Kevin Thomson Joins BBDO San Francisco as Creative Director

Today we learned that veteran creative Kevin Thomson has left his position at The Martin Agency in Richmond, Virginia for a job as Creative Director at BBDO San Francisco.

BBDO’s newest CD has more than a decade of industry work under his belt: he joined Martin in 2011 to write copy for clients like Discover, Exxon, Walmart and GEICO (2013 “Portraits Gallery” spot here). Prior to the Martin gig, he spent just over a year with JWT and more than seven years with Seattle-based WPP shop Cole & Weber.

Thomson officially begins at BBDO SF on July 21st, reporting directly to EVP/ECD Craig Mangan; he will work on various brands including Gallo Wines and Sutter Health.

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On Ideas Adds Four New Directors

Chris Nott

John Huggins

Full-service digital marketing, branding and advertising agency On Ideas have grown their team with the addition of four new directors: Director of Connections Planning and Optimization Bryan Cherok, Associate Creative Director Chris Nott, Associate Creative Director-Copywriting John Huggins, and Director of Business Development Jason Kirk.

Charleston native Bryan Cherok will be responsible for all metrics, analytics and insights for client accounts. He arrives at On Ideas having “spent years submerged in work revolving around finding the answers in digital data,” working with clients including Bridgestone America’s Tire Operations, Firestone Complete Auto Care, SERVPRO Industries and Le Creuset.

Chris Nott arrives at On Ideas with over ten years of advertising and creative experience. Nott was the founder of Base Camp Advertising and served as President of the Richmond Ad Club. His work for clients such as Capitol One, Discovery Health Channel, VirginiaTourism and Crystal Cruise Line have led to recognition at One Show, Communication Arts and the Effies.

Miami Ad School and Florida International University graduate John Huggins brings “valuable experience from his past involvement with both large national brands and smaller organizations.” His past work includes Coca-Cola’s 2008 Olympic Games campaign and a 2009 American Idol promotion. Huggins was also a copywriter on the St. Vincent’s HealthCare’s “Above Beyond Because” campaign, for the TV, print and interactive executions. He has been awarded “Best of Show” for the Central Pennsylvania Addys, as well as “Best Interactive” and “Best Direct Marketing” for the Philly Golds.

James Kirk arrives at On Ideas with a non-profit background. His experience includes work at the Museum of Contemporary Art Jacksonville and the South Carolina Aquarium in Charleston. As director of development at the Museum of Contemporary Art Jacksonville, Kirk “more than doubled contributed income from 2011 to 2013.” (more…)

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BBH NY Promotes EP to Head of Content Production

Today the New York offices of BBH enhanced production capabilities by promoting Kate Morrison, former Executive Producer, to Head of Content Production.

Over the past decade, Morrison has held production roles at various agencies including 180, BSSP and twofifteenmccann; her promotion arrives after spending seven months spent in the EP position and working on the PlayStation “Perfect Day” spot that won a Gold Lion at Cannes. In the newly created role, she will help lead and manage the production of all of the agency’s content.

CCO John Patroulis writes:

“Kate Morrison has made a massive mark on the work at BBH New York…like every producer here, [she] puts the quality of the work first and foremost.”

The promotion is the latest move in BBH New York’s recent expansion: earlier in the year the office hired Carey Head of Barton F. Graf 9000 as Head of Integrated Production and Technology and Art Director Marcos Kotlhar of Brazil’s AlmapBBDO to strengthen its content production offering.

Morrison will report directly to Head.

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R/GA Alum Kim Joins Cheil as Chief Digital Officer

After briefly rejoining the Dachis Group–a firm he helped start in 2008–as chief solutions architect last year, Peter Kim has found a new home at Cheil Worldwide, where he joins up in the newly created role of chief digital officer. In his new role, Kim will be work out of Cheil’s Seoul HQ, and will be charged with building the agency network’s digital business platforms and expanding digital capabilities, both at home and abroad. Kim, though, is perhaps best known for his stint as managing director, business information at R/GA, where among other things he helped set up the agency’s Austin office and served on its leadership team.

During his career, the 15-year digital strategy vet also served as global head of digital marketing at Puma and principal consultant at Razorfish. In a statement, the new Cheil CDO says, “I’m delighted to join Cheil and integrate talent across its diversified network into a powerful world-class digital offering. In the current era of digital disruption, Cheil’s global positioning offers unmatched opportunities for clients to benefit from our creativity and expertise. I look forward to working closely with our clients to deliver great work by capitalizing on emerging technology trends, drawing on Cheil’s impressive heritage of delivering innovative ideas. I’m also thrilled to work with the management team and offices to integrate, enhance, and advance our digital capabilities across all disciplines worldwide.”

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Monday Staffing Roundup

-Director James Rouse (above) joined the ranks of production company The Corner Shop mere days after the Harvey Nichols ‘Sorry, I spent it on myself’ spot he directed won a Grand Prix at Cannes Lions. Rouse-helmed campaigns for Marmite and VW also earned awards (a Gold Lion and Three Bronze Lions, respectively); his first feature film Downhill saw release in 2013.

-Los Angeles creative agency Mistress added two new partners to its roster: Boris de Malvinsky and Hartmut Heinrich will be co-MDs of the shop’s first European office in Hamburg and run “dedicated entity” Mistress.tech from Germany and LA. de Malvinsky worked at Germany’s largest agency Jung von Matt before joining kempertrautmann, and Heinrich was a partner at global strategy consultancy Vivaldi Partners Group.

Meredith Xcelerated Marketing hired Dawn Furey as SVP, Head of Social, effective immediately.

(more…)

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Ex-CP+B ECD Roper Heads to EnergyBBDO

After spending the last two years as a writer/director at production company Partizan, Tim Roper has returned to the agency world, joining up with EnergyBBDO in “a senior creative capacity” according to sources familiar with the matter.

Roper, who we’ve been told arrived at the Chicago-based agency last month, spent the majority of his ad career at Crispin Porter + Bogusky–15 years in all–moving from Miami to the L.A. office over a decade ago and eventually settling in its Boulder HQ before leaving for Partizan in 2012. No word yet on his exact title at EnergyBBDO (we’re hearing ECD), but during his lengthy stay at CP+B, Roper worked on campaigns including the Burger King “Simpsonize Me” effort, the Will Arnett-starring Hulu spots and Sprite “Sublymonal.” During his career, Roper also worked early on as a copywriter/CD at Mullen.

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Ivan Cash, L’Oreal Draw ‘Inspiration’ from Streets of San Francisco

“If you could give one piece of advice to your childhood self, what would it be?” That’s one of the prevalent question being asked by artist/filmmaker Ivan Cash and his crew at Cash Studios, who were commissioned by cosmetics giant L’Oreal of all brands to make “a film about inspiration.” Rather than create an actual original film, though, Cash, the man who once told us that “reality is malleable,” to “stop making ads” and who was also a collaborator on the Couchella project from last year , turned his lens on the citizens of San Francisco to see what inspires them. As you’d expect, the four-minute film above features random strangers ranging from street musicians to former basketball coaches in SF sharing their thoughts on the aforementioned question or others like “What’s your greatest struggle?” and “what does inspiration mean to you?”

The New Age-y music combined with the people of San Francisco and the city scenery make for a very “Deep Thoughts by Jack Handey”-esque effort, but what the hell, we could all perhaps use a little life-affirming insight from time to time. Of course, this type of project where Cash turns his camera on the people is nothing new for the man, as this SF project follows up his film from last year in NYC, where he asked people what the “Last Photo” on their phone was. While different in concept and tone  of course, Cash’s two efforts on two coasts follow the same basic template and leave us wondering if his next short film will do the same and take somewhere in between. Guess we’ll have to wait and see. Credits after the jump.

(more…)

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RAPP Names New CEO

This morning Omnicom Group announced a new CEO for its RAPP agency, fresh off its win in NBC Universal’s recent Hackathon.

Alexei Orlov has decades of work under his belt at both agency and in-house positions. He most recently served as CMO at Volkswagen Group for its largest market, Greater China & ASEAN, and previously “held a number of senior positions” at Wunderman Worldwide before becoming Senior Partner at The Partnership and “[supporting] draftFCB in Europe.”

Orlov writes:

“RAPP is well-regarded as one of the world’s leading integrated agencies for the connected age, bringing brands and people together in compelling and authentic ways. With RAPP’s excellent teams and extensive global reach and experience, we will further build upon our capabilities to deliver highly relevant and impactful ways for our clients to reach, engage and support customers and consumers.”

Orlov will report directly to DAS Group Chairman/CEO Dale A. Adams; he replaces CEO Bob Horvath, who spent eight years in the position and will now be RAPP’s Global Chairman.

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Deutsch LA Scores ECD from W+K

This morning we learned that Deutsch LA signed Matthew O’Rourke as its newest Executive Creative Director.

O’Rourke has worn several hats during his decade-plus in the agency world: Copywriter at MRM; ECD at CP&B; GCD at McCann; owner of a stolen bike. In his most recent role he served as Creative Director at W+K, where he famously worked on campaigns for Old Spice, Levi’s, Sony, Powerade and Oreo. On the many awards he’s won, O’Rourke writes:

“I think the whole racket is rubbish.”

(more…)

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Global CDO Livingston Leaving mcgarrybowen

We’ve confirmed that Doug Livingston, Global Chief Digital Officer at mcgarrybowen, will be leaving the agency at the end of this week.

Livingston previously left his position as EVP/director of digital integration at Grey NY to join mcgarry just over a year ago; the agency will not re-fill his role but does reportedly have plans for succession in place.

Livingston’s career includes more than two decades of work (including six years overseeing digital biz dev at Grey) for a wide variety of clients; he’s been involved in campaigns that earned Cannes Lions, CLIOs and Facebook Studio Awards. The agency has no word on where he’s headed next or what those aforementioned plans mean for the immediate future.

Email to staff from co-founder/owner Gordon Bowen after the jump.

(more…)

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DDB NY Names Chris Brown CEO

DDB New York has named Chris Brown as its new president and chief executive officer, succeeding Peter Hempel, “who shifts to the new role of CEO of DDB Group, a larger collection of agencies that includes DDB, Tribal, DDB Remedy and Uproar@DDB,” Adweek reports. Hempel has held the role of DDB New York CEO since 2005

Brown will begin his new position in September, departing from his role as Australian CEO of DDB Group, which he has held since 2012. Prior to that, Brown served as group managing director at DDB Group Sydney and started out at DDB back in 1997 as business director of DDB London. As president and CEO of the New York office, he will oversee work on such accounts as Johnson & Johnson, ExxonMobil, Unilever,Electrolux, New York Lottery,  Merck, and Cotton.

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Moroch Partners Adds Trio to Senior Leadership Team

Just a few months after bringing on a new partner in Caroline Manning, Dallas-based agency Moroch Partners, which works with notable clients including Coca-Cola, McDonald’s and Boost Mobile/Sprint, is filling in more positions on its senior leadership squad including that of its first-ever chief integration officer, a role which will be assumed by Sam Chadha. The exec (pictured) joins Moroch from Starcom MediaVest Group in Chicago, where he last served as EVP/managing director of business strategy and development.

Along with Chadha’s hiring, Moroch Partners has also appointed Boznell/Temerlin McClain, Lowe Campbell Ewald and The Richards Group alum Glenn Geller to the role of EVP/managing partner of brand planning strategy. Rounding out the new senior leadership hires is Dina Light-McNeely, who held strategy posts at the likes of imc2 and RAPP during her career and now joins Moroch as partner/director of digital & social strategy.

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San Francisco’s Swirl Hires New Creative Director

Today we learned that Presidio, San Francisco agency Swirl has hired industry veteran and longtime freelance AD/CD Chip Sheean as its newest Creative Director.

Sheean has an extensive history working as both a designer directing art/creative and an instructor at San Francisco’s Academy of Art. His most recent in-house position was a two-year stint as CD at Nice SF; he spent nearly six years as Associate Design Director VP at Deutsch LA in addition to full-time and freelance gigs as Senior Art Director and Creative Director at M&C Saatchi and Eleven, Inc., respectively.

John Berg, Co-CEO and President of Swirl, writes:

“Chip brings extensive leadership ability and great skill to Swirl. He’s a really nice person too.”

Sheehan will lead the Walmart digital account and handle new business initiatives. He reports directly to Berg.

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Leo Burnett Alum Bayley Heads to Y&R

Though we mentioned this brieflyyesterday, we figured it perhaps merited some larger notice considering we now have the details. Anyhow, news from our neighbors up north as Y&R Canada has welcomed Gavin Bayley as SVP/global client leader for its BMO North American biz. Bayley who will handle said account out of Y&R’s Toronto office, joins the agency from Leo Burnett, where he spent the last right years as account management group head for clients including Kellogg’s, Invesco, Blackberry and Visa. In his new role at Y&R, the new SVP will oversee the BMO business across Canada and the United States, working alongside the agency’s Midwest account team in Chicago in the process.

Regarding the new Y&R hire, who’s held executive positions on both client and agency side for over a decade, Y&R North America president/CEO Matt Anthony says, “Finding the right person for this role has been a top priority, as it takes a unique talent to passionately and successfully navigate the complex financial services marketing landscape. Gavin will be a real asset to the Y&R team not just in Toronto, but across North America.”

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Pair of Production/Editorial Staffing Updates

Integrated creative company Brand New School has expanded its directorial roster with the addition of acclaimed British director Ahmet Ahmet (pictured). Ahmet has worked with brands including Mercedes, BMW, Nike, Honda, and Apple, drawing from his background as an award-winning designer. He began his career as a BBC director, before moving to Los Angeles to work as a creative director for Imaginary Forces, later moving to Prologue before becoming an independent director.

“For years, Ahmet’s work has stood out to me – perfectly blending elegant design and live action,” said Brand New School Managing Partner Devin Brook. “We are beyond thrilled to welcome Ahmet to Brand New School, and look forward to collaborating with such a visionary creator.”

In other news, leading editorial house Rock Paper Scissors has announced the return of Dave Sellars as an executive producer. The UK native ”came to the United States in 1994 for a vacation and never went home.” He started his career at Rock Paper Scissors in 1997 and returns to the company with  with extensive post-production experience working with brands such as Apple, Target, Nike, Coca-Cola, Gap, Calvin Klein, and Xbox.

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Shop Behind Viral Hello Flo Spot on the Agency/Production Company Model

You’ve probably seen the Hello Flo ‘First Moon Party’ spot this week; it’s already gotten 7.2 million views in four days.

You probably also noticed that there was no major agency behind the campaign, which followed an earlier, equally popular campaign released a year ago.

Today we spoke to Todd Wiseman Jr.–co-founder of Hayden 5, the production company behind the viral hit–about the way his shop works and how it’s different from traditional agencies.

(more…)

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Global Creative Director Brock Davis Leaves OLSON for space150

This morning Minneapolis digital agency space150 announced the hiring of “multi-disciplinary artist” and agency veteran Brock Davis, most recently GCD at OLSON, in the same role effective immediately.

Davis has worked in the industry for nearly two decades. ECD Brian Ritchie writes that the hire ”helps expand our content creation expertise while also elevating our design offering.”

(more…)

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NORTH Signs New CD; Tech VP Leaves DigitasLBI

Portland’s NORTH has hired Eric Samsel as its newest Creative Director. Prior to joining North, Samsel was a copywriter at W+K Portland for more than eight years, working on clients as diverse as Jeep, EA Sports, Coca-Cola and Nike (for which the shop won a Webby).

Samsel started his ad career at Portland’s JohnsonSheen. In his new role, he will handle work on existing campaigns for car-rack brand Yakima, outdoor gear maker Stanley and Anchor Brewing. Managing Director Rebecca Armstrong writes:

“With more than 16 years of experience in outdoor lifestyle brands, Eric’s experience makes him a perfect match for one of our core practices… Plus he is an exceptionally talented writer and a really nice bloke.”

Samsel will report to CCO Mark Ray.

In other agency people news, we can confirm that DigitasLBI VP/Director of Tech Jeff Kean will soon leave the agency for a spot on the roster of Omnicom’s CriticalMass. No word on details regarding his new position.

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McCann Promotes John Mescall to Global ECD

This morning McCann Worldwide announced that John Mescall will be its newest Global Executive Creative Director.

Mescall, who currently serves as ECD at McCann Australia (but did not appear in this brilliant piece of satire), will relocate to New York “in the coming months” to join fellow GECDs James Dawson-Hollis and Bill Wright; the move is part of McCann Global Creative Chairman Rob Reilly‘s efforts to consolidate and strengthen the larger agency’s creative leadership.

Reilly had this to say about Mescall, who led independent Australian shop SMART before its 2011 acquisition by McCann:

“John’s all talent and no ego and he has helped lead McCann Australia to become one of the best agencies in the world.”

The new GECD himself writes:

“It’s a seriously exciting time at McCann. The opportunity to work closely with Rob was just too big not to take, and we’re very aligned on the kind of work we seek to do.”

Mescall has earned a plethora of awards throughout his career, most recently scoring 5 Grand Prix for Metro Trains’ 2014 “Dumb Ways to Die” PSA campaign (which is now being used to sell life insurance).

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Ogilvy MD Matt Dowshen Joins Partners + Napier

Agency veteran and Ogilvy & Mather Managing Director Matt Dowshen “was recently wooed away from big agency life” by Partners + Napier, an independent shop that sold to Project: WorldWide in 2011 and hired him as MD to manage its growing New York office.

Dowshen joined Ogilvy in 2009 after leaving Deutsch NY, where he managed IKEA and Novartis. Before joining that shop, he held positions at JWT overseas in Bangkok and Sao Paulo.

The move will reunite Dowshen with Jason Marks, who worked with him at Ogilvy, handling clients like Kraft and Philips Norelco, for more than two years before leaving to join P+N in early 2013.

The agency’s New York office opened in 2012 and handles clients like Lufthansa Airlines; Dowshen calls the opportunity to work with longtime colleagues at an independent agency “something I’m thrilled to dive into.”

CEO Sharon Napier, who worked with Dowshen at Deutsch, writes:
“I’ve known Matt for a long time…I knew he would be the right entrepreneurial leader to help us achieve our vision for New York.

I know our clients will find immense value in his leadership.”

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