Hasta La Creative!

David&Goliath, perhaps most well-known for their Blake Griffin and now Jack McBrayer-co-starring spots for Kia, have decided to celebrate the new year a little differently. Instead of focusing on empty resolutions and self-improvement, they’ve created a “post-holiday card” thanking friends, family, clients and colleagues, which they’ve dubbed “The Gratitude Wall.”

David&Goliath invited employees to “appreciate and thank those who have helped us get to where we are today” via posts to Instagram, then assembled the Instagram images on The Gratitude Wall webpage. It’s a nice, positive message that D&G designed to “look back on our combined challenges and successes and to look ahead with a sincere thank you to all involved.” We appreciate the shift from the normal New Year’s naval gazing, new diets and resolutions that will be broken before February rolls around towards gratitude and appreciation. Plus, D&G can refresh the page with new photos next November for an easy Thanksgiving card.

If you need some affirmation that not all is wrong with the world this gloomy, snow-covered Friday, head on over to The Gratitude Wall for something unabashedly and straightforwardly nice. How often do you get to see that?

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Well, looks like our tipsters jumped the gun last week on who actually won the NAPA account, but it’s now official, as you may have heard, that Kansas City-based, WPP-owned VML has been named agency of record for the auto parts chain. From what we’ve heard, DDB was also in the pitching mix for the account, which includes all national creative duties including TV, radio, print, sponsorship activation and digital. The 88-year-old NAPA brand previously worked with what is now Publicis Kaplan Thaler, which had handled the account since 2009.

Jon Cook, CEO/president of VML, says in a statement, “We’re incredibly proud to be selected as NAPA’s agency of record. VML’s focus has always been about challenging conventional thinking and delivering more relevant, innovative and category-changing ideas. These were some of the priority ingredients that NAPA wanted in an agency partner, and we can’t wait to get started.”

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Following a “confidential agency review process,” 60-year old, family-owned brand King’s Hawaiian, best known for its dinner rolls and sweet breads here in the States, has appointed Energy BBDO as its creative agency partner. As a result, the Chicago-based agency will be tasked with developing the first-ever national TV campaign for King’s, which operates baking facilities in both Torrance, CA and Oakwood, GA.

So why Energy BBDO? In a statement, King’s Hawaiian VP of marketing Erick Dickens says, “We have aggressive sales and marketing goals for the coming year and we were looking for an agency partner that could help us achieve these objectives. In Energy BBDO, we have an agency with a proven track record of delivering great work that builds and energizes brands. Working together, we know we can take King’s Hawaiian to the next level.”

We’re still checking on who the incumbent is for King’s Hawaiian is–if there is one, that is–but in the in the past, the brand has worked with agencies including Dailey. As for Energy BBDO, while we’ve heard our share of not-so-positive news on the staffing front in 2013, the agency’s King’s Hawaiian win closes out a year that also saw it add Bud Light and Pearle Vision to its client roster.

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Just over a year after taking on an expanded position as president of McCann Worldgroup Americas, adding to his existing role as president of Latin America, Africa and Middle East, Luca Lindner has now been elevated to the role of McCann Worldgroup president, proper. The nine-year McCann vet, as you may know, most recently served in a co-president role at Worldgroup alongside, with each leading their respective regions. Of course, Martinez left McCann to take on the role of global president of JWT, with the plan being to succeed the latter’s chairman/CEO Bob Jeffrey in 2015.  As a result, Lindner has been promoted to the newly created global role, overseeing all McCann Worldgroup operations and reporting to CEO, Harris Diamond. From what we’ve been told, there are no plans to replace Lindner’s former position at the agency.

Lindner, wh0 kicked off his ad career at TBWA\Paris, spent a handful of years as vice chairman of Leo Burnett EMEA and president of its Fiat Coordination Center.

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The New York Times got the exclusive on this one, but what the hell, we have the announce and feel it’s worth mentioning that the now-media conglomerate that is Vice has acquired DUMBO-based digital agency, Carrot Creative. So, why now? According to a statement from Carrot co-founder/chief experience officer Chris Petescia,”The thought of selling to a holding company has always been incomprehensible to us. By contrast, when VICE approached us, it made perfect sense. Not joining VICE would have been an absurd contradiction to the very principles we stand for; they are aligned with Carrot in mission and spirit. Carrot has always been at the forefront of innovation; VICE is a steroid injection into our greatest ambitions. To say that we’re excited would be an understatement.”

The “steroid injection” will mean that Carrot’s creative/dev team will join up with Vice’s in-house web and mobile teams, with the immediate goal being to focus on the latter’s new verticals that include news, food and sports. Along with the vertical work, Carrot will focus on app development, advertising efforts and UX as the relationship endures. According to the parties involved, Carrot Creative, which works with clients including Jaguar, MTV, Disney and Home Depot, and its 65 staffers will remain in their DUMBO quarters (Vice’s hub is in Willamsburg). We’ve been told that as a result of the acquisition, fellow Carrot co-founder/CEO Mike Germano will remain in his role as the agency’s CEO and serve in a dual role of chief digital officer at Vice. Everything else will remain the same.

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Nope, Campbell Mithun’s not moving out of its home turf in Minneapolis but the agency will be settling into new Twin Cities digs come Q4 of next year. The 80-year-old, IPG-owned agency has just signed a lease to be the lead tenant in the 510 Marquette building and will occupy approximately 65,000 square feet on the 10^th-13^th floors as well as the rooftop and penthouse. So, why the move? Well, according to CFO Steve Arndt (above), the goal is to offer a more “employee-centric” environment in a space that has, yes, “no ceiling tiles” and adopts the now-popular open floorplan model. Campbell Mithun is working with Julie Snow Architects on the new office, which you can see in barebones form via the b-roll clip of staffers below. If you care for further explanation on the move, this time from CM CEO Rob Buchner, you can check out the brief :30 clip after the jump.

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Nearly two years after forming a relationship with BMO, Y&R has now added more responsibilities for the financial institution as it’s now serving as lead agency for its client. What does this entail? Well, the agency’s teams in New York, Chicago and Toronto will oversee all brand and integrated retail banking marketing across traditional and digital media platforms, effective immediately. BMO CMO/head of strategy Joanna Rotenberg says in a statement, “Throughout the review process and in our experience working with them in the past, Y&R has consistently demonstrated superior strategic thinking, presenting thoughtful insights which have been closely aligned to BMO’s vision, brand and strategy. We look forward to deepening our partnership with their integrated North American practice to develop breakthrough, business-building creative.”

We’ve been told that there was a review in Canada for the BMO biz, which was previously handled by Cossette up north. The agency, though, declined to participate in the review. Y&R Canada’s first work as lead agency of brand and retail marketing is slated to be unveiled in the first quarter of 2014.

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Well, Terminix never responded to our initial inquiries two months ago when we first heard that the termite/pest control company parted ways with Publicis Dallas after six years (during which time we saw campaigns like this). But alas, it was so and Terminix has indeed moved on, selecting new creative agency partners in Havas Worldwide Chicago and the Dallas office of integrated/digital agency network, Hawkeye. The former will tackle branding, TV, and print for Terminix while the latter, as you’d expect, will take on digital and direct.

Kevin Kowalski, CMO of Memphis-based Terminix, says in a statement, “We were determined to select best-in-class partners who could combine great strategic thinking, multi-channel execution and a passion for our business,” said Kevin Kowalski, Terminix, chief marketing officer. “We are very pleased to have found Havas and Hawkeye.” Expect first work from Terminix’s new creative partners to debut early next year.

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A little bit of staffing news for you this afternoon as TBWA\Chiat\Day NY has added to its creative department by welcoming Mother alums Erik Holmdahl and Beth Ryan, art director and copywriter, respectively, to the fold as CDs. The pair spent the last year, give or take, at Mother helping lead creative for Stella and Microsoft but spent the majority of their careers at BBH, with both working for over a half-decade at the latter agency on campaigns for the likes of Sprite, Axe and Google. Prior to BBH, Holmdahl worked at StrawberryFrog for a few years while Ryan put in the same amount of time at DDB Seattle.

The pair’s new boss and former BBH colleague, Matt Ian, who joined up with TBWA\C\D NY as creative chief from Deutsch LA this past summer, speaks highly (obviously) of the new hires, saying in a statement, “We hear the term ‘hybrid creative’ thrown around a lot, but I haven’t met too many who are genuinely ambidextrous. When I worked with them at BBH, I quickly came to realize that Beth and Erik are as strong digitally as they are with the traditional work. They think simply and inventively. They can give you an innovative idea for an app or a digital platform, and then turn around and hit a home run with a TV script.”

Along with the new CDs, Chiat NY has also brought on former Anomaly Toronto director of design Melatan Riden in a similar role as design director.

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We’ve been told Carter Murray is announcing this news to staff as we speak. Yes, Lee Garfinkel, who’s spent nearly the last three years at what is now Havas, where he last served as chairman/CCO of global brands, has taken the top seat at Draftfcb New York. As CEO of DFCB NY, Garfinkel will not only run the fort but work in tandem with NY CCO,  Javier Campopiano. Regarding the hire, his new boss Murray says, “Some of the best agency leaders have come from creative backgrounds and I believe that Lee, with his strong creative reputation, is absolutely the right CEO for our New York office at this time. With our world-class chief creative officer Javi Campopiano already in place and Lee as CEO, we have high ambitions for the future of the office. Lee will help ensure that we create strong and memorable campaigns in the years ahead for our clients.”

During his 30-plus years in the ad biz, Garfinkel also served as EVP/ECD at BBDO, chairman at Lowe and chairman/CCO at DDB. While Garfinkel joins DFCB, Debra Coughlin, who’s served as EVP/global CMO for the past two-and-a-half years, is moving out of the leadership role in NY (though sources tell us she’ll be working with Carter Murray somewhat on new biz efforts). Regarding Coughlin, Murray adds,  “Debra, one of the smartest marketers I know and a consummate professional, has been truly understanding of my strategic desire to focus more aggressively on the creative product. So, while she transitions out of the New York role, she will be making sure things go as smoothly as possible until Lee joins forces with Javi and the rest of the New York team in January.”

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