Hasta La Creative!

It’s been a busy week on the staffing front at CP+B. Just days after announcing a slew of creative hires in its L.A. office, the Boulder-based agency brings us the news that it’s welcomed back Heather Lefevre, who you might remember from this clip, to serve as group planning director in its Miami office. Lefevre initially worked at Crispin from fall 2007-2008 as a senior cognitive anthropologist (can never get enough of that title) and was part of the multiple award-winning teams that worked on Whopper Freakout and Whopper Sacrifice.

During her career, she’s also held planning positions at the likes of what was then StrawberryFrog Amsterdam as well as DDB Amsterdam, The Martin Agency and Mullen. Lefevre’s not the only one reuniting with CP+B, though, as the agency has also welcomed back Greg O’Neal to serve as account director on Bing. O’Neal’s first tour of duty at CP+B lasted two years and during his career, the account vet worked at the likes of Razorfish and BBH.

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Yep, you read that correctly, folks. A tipster sent us a nice note this morning announcing telling us that not only had his colleague Chris Taylor, a senior art director and 16-year vet at Doner, had a baby on Sunday but he delivered it himself and offered a transcript of how it all went down after the fact. Apparently, a pic of the actual newborn named Finn is on the way as well (Update: see left..aww), but in the meantime, here’s a little play-by-play from Taylor himself. Can’t say we don’t like these little feel-good asides from time-to-time:

“6:20 a.m. KELLI: Get up.
6:23 CHRIS (CALLING MOTHER IN-LAW): I think we’re gonna head to the hospital.
6:23 CHERYL (TO CHRIS): I’m on my way.
6:34 KELLI: @#$*@#!!! We gotta go.
CHRIS SENSING SERIOUS PANIC, RUNS NEXT DOOR AND POUNDS ON NEIGHBORS DOOR.
6:40 CHRIS (TO NEIGHBOR): Can you come over and watch Sutton RIGHT NOW!?
6:40 NEIGHBOR (WIDE EYED): Yeah.
6:41 DRIVING VERY FAST YET CAREFUL WHILE TALKING TO HOSPITAL ON PHONE.
6:42 KELLI: @#$*@#!!! I feel like I need to push.
6:42 CHRIS: Where’s a cop when you need one?!
6:45 KELLI: I’m not going to make it. PULL OVER.
6:45 CHRIS IGNORING REQUEST BECAUSE THAT’S JUST THE PAIN TALKING, PUSH’S THE STATION WAGON TO MAX ACCELERATION ON I-275.
6:46 KELLI: My water broke, PULL OVER!!! IT’S COMING. AAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH! OMG THE HEAD IS OUT.
6:46 CHRIS NOTCES THAT A THIRD PASSENGER WANTS A BETTER VIEW OUT THE FRONT WINDOW. REALIZES THAT IT WASN’T JUST THE PAIN TALKING AND PULLS OVER. DIALS 911
6:50 DELIVERS BABY ON THE FRONT SEAT LIKE A CHAMP.
7:10 WALK INTO HOSPITAL TO A STANDING OVATION.
7:11 DOC/NURSE: You want to be on the news?
7:11 KEL: Nooo!
7:12 NURSE: How are you?
7:12 CHRIS: I can’t believe it’s a boy!

SUMMARY:
At 6:20 I was lying in bed.
At 6:50 I had delivered a child on the front seat of my car on I-275.

That stretch of highway and my volvo will never look the same to me. Gotta thank North Face for keeping my son warm. The jacket is toast, but best spontaneous newborn blanket ever. Very thankful and full of love. My wife is the strongest woman I’ve ever met. And something tells me that our new son shares her determination!”

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We first started hearing murmurs about this towards the end of last year, but they proved to be unfounded at the time. Well, fast-forward a few months and the script has flipped as we’ve received confirmation that Digitas and longtime creative exec Mark Beeching have indeed parted ways. Here’s a brief statement from an agency spokesperson: “After a decade of service to Digitas, Mark Beeching will set course on an exciting new professional path, outside of the agency, and Publicis Groupe. We thank Mark for his signature disruptive thinking and creative leadership and wish him the very best.”

During his decade-long stint at Digitas, Beeching, who worked out of New York, moved up the ranks from global ECD to his most recent position as worldwide chief creative/strategy officer at the agency, overseeing work for clients including AmEx and AOL in the process. No word yet, though, if Digitas has immediate plans to replace him. We’ll keep you posted.

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We rarely give love to the UX folks for whatever reason, so..what the hell. It looks like Peter Gallo has his own little PR machine going (or he’s a pretty decent self-promoter, either way) as we’ve received a handful tips from different IPs over the last week or so that the Brooklyn-based creative has joined up with Tribal DDB as director of UX. Truth be told, Gallo has indeed updated his job status to reflect the fact that he has joined Tribal as director of user experience strategy, to be exact. From what we’re hearing, Gallo started his new gig today. Most recently, he served as a a senior UX strategist at Grey New York–though we’ve been told that he was more “junior” at the agency.

Embellishment (or lack thereof) aside, prior to Grey, Gallo spent nearly five years at @radical.media, last serving as information architect, working on apps for the ONE campaign and Sting among other projects.

Update: Well, why leave well enough alone. Gallo succeeds Vincent Higgins at Tribal New York. Earlier this year, the latter was promoted to executive director of UX at DDB’s office in San Francisco. While we’re on the DDB tip, the agency has hired Y&R’s Andrew McKechnie, who last served as ECD out of the latter’s New York office, to serve as group creative director on its Reebok account. If you recall, DDB and Reebok reunited at the beginning of this year. Along with his three-plus years at Y&R, where he helped lead creative on LG, Land Rover, etc., McKechnie had stints at the likes of JWT, Modernista! and BBDO during his career.

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We’ve been getting a few tips on the Spy line that Ricardo Viramontes and Hector Muelas, who have each spent nearly a year as creative directors at B-Reel, have been lured away by TBWA\Media Arts Lab to, you guessed it, work on Apple. Since\MAL is like Area 51 considering its Apple tie-in, TBWA would not comment on the hirings, but prior to their work at B-Reel, Viramontes served as an art director for four-plus years at W+K New York on accounts including Jordan Brand and has also worked at the likes of CAA (you surely remember this) and BSSP.

Muelas, meanwhile, also worked at CAA on the same campaign among other things as well as W+K Amsterdam on accounts including Nike and Coca-Cola. We’ll let you know if and when Tim Cook & Co. or those on the agency level remove the leash and reveals more specifics.

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Sources familiar with the matter confirm that Perry Essig, who’s been with Publicis for well over five years and most recently served as EVP/executive creative director out of its New York office, is leaving the agency for a gig a TBWA\Chiat\Day NY. From what we’ve been told by sources, Essig is moving to Chiat NY, effective May 1, to serve as global creative director on Accenture, which awarded TBWA its global AOR duties nearly two years ago. During his five-year stint at Publicis, Essig served as EVP/ECD on the Citi business (you might remember this spot that’s still been making the rounds) among other things.

Prior to Publicis, Essig served as partner/senior copywriter at Ogilvy on AmEx and Kodak among other accounts and has also served as an ACD at Arnold.

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Twas a busy day at camp McCann as the Worldgroup has made several promotions within its leadership ranks. Among those getting a bump-up are Michael McLaren, formerly MRM East president and global client solutions director, who has now been made president of MRM’s worldwide operations.

While we’re on the MRM front, Hank Summy, who joined McCann from Sapient in fall 2011 to serve as president, North America, will now serve as president, commerce at the former agency. Meanwhile, current MRM EVP/chief technology officer, North America Andy Jacobs (pictured) will add global responsibilities to his CTO role. Taking over as president at McCann New York will be one Chris Macdonald, most recently chief executive at the agency’s London office. Speaking of McCann London, while Macdonald crosses the pond, Rob Doubal and Laurence Thomson, who served as co-ECDs in said office, will be moving up the ladder to serve as co-presidents/chief creative officers. Get all that? Good.

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It looks like Bill Waldner is finally taking the big creative chair at IPG-owned, West Hollywood, CA-based agency Dailey as he’s been recently been promoted from executive creative director to chief creative officer. Waldner has spent 16 years at Dailey, which works with several Nestle brands including Butterfinger, Baby Ruth and Crunch as well as Ford, Honda and IHOP. The new CCO has moved up the charts, taking the role of EVP/CD back in 2010 when IPG decided to align Dailey with Draftfcb and eventually moved up to his most recent role as ECD.

Along with Waldner’s appointment at Dailey, which last we remember was headbanging for the holidays, we’re hearing from spies that the agency has picked up the account for Nescafe’s single-serve coffee brand, Dolce Gusto as well as the biz for Houston-based NextEra Energy Resources. We’re checking with all parties involved. As for Waldner, prior to his lengthy stint at Dailey, the creative exec has worked at JWT, Chiat/Day and what was then FCB back in the day.

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Another week, another Digitas/Team Sprint departure, though this time at least, we’ve been told by sources familiar with the matter that the exec in question is planning on staying within the Publicis Group/VivaKi family. Yes, Robert Cross, who initially joined Digitas as SVP of media and led digital media planning for Kraft but subsequently developed the communications planning practice for Team Sprint, is moving on. As mentioned, sources say that Cross is exploring options within the broader holding company.

Prior to joining up with Digitas, Cross spent several years at Mindshare, where he last served as managing director, communications planning and led strategic planning for Sprint and worked with other notable brands including Unilever, ConAgra and Kimberly-Clark. Sources add that there are no plans at the moment to replace him at Digitas.

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It looks like Campbell Mithun itself beat us to the punch on this news, but yes, as the IPG-owned agency announced late last Friday, its CEO, Steve Wehrenberg, is leaving come June for a leadership post at University of Minnesota, where he will serve as teaching professor of strategic communication and program director of its Strategic Communication graduate program. It’s familiar territory for Wehrenberg, who’s been teaching at U of MN over the last seven-plus years. The soon-to-be departing CEO, though, will indefinitely serve as a consultant at Campbell Mithun once he leaves his post.

Wehrenberg, who’s been with Campbell Mithun for nearly three decades, has served as its CEO since 2007, when he took over for Jack Rooney. We’ve been told by the agency that an external CEO search is now underway with the goal being to name a successor by summer.

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