Hasta La Creative!

It’s been a couple of years since we heard the name Walt Connelly, but the creative exec has now returned to his old stomping grounds at Havas New York, where he worked early on in his career when it was still known as Euro RSCG. Last we remember, Connelly and Ogilvy New York parted ways in summer 2011 after he spent just five months at the agency as executive creative director on the IBM account. Since that time, the creative exec has served as CMO at startup denim jeans brand I Am Not a Virgin and founded his own collective called Creative Apostles.

Now back at Havas, Connelly will assume the role of global ECD on the agency’s Merck Consumer Care business that includes the Claritin and Afrin accounts. Along with his Havas and Ogilvy stints, Connelly spent six years as ECD at JWT on Microsoft, Kimberly-Clark, HSBC, Ford and Bloomberg, and also served in a similar role for several years at McCann Worldgroup San Francisco

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After 13 years spent moving up the charts at DDB, Paul Gunning has now taken on the top role as CEO of the agency’s Chicago office. Gunning replaces Peter McGuinness, who spent two years at the helm, but is leaving the agency and returning to New York to take on the role of chief marketing and brand officer for Greek yogurt brand, Chobani. Doesn’t seem too surprising considering that Chobani was a client of Gotham, the IPG-owned agency where McGuinness served as president/CEO before moving to DDB. As for Gunning, the newly minted DDB Chicago chief exec spent the last five years as CEO for Tribal Worldwide before assuming his new title.

In a statement regarding his appointment, Gunning says,  ”Chicago is my hometown, and DDB Chicago is one of the most storied and well-respected ad agencies in the world. I look forward to my new role and guiding the agency’s way forward with an emphasis on delivering outstanding results to our clients.”

Gunning first started out as an account director at Tribal DDB before moving up to VP/GM and then president before assuming his most recent role.

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–Carlos Bayala, founding partner and executive creative director of Buenos Aires-based Mother partner agency Madre,  will work alongside Mark Waites and Robert Saville as a global creative partner.

-Now, in July 4 hangover edition, RPA celebrated Independence Day with this (above).

-DDB/Tribal Amsterdam has hired Dutch creative duo/Havas alums, Alex Herwig and Jeroen Thissen.

-Former M&C Saatchi chief exec Carrie Hindmarsh will join RPM on Sept. 1 as non-executive director.

-The office of the attorney general is putting some heat on Google in terms of YouTube video ads.

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It’s been a few months since we’ve heard the name Tim Wettstein, who last we recall spent approximately a year as senior partner/group creative director on Scana, Jiffy Lube and Xbox among others at JWT Atlanta. Well, the senior creative didn’t have to travel too far to take on a new gig as Wettstein (pictured) has now assumed a CD role at CP+B Miami, which appears to be ramping up its creative staff currently led by ECD, Bob Winter.

Joining Wettstein as a creative director at CP+B Miami is Kostas Karanikolas, who spent the last year as digital CD at BBDO New York, where worked on Gillette among other accounts. Along with the new CDs, MDC-owned CP+B has added associate creative directors Rick Abbott and Matt Orser, formerly of RP& and RPA, respectively, in its South Florida office, as well as art director Eli Perez de Gracia, and copywriter, Elena Romeu.

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Well, a friend chimed in with this a little while ago, but guess we got beat to the punch. Anyhow, JWT has welcomed Peter Sherman as chief executive officer of its New York hub. Sherman had spent the last three-and-a-years as EVP/managing director for BBDO Europe and eight years in all at the agency prior to moving back to NYC. Sherman had spent well over a decade at  Omnicom-owned BBDO, which included a four-year stint as managing director of its San Francisco office and EVP/senior account director in NY.

From what we’ve been told, JWT North America CEO David Eastman‘s title remains the same, and despite the NYC shift, he will still oversee the WPP-owned agency’s Atlanta, Chicago, Dallas, Houston and Canada offices, as well as units Digitaria, Lunchbox, JWT Action, JWT Inside, Casa and SCPF. Sherman, meanwhile, will focus specifically on overseeing New York operations. The latter exec adds in a statement, “It will be a privilege to lead this team.”

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It looks like MRY is on a senior-level staffing streak of sorts. Less than three weeks after bringing on AKQA alum Ian Chee as chief strategy officer and simultaneously promoting Matt Rednor to chief innovation officer, the NYC-based shop formerly known as Mr. Youth has appointed David Berkowitz as its first-ever CMO. Berkowitz joins MRY after spending seven-and-a-half years at Dentsu-owned agency, 360i, where he last served as VP of emerging media and worked with brands including Kraft, H&R Block and Bravo.

Regarding the hiring of Berkowitz, who has also moonlighted as an online marketing columnist for the likes of Mediapost during his career, MRY CEO Matt Britton says in a statement, ““David has a proven track record of seeing what’s just around the corner and creatively applying it for the world’s leading brands for more than a decade; in addition to being a riveting thought leader with a standout industry pedigree, there is no doubt that he will raise the bar for our team and our client partners.”

Current client partners at MRY, which of course merged with LBi this year, include Coca-Cola, Symantec and Neutrogena.

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Well, after some cuts here and a shuttering there, we finally have some positive news to report in 2013 about iCrossing, mainly that the Hearst-owned digital agency has promoted six-year vet Brian Powley to global president. Powley, who initially joined iCrossing in 2007 to manage the agency’s San Francisco office before taking on the role of chief client officer and subsequently president of its North American operations. Powley takes over for president/CEO Don Scales, who’s leaving iCrossing after seven years at the helm.

Prior to his joining iCrossing, which currently counts 18 global offices and clients including Beam, Coca-Cola, Pep Boys and FedEx (but no DirecTV?), Powley held managing director positions on the West Coast at both MRM and what was then Modem Media.

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Following the usual “competitive review,” BBDO NY and its sibling Atmosphere Proximity have been appointed as AORs for Emirates in North America. As a result of the airline’s move, which goes into effect August 1, Emirates not only extends a digital/social relationship with Atmosphere that’s lasted nearly a decade, but now adds BBDO to the fold as both agencies will collaborate on an integrated marketing campaign that’s expected to break late summer.

In a statement, BBDO NY president John Osborn says, “This is a great opportunity. An opportunity to build on the quality, leadership and footprint of the biggest international carrier in the world.  We are thrilled to be partnering with Atmosphere Proximity to help Emirates achieve its aggressive sales goals.”

Prior to BBDO, Emirates (which is also kicking off a global media review) worked with Boston-based ISM on its North American ad duties. This marks the second win for the agency this week following its appointment as creative agency for the ING New York City Marathon.

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Details are hazy on this one, but after days of receiving tips including “reorg at ogilvy chicago today. Very high up changes,” we have received confirmation that O&M’s Windy City location has had to cut some staff this week (specifically Wednesday). We’re trying to get more info including numbers, reasons, departments affected, etc. on this but in the meantime, here’s a statement:

“After several years of significant growth, Ogilvy Chicago had a reduction in staff today. This is never an easy course of action, especially at an agency that places such high value on our people and our culture. We took a close look at our costs mid-year and the move was necessary to position ourselves for future success.”

We’ll let you know if and when we find out more.

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The Los Angeles outpost of agency/content studio KesselsKramer, which opened up shop in Chinatown last year, is part of the creative team behind “Mythical Creatures,” a new documentary about artist Gary Baseman uncovering the story of how his parents survived the Holocaust in Ukraine. The film’s mixture of art and history also benefits from a score by South African duo, Die Antwoord.

The press release characterizes the project as “a whimsical story of survival and hope.” Using whimsical to describe a Holocaust story can be cringe-inducing, but after watching Baseman discuss his familial roots in his art studio, the description seems to make sense. Baseman’s artistic style has been described as “adorably perverse” by the Los Angeles Times, and that sort of imaginative approach to a story about Holocaust survivors could help the movie stand out creatively.

David Charles, ECD/partner at KK Los Angeles who wrote and directed the film tells us that his shop hopes to release the film in October, and to secure more funding. And not to worry, KK LA plan to start a second wave of Kickstarter donations later in a couple of days (we’ll update with link).

Credits after the jump.

continued…

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