Hasta La Creative!

It took six months and change, but BBH has finally selected a new CEO for North America in Patrick Lafferty, who joins said agency after spending two-and-a-half years at McCann and the last 18 months as its North American COO. Lafferty replaces Greg Andersen, who was one of those affected by BBH’s major “restructuring” last fall. Lafferty, who will officially assume his CEO title at BBH this summer and based out of its New York office, rounds out a leadership team that includes CCO John Patroulis, CSO Sarah Watson and chairman, Emma Cookson.

Lafferty’s soon-to-be boss, BBH Group CEO Gwyn Jones, says in a statement, “Patrick has a really calm authority and such a rich body of experience. He has seen and done a lot both within and beyond our industry – embracing client side, media ownership and the military. We have great strategic and creative strength in the business, and I think Pat will bring outstanding leadership to that offering. On top of all that – I think he is just a great person.”

As you’d expect, Lafferty, who was, yes, a former platoon leader/company commander in the U.S. Army, will be tasked with running both BBH New York, which of course handles Axe and now Playstation, and L.A., which services clients including Red Bull. During his career, the exec has also worked on the account side at Leo Burnett and as CMO at Travel Channel.

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Lord, forgiveth as we’ve receiveth this news from the newswire and not a scoop, but yes, as you’ve probably seen in other realms, Tim Maleeny has been appointed as chief strategy officer for Havas Worldwide’s flagship New York office. You might remember back in the day, when hires, etc. were in bullet point posts on this here site, but yes, Maleeny joins from Ogilvy, where he spent nearly four years as a senior partner/head of account planning.

We’ll spare you the hellishness of the usual hyperbolic quotes and just tell you that Maleeny will work alongside Havas Worldwide Chicago CSO James Lou, who has been with said agency for 18 months (dating back to when it was still Euro RSCG) and has served on the strategy side at the likes of DDB and McCann during his career. As for Maleeny, the newest Havas exec will now lead strategy for clients including Dos Equis, New York Life, Charles Schwab, Merck, and IBM.

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Another day, another new title created at Crispin Porter + Bogusky, which finally confirms what we first reported a couple of weeks ago, that Brian Skahan has indeed returned to the fold His new title? Well, as you can see above, it’s something called XCD, which we’ve been told pertains to a creative director who “is in charge specifically of complex digital projects.”  Essentially, Skahan will serve as a digital jack-of-all-trades at the agency, rotating from client to client whenever a major digital project or digital platform is in the works.

As previously mentioned, Skahan’s first tour-of-duty at CP+B lasted approximately three-and-a-half years, during which time he served as VP/creative technology director and led development teams for clients including Microsoft, AmEx, Guitar Hero (RIP) and Domino’s. Besides his work with the Boulder-based bunch, Skahan spent two years as managing director/CTO at the agency formerly known as Publicis Modem, working with clients including P&G Oral Care and Citi for last year’s Olympics.

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In case you’re not attending or could care less about the 2013 CLIOs on May 15 at the Museum of Natural History in NYC, here’s a quick breakdown for you. A jury including W+K Entertainment president Bill Davenport and Wunderman EVP/chief creative officer Nick Moore have decided to bestow the award show’s highest accolade to the brands/agencies/people below. See if you agree or disagree and go here for more information.

·       Hall of Fame, Design: Turner Duckworth, San Francisco

·       Hall of Fame, Film & Print: DDB New York

·       Hall of Fame, Audio: The Richards Group, Dallas

·       Agency of the Year: Marcel Worldwide, Paris

·       Agency Network of the Year: Ogilvy & Mather, New York

·       Production Company of the Year: Biscuit Filmworks, Los Angeles

·       Advertiser of the Year: Google

·       Brand Icon: Coca-Cola

·       Lifetime Achievement: George Lois

·       Honorary CLIO: will.i.am & Patricia Field

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After spending nearly three years as group creative director on the Honda account at Santa Monica-based RPA, Jason Sperling is getting bumped up to ECD at the agency (where he also serves as a senior VP). Sperling joined RPA from TBWA\MAL  in summer 2010 and has subsequently led creative on notable campaigns for the automaker including last year’s CR-V Super Bowl spot, “Matthew’s Day Off,” which we’re sure you’ve all seen a million times over at this point and most recently the Honda April Fool’s Day spot. As you probably know by know, RPA did maintain did lose a few pieces of the Honda biz a few weeks ago, but more importantly, retained creative duties for the brand, thus maintaining a relationship that’s lasted over a quarter-century.

During his five-and-a-half years at \MAL, Sperling was a key player in the long-running “Get a Mac” campaign for Apple and has garnered his fair share of Cannes Lions prizes, Clios and One Show Pencils.

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Well, WPP-owned Y&R New York has stuck to its guns and as noted back at the end of 2011, the agency is officially making its move to Columbus Circle on Monday, thus saying goodbye to Madison Ave, where it’s resided for the last 87 (!) years.

The agency’s global CEO David Sable (who you see above christening Y&R Way) has this to say in a statement: “This is a historic day. But Madison Avenue is a state of mind, not a state of place. Today, the Northeast corner of 40^th street and Madison Avenue is Young & Rubicam Way. And the 285 Marquee is coming with us and will adorn the café in our new space. Since 1926, we have been definers of the best of the innovation of Madison Avenue – creative leaders, business shapers, inventors, innovators. We look forward to continuing that innovative, entrepreneurial spirit by creating Madison Avenue West in a new state-of-the art work environment that has been designed to accommodate who we are and how we work in the epicenter of New York City, the greatest media town in the world.”

As mentioned previously, the Y&R space at 3 Columbus Circle will not only occupy said agency, but WPP siblings including Wunderman, VML, Blast Radius, BrandBuzz, Bravo, Kang & Lee, KBM Group and ZAAZ.

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It’s been a busy week on the staffing front at CP+B. Just days after announcing a slew of creative hires in its L.A. office, the Boulder-based agency brings us the news that it’s welcomed back Heather Lefevre, who you might remember from this clip, to serve as group planning director in its Miami office. Lefevre initially worked at Crispin from fall 2007-2008 as a senior cognitive anthropologist (can never get enough of that title) and was part of the multiple award-winning teams that worked on Whopper Freakout and Whopper Sacrifice.

During her career, she’s also held planning positions at the likes of what was then StrawberryFrog Amsterdam as well as DDB Amsterdam, The Martin Agency and Mullen. Lefevre’s not the only one reuniting with CP+B, though, as the agency has also welcomed back Greg O’Neal to serve as account director on Bing. O’Neal’s first tour of duty at CP+B lasted two years and during his career, the account vet worked at the likes of Razorfish and BBH.

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While we’re on the Digitas tip, it looks like our sources were spot-on a couple of weeks ago when they told us that Carl Fremont, who left the aforementioned agency after a dozen years of service, was headed to MEC. Truth be told, Fremont has indeed joined the WPP/GroupM media unit as its first-ever global chief digital officer. MEC global CEO Charles Courtier says in a statement, “Hiring Carl is an essential step in the continued growth of MEC globally. Carl’s mix of skills has made him one of the leading digital specialists in the industry; he is uniquely qualified to help us navigate and develop the future of our business.”

Fremont will assume his global CDO post in May and continue to work out of New York. As we’ve mentioned before, prior to his time at Digitas, the exec spent 16 years at Wunderman, leading direct media efforts for clients including AmEx, Citibank and AT&T. In his new gig at MEC, Fremont will serve on the agency’s executive committee, as one would expect considering his title.

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Another McCann-related p0st, you say? What the hell. Well, it looks like Houston-based Ignite Restaurant Group has gone all in with McCann Erickson, handing its full brand advertising duties to the New York office, which picked up AOR duties for its Joe’s Crab Shack chain last November. Apparently, the spot you see above for Joe’s helped spur the move. In a statement, Ignite CMO Robin Ahearn says, “The positive feedback from ‘100% Shore’ and the great working relationship we’ve developed with McCann led to this consolidation. Our goal is to drive frequency with our current guests and introduce our restaurants to new guests across the country.  McCann is helping us do just that.”

As far as Ignite’s new move, McCann NY is now serving as AOR for  Romano’s Macaroni Grill  brand and will handle strategy responsibilities for Brick House Tavern + Tap. From what we’ve been told, there was no review. Instead, McCann NY asked for an opportunity to present ideas for the Romano’s Macaroni Grill business and Ignite gave a thumbs up, awarding Brick House strategy in the process.

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It’s almost that time again to roll out the five-word speeches as the folks behind the Webbys have announced the nominees for their 17th annual event (promo above), which will be broadcast online on May 22  while host and actual venue for the event will be announced next week.

Along with the usual suspects like Nike (which leads the pack with 17 nods), Google, FunnyorDie and Mashable as well as celebs ranging from Tom Hanks to Lena Dunham, the agency world once again gets plenty of kudos in this year’s installment. Among the notables include McCann Melbourne, which is up for a Webby in the Viral category for “Dumb Ways to Die”, Toronto’s john st., which is up for an award in the “Best Copywriting” category for its “Buyral” clip (below), and 72andSunny, which has earned a nod in Integrated Campaigns category for its Call of Duty work. As is the norm, you can weigh in via the People’s Voice Awards, which you can vote on until April 25.  Check out the full list of nominees here.

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