Hasta La Creative!

While Walmart has yet to respond to our inquiries, we have received confirmation from other parties involved that Andy Murray, founder and former chairman/CEO at Saatchi & Saatchi X who parted ways with the agency at the end of 2011, has accepted the position of SVP/creative with the Bentonville, AR behemoth.

Since his departure from Saatchi X, Murray has spent the last two years building his own Fayetteville, AR-based social media/marketing technology agency, Mercury 11, which is now on the verge of being bought up by Project:Worldwide. In fact, the global agency network has officially announced its intent to acquire Mercury 11 and merge it with its own Dallas-based shopper engagement unit dubbed Shoptology, which is led by Murray’s old Saatchi X cohort (and former North American CEO), Charlie Anderson.

Terms of the deal are undisclosed, but in a statement, Murray says, “I’m excited for Mercury 11 to join the Shoptology team. Charlie is an experienced builder and has a keen appreciation for how to scale a top team to bring world-class digital shopper marketing solutions to blue-chip client partners. I have no doubt Mercury 11’s capabilities and people will add value to Shoptology’s offering and will be in good hands.”

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In case you needed further proof that Grey New York has fully embraced the group creative director title, the agency has appointed yet another pair to the position this week, namely Elaine McCormick and Fran Sheff-Mauer (pictured l-r). The creative duo has been working together for over a quarter-century and for the past several years at Grey NY, picking up Cannes Lions, One Show prizes and Effies along the way. As if you even have to ask at this point, yes, we’ve obtained the memo sent to staff from you know who that offers some insight into the agency’s latest GCDs as well as their remit. Maybe we should just create a separate tips box at this point. Anyhow, check it out if you’d like after the jump.

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We figured we’d kill two birds on the TBWA front this lovely Friday. First up to bat, we’ve received confirmation that Carole Smila, who’s spent the past several months as a senior project manager at Anomaly, where she managed all the agency’s global campaigns for Converse, is joining up with TBWA\Chiat\Day New York in the newly created position of head of project management. Smila, who will assume her post at TBWA C\D NY on Aug. 26, has also served as a senior PM at what was Euro RSCG London as well as Mother during her career and had a stint as creative manager lead at Google Creative Lab prior to joining Anomaly.

Shifting gears to the West Coast now, TBWA has welcomed few senior-level folks to its Digital Arts Network as well as a new set of specialist labs–Datalab, Mobilelab and SMARTSlab–that are being housed within it. Among those joining up with DAN are David&Goliath alum Justin Manfredi, who will assume the role of deputy director and manage client services along with the digital group’s account teams at DAN LA.

As for the specialist labs, 72andSunny/W+K NY alum Larry Lac will serve as director of SMARTSlab while leading social media efforts for DAN LA, former Ignited analytics lead Eric Fader will head up the data science/analytics practice, Datalab, and Vaino Leskinen arrives from TBWA Helsinki to focus on mobile strategy and product creation as part of Mobilelab.

Finally, Peter Bassett, who’s been with TBWA for a year and has also spent time at the likes of AKQA, 180 Amsterdam and Goodby during his career, has been promoted to director of digital production.

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Nearly a month to the day that we reported that Joshua Hirsch was leaving Big Spaceship after 11 years of service to possibly assume a senior-level technology post at Publicis Kaplan Thaler in mid-August, the latter agency has finally made it official. Like clockwork. Unfortunately, Hirsch won’t be bringing his catchy “Minister of Technology” title he held at BS with him to PKT, but instead joins the latter agency in the more traditional role of EVP/chief technology officer. As you’d expect, he’ll be leading Publicis Kaplan Thaler’s technology and innovation practice out of the agency’s New York HQ.

Hirsch’s new boss, PKT CEO Robin Koval, says in a statement, “Today, technology informs the creative process as never before, and Joshua will help provide our clients with an unprecedented level of innovation. Joshua is a proven leader with a significant track record of developing impressive front-edge solutions, and we couldn’t be more pleased to have him join us. We expect to do truly innovative and industry-leading work together – work that continues to lead the change for our clients.”

As previously mentioned, Hirsch spent well over a decade at DUMBO-based Big Spaceship, beginning as the digital shop’s sole coder before eventually moving up to partner and dubbing himself, yes, “Minister of Technology.” Frankly, we miss the hair.

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It appears that the Grey New York president/CCO Tor Myhren and crew have fully embraced the title of group creative director, which the agency surprisingly never used until the appointments of Leo Savage and Jeff Stamp to said role on the Gillette biz last week. Now, another pair has assumed the position of GCD, namely five-year Grey NY vet Sean Crane and Joe Mongognia, who arrives from Deutsch NY.

Prior to Deutsch, the latter spent several years as a senior art director at JWT New York, working with clients ranging from Halls to Domino’s to Sunsilk, and also had stints as an ACD and/or CD at Ogilvy Mather London/New York. Anyhow, wouldn’t you know it, we do happen have a memo handy from Myhren that just went out to staff a short while ago and offers some nice background on Grey NY’s newest GCDs as well as their remit. Peep it after the jump.

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A changing of the guards–well, at least positions–has taken place at Minneapolis-based digital agency space150 as CEO/chief creative officer Billy Jurewicz has now shifted into a founder/CEO role in order to, among other things, focus on the expansion of the agency’s offices in New York and Los Angeles. Jurewicz’s move is just one of a handful of title changes at space150 as 10-year vet Marc Jensen is moving from president/CTO to managing partner/CTO at the agency.

In addition, David Denham, who’s been with the agency since January and serves as chief strategy officer, will now president to his title. Finally, group creative director Brian Ritchie, who joined space150 18 months from fellow Twin Cities shop Colle+McVoy, will now step up to ECD. Regarding his own move, Jurewicz says in a statement, “As we look ahead ? at the marketplace we serve, the future needs of our clients’ business, and the talent we have under roof ? now was the right time to shift our leadership structure to ready us for future growth.”

The 100-strong space150 currently counts clients including AmEx, Target, American Eagle Outfitters and Buffalo Wild Wings.

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Well, this agency’s certainly keeping us busy today. We’ve received confirmation that Ewan Paterson, who’s spent over three years as chief creative officer at DDB Chicago, is leaving the agency. Paterson joined DDB Chicago in 2010 from CHI & Partners in London, where he served as executive creative director for five years. Regarding his reasons for leaving, the DDB Chicago camp says, “He will be moving back to London with his family. Ewan intends to take some time off and will remain available to us for the next several months as we make a transition to new creative leadership in Chicago.”

Paterson is no stranger to the DDB fold as he spent a decade in the agency network’s London office working with brands including VW and Sony. During his career, the creative exec also worked at BBH London, where he led campaigns for British Airways, Unilever and Vodafone.

As for his time at DDB and future plans, Paterson himself says, “Its been a fantastic three and half years and I’m proud of the agency’s transformation from the where it was in 2010. With six Cannes Lions over the last twelve months it’s evident that agency is becoming  stronger and more diversified creatively. I’ll miss the people who make up DDB Chicago hugely, but the stars have aligned for me and the my family to go home to London.  I intend to spend three to four months being a ‘dad’ for the first time-ever and then working on setting up my own agency.”

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We checked with Kevin Drew Davis himself last week on what his next gig would be after leaving DigitasLBi earlier this month, but didn’t get the full story. Well, now we know as it’s hit the newswires and trades up north that KDD has assumed the newly created position of chief creative officer at DDB Canada. So why the move, Kevin? “DDB Canada has been on my radar for some time,” he says in a statement, adding, “From the senior executive team to its creative leaders, everyone I’ve met has demonstrated an unwavering passion for their work. DDB’s culture is balanced with a tremendous amount of humility and integrity, which is a rare combination. For me, it’s all about the people that surround you.”

As noted, this is the first time a chief creative officer has been appointed to lead all of DDB Canada’s integrated creative departments, which span Toronto, Montreal, Edmonton and Vancouver. Davis will be based in the agency’s Toronto office. In case you forgot, Davis spent two years as ECD for both Digitas San Francisco and Chicago prior to joining DDB Canada and spent several years as global interactive CD at W+K among other notable stints.

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Sure, we’ve seen far more clever routes being taken by creatives in order to land an agency (we think this guy set the bar), but hey, we can always appreciate those taking more standard steps to sell themselves. Take for instance this enterprising Toronto guy/gal who among other things, boasts via Craigslist that he/she does one hell of an impression of characters from The Mighty Boosh, the U.K. comedy troupe that had a show on BBC years ago. Not sure if that will really help this digital copywriter’s cause, but hey, there’s this:

“Perks of working with me include:

-The submission of polished, timely work
-Full access to my knowledge of obscure rap music
-A delicious curry dish at every office potluck (it’s all I know how to cook)
– My impersonations of characters from The Mighty Boosh
-A two-week break from my Mighty Boosh impersonations at Christmas

Your duties will involve:

-Paying me every two weeks
-Occasionally supplying me with coffee
-Providing me with at least one healthcare benefit”

Not sure if this person’s looking locally, but if so, your move, Toronto agencies. Hey, we like the moxie.

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In April, Campbell Mithun selected the finalists of their annual Lucky 13 internship contest, which this year focused on fresh branding ideas for Twinkies. Now, two from that group, Ben Blaska and Brian Skalak, have been hired to work full-time in account positions and assist teams on KeyBank and various General Mills accounts.

“We always strive to hire our Lucky 13 interns at the end of the summer,” says Debbie Fischer, director of human resources at Campbell Mithun.  “This year Brian and Ben join us during an exciting time of organic growth.  Our other two interns, Jonathan and Harry, return to Syracuse and UNC Chapel Hill and we wish them well as they complete their degrees.”

The boys start work this coming Monday, August 12, and as you can see in the above video, they’re jazzed. I especially appreciate the hand-flailing at the end. For further amusement, you can see Ben, Brian, and fellow intern Jonathan Unger practicing ad-speak in Batman voices in the clip below.

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