to review potential candidates. The agency received submissions from all over China, and made a final selection of three young creatives: Jing Li, Xujia Niu and Guo Giang. This September, the submission process will begin all over again.

TBWA/Shanghai partnered with P.I.G. China to create an online film promoting the venture, which you can view above. It’s a strange one. Stick around for credits after the jump. continued…

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This one’s been around awhile, but it hasn’t had much press and we felt it was worth sharing, especially if you’re a recent graduate or young creative with around 40 minutes or so to kill.

Not knowing what to do following graduation, two young creatives (William Novak and Francis Carter) embarked on a road trip and made a no-budget documentary called “The Ad-Venture,” exploring the current state of the ever-evolving world of advertising.

The creative pair interviewed industry professionals across the country, and begin the documentary by sharing inspiring messages from these individuals about the advantages and pitfalls of working advertising. Although at times it can feel overwhelmingly like a series of talking heads, these industry professionals touch on some interesting points about the current state of advertising and where it’s headed in the future. Mixed in with the interviews are intriguing relics from advertising’s golden age, which act as a welcome change of pace, and an intriguing look backwards to balance out the mostly forward-looking nature of the film.

As the documentary was dreamed up by young creatives, it shouldn’t come as a surprise that they spend a significant amount of time delving into the creative process, getting differing opinions about how best to tackle a project, and the different processes interviewees utilize in their work. This part of the film tends to drag a little bit, as, even if this is an area of interest, it gets a bit repetitive hearing people talk about the creative process (especially when different people inevitably repeat the same basic ideas).

The pair also tackle the creative differences agencies in different parts of the country tend to have in an attempt to answer for the viewer where it is in the advertising world that they might belong. Although this section can feel like a bunch of creatives pitching for their own agencies, they quickly move on to how to stand out from the pack and land a job, ending the video on something of an inspiring note. Although it’s something of a mixed bag, and you may end up utilizing the fast-forward option quite a bit, there are enough clever insights and pieces of good advice to recommend “The Ad-Venture” to interested parties. Stick around for credits after the jump. continued…

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Two ad executives — chief operating officer at W2O David Mihalovic, and W2O global chief creative officer Mike Hartman — are biking from northern New Jersey to this year’s SXSW in Austin, Texas to raise funds for Lyme Disease and COPD research in an endeavor they’re calling “Longhorn Tomato Motorcycle Run.”

The pair will set out from Asbury Park in a couple of days and have announced that “Anyone on two wheels brave enough to hit the road in the north east in early March is invited to join.” In the mean time, the fundraising aspect of the trip is in need of some help. Mihalovic and Hartman have raised $2,093 of their $25,000 goal. Undeterred, the pair says “…it’s time to give. Not give up.” So head on over to the donation page and help them out, if you can. It’s for a good cause.

Once the ride kicks off, you can follow the group’s Facebook page for updates on the action and their current location. Good luck, guys.

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All of a sudden, San Francisco-based digital agency Cibo has been flooding our radar as the shop has now welcomed Keith Ciampa to the fold to serve in the newly created role of chief creative officer. In case you didn’t know, last we heard Ciampa’s name, the senior creative was no longer holding the ECD post at Tribal SF back in 2012 after spending just eight months at the agency. During his brief stint at Tribal SF, where he replaced Tony Cordero at the time, Ciampa led new biz wins for Dolby and Intel among other accounts. Prior to his brief stay at Tribal, Ciampa held two-year creative director posts at both Goodby and McKinney, where he worked on accounts including Yahoo and Virgin Atlantic, respectively.

Yes, we have the obligatory statement from Cibo co-founder/CEO, Lu Lacourte, who says about Ciampa, “He’s a unique and special talent and a perfect fit for what Cibo is focused on. He has a magic touch when it comes to combining brand narratives with robust usability expertise across both digital and traditional. The guy’s a rock star and we’re thrilled to have him.”

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After spending the last four-and-a-half years at SapientNitro, where he worked out of the agency’s Boston office and last served as VP/general management/new business lead, Eric Healy has moved on to assume a new role at Rosetta. Specifically, Healy will serve as managing partner of the Publicis Groupe-owned agency’s consumer products & retail industry group. As you’d expect, Rosetta CEO Tom Adamski sings the new hire’s praises, saying in a statement, “…Eric is a true superstar, with a glowing record of business development, growth and expansion during the last 16 years. He’s the right leader at the right time to strengthen and solidify our reputation across the rapidly changing consumer products and retail industry.”

Prior to his time at SapientNitro, Healy worked as EVP of corporate development at Aegis and before, spent two years as SVP/director of interactive at Mullen and served for nearly four at Arnold. During his time at Arnold, Healy first oversaw the agency’s interactive practice before taking the lead on strategy, integrated marketing and creative development for its then-existent Vonage account.

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We’ve got the Grey double-whammy today as the agency, fresh off of winning the Papa John’s biz, has now also welcomed Curt Detweiler as chief creative officer of its San Francisco office. And so, thus ends Detweiler’s brief spell at Arnold SF, where he apparently landed just nine months ago to serve as EVP/ECD/managing director. Whatever the case, it appears the dust has settled on his next gig, as he now takes over as CCO of the 75-person-strong Grey SF, where he will partner with the agency’s president, Milan Martin, who joined at the end of last summer.

Detweiler’s new boss, Grey North America CEO Michael Houston, says in a statement, “Curt is going to be an outstanding partner to Milan as Grey San Francisco’s resurgence and rapid growth continues under his leadership. Curt’s creative track-record on big brands and big clients in every channel, across Europe, Asia and the United States at many of the finest agencies, underscores the aggressive plans we have for Grey on the West Coast.”

To refresh your memory of Detweiler’s resume, prior to Arnold, the creative vet spent a few years as EVP/ECD at McCann SF and served in the senior creative level at the likes of Ground Zero and TBWA\Chiat\Day New York and L.A. during his career. The Grey SF top creative post (which was ECD at the time) was previously held by Jack Fund, who left the agency last fall.

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Well, the Olson camp did the math for us as the Minneapolis-based agency’s wet n wild Beauty win marks its seventh AOR assignment since Sept. 1, following the likes of Sharp Electronics, Supercuts and Commerce Bank. In case you didn’t know, wet n wild, which signed Fergie from Black Eyed Peas as its spokesperson in 2012, is a 35-year-old, L.A.-based division of Markwins Beauty Products and one that has never maintained an AOR relationship before but tapped Olson after a national search.

Markwins president Bill George says in a statement, “Our brand is in a great position to reach out to a broader audience. Of all the agencies we talked to, Olson’s team best understood our circumstances and laid out the most compelling vision for our future.” From what sources tell us, other agencies in the final round were Mekanism and DDB West. As wet n wild AOR, Olson will now handle broadcast, digital, social media and data analytics for the brand.

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Well, that didn’t take long. Just a week after word spilled out that DDB and Reebok were parting ways (yet again), the sports apparel/shoe brand has found a new lead global agency in San Francisco-based Venables Bell & Partners. VB&P won the assignment after a review conducted by SRI. In a statement, Yan Martin, head of global brand marketing for Reebok, says, “VB&P demonstrated a deep understanding of our brand purpose and culture and developed thinking and creative that excited everyone involved in the process. We’re confident that VB&P will help maintain the brand’s forward momentum and raise the strategic and creative bar for the Reebok brand.”

Reebok now joins a VB&P client roster that includes Audi of America, Intel and SKYY vodka.

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Last month, we brought you news of four creatives — Jon Barco, Andy Dao, Bryan Denman, and Michael Lopez — who launched a campaign to make the “Ice Cube’s A Pimp” Goodyear blimp of Ice Cube‘s classic “It Was A Good Day” a reality on National Good Day Day, January 20th, while raising money for the South Central charity A Place Called Home. The campaign went viral, and Goodyear took notice. While they were reluctant to fly that particular message, Goodyear did indeed commemorate January 20th with a “Good Day Blimp,” and even offered the kids of A Place Called Home a ride-along on the blimp.

Tool’s Jason Zada, who you may remember from the award-winning and creepy “Take This Lollipop,” was there to document the process. Ice Cube was on hand, thrilled to help out A Place Called Home, and the Good Day Blimp crowdfunding crew couldn’t have been happier (well, except maybe if Goodyear had run with the original message). If you’ve been following this story at all, it’s well worth the four minutes to see this charitable campaign come to fruition, and to hear Ice Cube‘s thoughts on the matter. Here’s hoping you all have a good day.

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It’s been a busy day it seems at camp Crispin as the MDC-owned agency has promoted two of its veteran staffers to role of managing director in separate offices. In Boulder, 10-year vet Danielle Whalen, who most recently served as EVP/group account director on  Applebee’s and Fruit of the Loom, has assumed the MD role. Whalen originally joined CP+B in 1999 as an account manager supervisor, but left two years later and then rejoined the agency in ’04 to help lead the Burger King business. During that heyday, the agency produced such efforts as, yes, Subservient Chicken and subsequently award-winning campaigns like Whopper Freakout. In addition to BK, Whalen has also worked on Old Navy.

Joining Whalen in MD status is Carter Nance, a fellow EVP/group account director who’s been with CP+B since 1999 who currently oversees Domino’s and VitaminWater and will now take on the new role in the Miami office.

We’ve been told these are new positions and as a result of the move, CP+B fills out its MD posts in Boulder, Miami and L.A., the last of which has been assumed by Mason Reed since spring 2012. With the goal being to move to “a more decentralized structure,”  CP+B president Steve Erich says, “Danielle, Carter and Mason are three amazingly strong account leaders who all started in the Miami office over ten years ago, fully embody the beliefs of CP+B and understand the power of great creative product. They will work with their individual offices, as well as the collective agency, to drive our client businesses and the performance of CP+B.”

New Career Opportunities Daily: The best jobs in media.