Hasta La Creative!

After spending nearly two decades at AKQA, first in London and the last 10 years in San Francisco,  Neil Robinson is moving on from his longtime home and embarking on a “new adventure,” sources familiar with the matter confirm. From what we’ve been told, today is Robinson’s last day at AKQA SF, where he’s spent nearly the last two years as executive creative director. According to sources, fellow AKQA SF ECD Stephen Clements, who’s been with the agency for a dozen years, will continue to lead creative in San Francisco and AKQA is in the process of seeking the right candidate to help lead the department.

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We’ve received confirmation that Aaron Griffiths, who’s spent the last two years at ArnoldNYC, where he served as chief creative officer for clients including St. Ives, has parted ways with the agency. In a statement, Arnold camp says, “We appreciate the creative vision Aaron brought to the agency and his many contributions. We wish him much success in his new endeavor and look forward to opportunities to work again in the future.” From what we’ve been told by sources familiar with the matter, the CCO transition period will take some time and while ArnoldNYC evaluates, no decision is to made as of right now. To recall, Griffiths partnered with the likes of John Staffen as co-CCO before taking over as sole CCO last year.

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If the name Schuyler Hunt doesn’t ring a bell, perhaps we can refresh your memory by recalling some of his fun projects during his two-and-a-half years at Mullen including the “Agency Fight,” “The Riddlist” and the cat-friendly, seizure-inducing and brief retuning of his old agency’s “Work” section. The “Zach Braff lookalike” as one tipster has coined him (ok, maybe they’re onto something) has joined up with NYC-based Translation, which is fresh off of hiring a new CCO in Martin Agency/Chiat LA alum John Norman, as an ACD/creative technologist. Prior to his time at Mullen, Hunt also had a brief spell or two at the Martin Agency as a CT and spent 15 months at the VCU Brandcenter.

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No word yet on what his exact title is (we’re hearing communications planner), but sources in the know confirm that Matthew Baker, who has spent nearly the lat 18 months at Arnold Worldwide’s New York branch as VP/group planning director/digital director, has split for a new gig at Anomaly. From what we’ve been told by sources on the Spy line, Baker was “the digital brain” of ArnoldNYC and according to one source, “Matt is a gentleman and a talented Planner, so it’s a huge loss for us.” No word yet on if there are plans to replace but we’ll keep you posted.

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A young art director by the name of Manuel Caminero , who’s also toiled in the creative underbelly of DFCB NY and SF-based Cutwater, has started a campaign on Tinder in an attempt to land a junior level gig in Sydney.

We’re not sure we’ve seen Tinder used to find a job before, although Google has worked for folks in the past. Caminero hopes to prove his portfolio has merit by gaining 100 positive reviews on the page, which he hopes will then impress prospective employers. You can check out Caminero’s portfolio here, and, if you like his work, leave a positive review. We understand finding work isn’t easy, but maybe Caminero’s unusual approach can help him stand apart from the pack. We wish him the best of luck.

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It’s kind of surprising, we suppose, that Organic has never had a chief marketing officer up to this point, but the Omnicom-owned agency has now filled the newly created role with the promotion of Tracy Richards, who works out of the New York office. The 13-year Organic vet most recently served as group director/global business development. Richards’ CMO appointment comes as part of a “restructuring” of Organic’s biz dev efforts that’s being led by the agency’s CEO, David Shulman.

Along with the Richards promotion, sources familiar with the matter tell us that Organic has also won Kohler, KC Professional (adding to the agency’s portfolio of KC brands), and another, yet-to-be disclosed new business win on the West Coast that the agency just won in “a competitive pitch” with Razorfish. We’ll keep you posted when we find out what the new biz actually is.

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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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Listen folks, we love you, but we can’t be everything to everyone, whether it concerns the likes of Mark Taylor, the man who had three stints at Crispin Porter + Bogusky (yes, three) and a brief spell at GSD&M, who parted ways with the MDC-owned agency last summer.  In case you didn’t read the post from AdAge, which by the way still hilariously lives in some Mad Men era and/or ranks themselves up with the New York Times –”my exclusive or the highway”–but is even more anachronistic (just fucking be civil, not political), Taylor has now joined up with Energy BBDO as its new chief creative officer.

Anyhow, I digress. Here is a statement from Energy president/CEO, Tonise Paul, who says, “Mark is an amazing talent and we couldn’t be more delighted to welcome him to our Energy BBDO family. When you look at Mark’s work, you will see a history of marketing innovation. With the challenge of increasingly parity products and the opportunity afforded by the constant emergence of new technologies, this is how brands today win. Mark’s work is a collection of big, original ideas that have solved big business challenges. You will recognize it because it was often the first time you saw it done, starting with Subservient Chicken. On top of his track record of great work, Mark is a wonderful guy.”

Taylor will assume his new role on April 7 but until then, Chicago-based Energy BBDO will continue to be led by a group of senior creative directors.

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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’re getting some more context/background on the matter, but it does appear that after spending the last two-and-a-half years as global managing director of the Mindshare Trading Desk, Joe Weaver has resigned from the WPP/GroupM agency. During his time running the MTD and its technology/analytics teams out of NYC, the self-proclaimed “digital Yoda” developed private marketing programs and solutions for Fortune 100/200 clients including Unilever, Kimberly-Clark and CVS.

From what we’re hearing, Weaver has left Mindshare to assume a newly created role at eight-year-old, Emeryville, CA-based video platform, TubeMogul. No confirmation on this as of yet, but we’re checking. Anyhow, prior to Mindshare, Weaver helped launch the digital arm of Media Storm back in 2005 and subsequently spent nearly five years at the company serving as director/digital. Following his Media Storm stint, Weaver held the global group director/digital position for 18 months at Omnicom proper, where he worked with various luxury and financial clients as well as on new business efforts.

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