Hasta La Creative!

We’ll spare you the prelude, so let’s just say the guy on the left is StrawberryFrog Amsterdam strategic planners Ben Culpin and Ashly Stewart, who have decided to help out the junior strategists of the world with a new service. Here’s their mission statement:

“It’s our hope that this project will become a resource to help inspire and grow the junior community the same way a good mentor would. We aim to talk with a variety of insiders in strategic roles, from client side to agency side, from communications to product design. We will also aim to highlight informants, those who inform and inspire our strategic thinking from outside of the industry.”

Contributors include the likes of Eddie Revis, Simon Neate-Stidson and Lauren Holden Kilbane. Ok kids, it’s your turn.

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We’ve received confirmation that after less than a year at the helm as SVP/group creative director of the multicultural department at Draftfcb Chicago, Michel Rothschild is no longer with the agency. From what those in know tell us, Rothschild actually departed the agency a few weeks back (last day was 2/15 to be exact), and is relocating from the Windy City to NYC. Prior to his gig at DFCB, Rothschild freelanced for the likes of JWT and Dieste and also spent time scripting/directing clips for MTV. No word yet if there are immediate plans to replace, but we’ll let you know.

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Creative multimedia resumes have been popping up all over the internet this year, including this Parisian who turned his resume into an Amazon product page as we all criticized ourselves for not thinking of it first. Selling yourself is never easy–except for those who work in the Red Light District; they’ve really simplified that process to perfection–but for the rest of us, we have to worry about including too much personal information, emphasizing the right amount of work experience, using an agreeable font. Eventually, you just come to the conclusion that there’s no such thing as an agreeable font and that almost all resumes are banal pieces of paper that carry too much meaning.

Tom Costello, account exec for Microsoft, has decided to make his own video resume that shows off his good-humored personality. We’ll let you decide whether the humor is good or bad. Costello does make fun of those annoying Microsoft tablet commercials, so we’ll give him that. The strange part is, he never really talks about specific experience or metrics of success. He throws a football into a box and pounds the pavement with a Wiffle ball bat.

Costello’s Linkedin page implies that he’s currently employed. Maybe he’s blindly reaching out to other brands? If not, who exactly is this guy pitching to if he already works for Microsoft? And for this post, let’s try to have commenters=nice.

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We suppose it’s safe to call it DigitasLBi now as the agency folks behind the newly merged entity have announced that they’ve found a new North American CEO in Tony Weisman. The new chief exec takes over for his former boss, Colin Kinsella, who spent the last six years within the Publicis Groupe fold, the first three being at Razorfish and the last three serving as president then CEO of the North American region.

Last we recall, Weisman, a six-year Digitas vet himself (and one-time Super Tuesday contributor), was part of the agency’s “realignment” in summer 2010 that resulted in an expansion of his role beyond global client lead/president of the Chicago office to include Boston, Detroit and San Francisco as well. The new DigitasLBi North American CEO will remain in his native Chicago, though, and will report to newly installed DigitasLBi global CEO Luke Taylor, who offers these warm words in a statement:

“Tony blends client business understanding, marketing acumen and instinct. He brings altitude and aptitude to the client-agency relationship that inspires innovation and boldness, and ultimately growth. I am confident that Tony will take the reins of this incredible opportunity with the same infectious energy and foresight that have guided his career.”

Prior to Digitas, Weisman served as CMO at Draftfcb Chicago and spent nearly two decades prior at Leo Burnett.

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Well, this is one of the more interesting items to start of the work week. Over the weekend, we received a letter that Huge analytics director Yosaif Cohain sent to his colleagues at the agency in which he announced his resignation. Why, well, read on verbatim and we’ll continue after.

“Friends –

Because of moral objections that I have with Huge working with Al Jazeera, I have resigned from my position at Huge, effective immediately. I simply cannot work for a company that works with them. Today is my last day.

I know some might think my decision is rash or extreme. You should know that I have thought about this at length for the past two weeks and am very confident in my decision. I won’t attempt to convince anyone about my opinions or beliefs – I will just hope that even if you disagree with them, you can respect my decision and my need to stay true to who I am and what I believe in. I’m leaving with a lot of sadness and disappointment in Huge, but also with my head held high.

I’m not sure what my next steps will be – I’m going to take a step back to evaluate a few things and will be updating my resume. If you have leads for me, I’d appreciate them.

Thank you all for your ongoing friendship and support – I will miss you guys. To those of you that have offered words of support and encouragement about my decision, I thank you in particular – this has not been easy for me.

All my best –

Yosaif”

Yes, Cohain has indeed resigned, but interestingly enough, sources tell us that at the time he quit, Huge was not actually working with the aforementioned broadcaster. We’re hearing that the agency’s D.C. office specifically was just one of  several digital shops that Al Jazeera has recently been talking to as it transitions following its acquisition of Al Gore‘s Current TV, which perhaps was divisive enough to begin with. So, maybe there were other reasons at play for Cohain’s departure from Huge NY, who knows, but we’re staying neutral on his decision.

When pressed, Huge had “no comment” on the matter.

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Last week, a bevy of banana-filled images had us wondering whether this was an odd preview of the new agency formed by Tom O’Keefe and Nick Paul, who previously served as North American CD and chief global growth officer, respectively, at Draftfcb.

Well, thankfully their new, Chicago-based shop is not called “Whiskey Bananas,” but in fact the more pro-sounding O’Keefe Reinhard & Paul (though the imagery of both spirit and fruit adorns the walls as you can see here). The Reinhard in the mix is Amazon alum Matt Reinhard, who takes on the role of founder/CCO at the new shop while O’Keefe serves as founder/CEO and Paul, founder/president. Today marks day one at OKRP, which you can find out more about here.

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Seeing as it’s Friday and all, let’s try to invoke some good spirits and tell you the tale of a bunch of VCU Brandcenter students who are rallying around second-year copywriter Michelle Lamont, who was diagnosed with breast cancer this past winter.

How are they helping matters for Lamont? Well, the kids are running the Richmond Monument Avenue 10K (see info here) in her honor and will donate money raised to Massey Cancer Research in their home turf. Along with the marathon, which we hope to run some day back here in NYC, the VCU classmates have also launched the video above and are aiming at $5K minimum for Lamont’s cause. Go here to support and check out her blog here. Best wishes, Michelle.

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We’ve received confirmation that Tim Wettstein, who has been with JWT’s Atlanta office for just a year, is no longer with the agency. During his brief stint at the agency, where he most recently served as senior partner/group creative director, Wettstein served as GCD on efforts including Scana Energy’s “Affairs of the Flame” campaign as well as work for Jiffy Lube, XBOX and Gillette. Prior to JWT, Wettstein spent four years at BBDO New York, where he worked with brands including PETA and Autism Speaks. Here’s one example of his work for the former client here.

Above, you’ll see Wettstein to your left along with JWT ATL CCO Perry Fair and Dana Markee, the last of whom was cut last summer. We’re hearing they were among Fair’s first new hires when he took over as president/CCO at JWT’s Atlanta/Dallas/Houston offices in 2011.

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Well, this is news to us. It looks like these photos have been making the rounds on Instagram and Twitter the past few weeks, but tipsters say these images signify that Tom O’Keefe and Nick Paul have “open[ed] doors to WHISKEY BANANAS their new ad agency” based in Chicago. If you recall, O’Keefe, a 20-plus-year ad vet, left Draftfcb two months ago and it was rumored at the time that he was lured by fellow former DFCB exec Nick Paul to help start up and lead a new shop. O’Keefe had been with Draftfcb since 1990 during the FCB era and last served as executive creative director, North America. Paul, meanwhile, spent five years at said agency and last worked as EVP/global chief growth officer before leaving last spring.

O’Keefe has actually been tweeting out somewhat silly pics such as the ones below with #whiskeybananas for some time now, but we’ll see what’s up and fill in the blanks when we can.

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Well, we wouldn’t say she followed him necessarily, but the timing is rather interesting. Less than two months after Saatchi & Saatchi X EVP Charlie Anderson parted ways with said agency and joined up with Project: Worldwide, Julie Quick has followed suit as joined the latter agency as VP, shopper marketing. Quick, who most recently served as head of North American planning & insights at Saatchi X, rejoined the agency’s Dallas hub in 2011 after a brief stint as SVP, client services at fellow TX operation, Symphony IRI.

During Quick’s first stint at Saatchi X, which lasted just over six years, she served as VP, account planning. We’re awaiting word from the X camp on whether there are immediate plans to replace.

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