Hasta La Creative!

School of Thought creative directors Joe Newfield and Tom Geary, along with account director Rachel Newell, produced and directed this short video called “These  Five Trends Are Changing Marketing for Good.” In it, five thought leaders in the fields of marketing, online entertainment, innovation and education – Prashant Sridharan, developer advocate, Facebook; David Zemke, director of mobile, Sega; Jason Titus, chief technology officer, Shazam; Kalimah Priforce, educational gaming entrepreneur, Qeyno Labs; and Russ Angold, chief technology officer, Ekso Bionics — share their thoughts on the important trends in digital marketing, as well as the challenges and possibilities digital marketers will face in the future. Together, they came up with five things digital marketers can do to embrace today’s trends: embrace multitasking behavior, use multiple screens to deepen engagement, demonstrate brand values in everything you do, tech will know what we want — before we do, and, as always, start with the customer.

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After spending the last three years at TBWA\London, where he currently serves as executive creative director and global CD for McDonald’s, Andre Laurentino is heading to Ogilvy to assume the global ECD post on Unilever, effective February 2014. The Brazilian native will remain based in London when he joins O&M, whose U.K. office serves as the global hub for Unilever brands including Dove and Hellman’s. Laurentino (pictured alongside his new boss, O&M worldwide CCO Tham Khai Meng) succeeds Gerry Human, who has now been bumped up to CCO at Ogilvy London.  During his career, the new Ogilvy global ECD worked for several years at the likes of AlmapBBDO and Lew’Lara\TBWA, picking up Cannes Lions, D&AD and One Show Pencils along the way.

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The Economist and AMV BBDO, the publication’s UK agency, teamed up to create a moving interactive film paying tribute to South African national hero and tireless anti-apartheid crusader Nelson Mandela. Mandela, in case you’ve lost all contact with the world for several days, died of a lung infection on December 5th, at the age of 95. The film is being released in anticipation of tomorrow’s memorial service for Mandela.

Entitled “The Long Walk Is Over,” the video shows a series of individuals walk into a large field and place objects, such as photos, flowers, clothing and placards, on the ground — accompanied by voiceover from British poet, Benjamin Zephaniah. At the film’s conclusion, the camera pans out to show these items forming a large likeness of Nelson Mandela‘s face. After the film has concluded, small boxes with years appear around the items in the portrait. Users can click on these dates to learn more about a given period in Mandela’s life via excerpts from The Economist archive, with links to the full articles.

The Economist‘s chief marketing officer, Susan Clark, says, “We are proud to offer this film to help tell the story of Nelson Mandela, to show turning points in the life of a man who made his mark on the world in so many ways. The fact that Nelson Mandela read The Economist during his time at Robben Island is something that we are particularly proud of and this video is a way for us to pay tribute to him and his life.”

You can watch “The Long Walk Is Over” above, although we recommend heading over to www.mandelaswalk.com for the full interactive experience, if you have the time. And if you’d like an even better picture of Mandela’s life and his struggle for equality in South Africa, why not read his famous “An ideal for which I am prepared to die” speech?

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While we’re on the Minneapolis tip, we’ve received confirmation that Tim Brunelle, who’s spent the last year on the freelance circuit in the Twin Cities, has joined up with BBDO Proximity Minneapolis this week to serve as creative director on digital across all the agency’s accounts. This marks the first hire by Noel Haan, who took over for Brian Kroening as ECD at BBDO Proximity MN in October. As for Brunelle, prior to his time spent freelancing, the creative led his own agency, Hello Viking, held the head of interactive position at Carmichael Lynch and spent several years as a CD at Arnold, Volkswagen among other accounts in the early aughts. Along the way, Brunelle has picked One Show Interactive Best of show, Gold Pencils, a Grand Clio, Cannes Grand Prix and Grand Andy (for work on VW/”Drivers Wanted”).

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As far as titles go, Good [for goodness sake] Part II #evengooder is up there, and by up there, I’m not sure if I mean awesome or terrible. It’s definitely up there, though. All of this philanthropic goodness comes from The Glenn Group, specifically Diego Sabogal, a graphic designer and artist, who is creating original holiday cards that anyone can bid on, starting at $50, during a December 9 auction. All of the proceeds will be donated to feed hungry people in Nevada.

The Part II #evengooder campaign owes last year’s original Good [for goodness sake] some credit. The 2013 auction raised $1,000 in one day. This year, bidders will be able to target their sights on custom sets of holiday cards and prints, including Santa and Rudolph dressed in yellow Breaking Bad jumpsuits while cooking meth in the desert. For goodness sake, that’s good. You can do some early bidding on items here. Screengrab below:

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Back in January, we shared Gideon Amichay‘s TEDx talk entitled “No, No, No, No, No, Yes” (see it again if you wish after the jump). Now, Adichay has an upcoming book based on the talk, with same title in tow.

Amichay’s book begins by talking about the new pair of Adidas sneakers his father refused him as a child, buying instead a cheaper, no-name brand. He identifies this moment as the beginning of his “endless will to move up and work hard.” He goes on to document the many rejection letters he received from the The New Yorker as a young aspiring cartoonist. For a period, Amichay would submit to The New Yorker every Wednesday, and receive a rejection letter every Friday. Gradually, the notes on the rejection letter became more positive, urging him to “Keep trying.” Eventually the cartoon editor kept one of Amichay’s sketches. Although it was later returned, the editor later held two sketches. One day, The New Yorker finally decided to buy one of Amichay’s sketches.

Amichay’s book is really about the importance of hearing “no,” something often forgotten in the era of instant gratification. “No” doesn’t have to be spirit-breaking, “No usually comes with a comma,” Amichay says. He makes a point of distinguishing between the automatic “no” that comes from fear of the unknown, the skeptics, those who would like to play it safe, and the constructive “no” that makes you reconsider an idea or take a new direction. He urges his readers to develop their personal relationship with the word. Amichay explores all the times you’ll hear “no” in advertising: from creative collaborators, from bosses, from clients. Behind the “no” schtick is a great look at Amichay’s career in advertising and some of the interesting campaigns he’s been involved with, from the beginning of his career at Grey Tel Aviv up until his 2010 resignation after spending nearly two decades as CCO/joint managing partner of Shalmor Avnon Amichay Y&R.

Not surprisingly, the conversational writing is accompanied by some of Amichay’s drawings. These drawings are perhaps the highlight of the book, as while Amichay’s easygoing, conversational writing style is commendable, sketching is his true talent. The book is a pleasant, easy read, and you could do a lot worse if looking for an inspirational text, especially one dealing with advertising. No, No, No, No, No, Yes will be released on Jan. 15, 2014 in hardcover format.

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After spending four-and-a-half years at Goodby, Silverstein & Partners, Gareth Kay has parted ways with the agency. Kay initially joined Goodby from the now-defunct Modernista!  in summer 2009 as director of digital strategy, eventually moving up a year later to associate partner/director of brand strategy to finally his most recent role as chief strategy officer at the San Francisco-based agency. Kay has informed us that yesterday was his last day at GS&P, and though he won’t reveal specifics on his next venture (as it’s in “stealth mode”), here’s a note that Goodby managing partner Derek Robson sent to staff last month that should give you perhaps a little idea:

“It’s with a heavy heart that I have to announce that Gareth Kay has decided to leave the agency.  He is off to start a new company that focuses on the stuff that he is personally most passionate about and which is not part of the advertising agency world.  He’ll be leaving us later this month.

Gareth joined GS&P in 2009 as the Director of Digital Strategy and from the very start; he challenged the agency to think beyond the traditional definitions of advertising.

In September 2011, he was promoted to Chief Strategy Officer and since then he has helped evolve the Strategy discipline here at the agency as well as the day-to-day running of the department. Under his leadership, the agency continued it’s impressive streak of Effie award wins – 51 Effie awards for our work for 35 different clients over the past 15 years.

Beyond all the good work that Gareth has done for our clients and within the agency he has also become one of the most well respected thought leaders in the business, speaking at events around the world.  He has been a tireless advocate for the agency for the past four years.

We thank him, we will miss him, and we wish him well in his new endeavor.

We will not be replacing the Chief Strategy Officer position.  Our strategy leadership is in the capable hands of [Head of Brand Strategy] Andy Grayson, [Director of Communication Strategy] Christine Chen and [Group Research and Analytics Director] Margaret Coles.

Derek”

Along with his six-year stint at Modernista!, where he last served as head of planning, Kay also held planning positions at Lowe and TBWA during his career.

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Get ready for bathroom puns. The World Toilet Organization, which does exist, is looking to raise $30,000 to build a toilet facility in an underprivileged South African school. The timing is no coincidence, either, since the WTO is hoping consumers will use some of their Black Friday money on a charitable initiative that embraces the brown. The WTO asks you to “Give a shit” by donating to their Indiegogo campaign that runs till early January.

Cute jokes aside, the campaign is much more necessary than you may expect. After all, many of us take school bathrooms for granted. But according to the WTO’s data, two-thirds of the 24,000 South African public schools do not have proper toilet facilities. What does that mean exactly? Well, the schools average three stalls for 800 students. And, because of the sanitation issues, 57% of girls skip school during menstruation. The WTO is hoping their efforts will erode the educational gender gap, one toilet at a time. Their plan calls for 10 facilities to be built by the end of 2014. So, if you’re about to flush down some cash on a Cyber Monday deal for a sweater or whatever, maybe you can donate your savings toward a new toilet.

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Well, this is news to us but it appears that Judith Carr-Rodriguez has joined the executive team at Figliulo & Partners, the agency launched this past summer by former TBWA\Chiat\Day NY creative chief, Mark Figliulo. Prior to her new gig as president/founding partner at F&P, U.K. native Carr-Rodriguez spent several years at LBi, eventually serving as president of its US operations (as well as MD of the New York office) and then in the same role when the agency became MRY earlier this year. No word yet on who else has landed at Figliulo & Partners, which as you may know just landed its first notable client in Sprint. As mentioned previously, F&P will focus on broadcast efforts for the brand.

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Gavin McInnes, Vice co-founder and current Rooster NY creative director, is back with more helpful tips for the modern man.

As you may remember, McInnes also starred in Vans’ OffTheWall.TV’s beloved “How to Piss in Public” and another video, “How To Work Out From Home,” which featured him using his children to lift weights. Since being uploaded yesterday, “How to Fight a Baby” has already racked up more than half a million plays. While it’s not McInnes’ funniest video, it’s perhaps his cutest. And, because it’s the Internet, “cuteness” it worth more that BitCoin. (Timeliness rimshot!)

It’s honestly hard not to be a fan of McInnes. The guy is super endearing, a trait that many CDs attempt to exude but fail to deliver on. Any way you see it, McInnes’ (wince) personal brand building strategies continue to make Rooster look like a really fun place to work. And, when was the last time an agency did that this well?

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