Hasta La Creative!

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.

New Career Opportunities Daily: The best jobs in media.

Perhaps best known by her nickname “Swiss Miss,” graphic designer and entrepreneur Tina Roth Eisenberg took the SXSW Interactive stage for the second featured keynote of the festival.

Aside from running the popular design blog and studio Swiss Miss, Roth Eisenberg is the driving force behind nationwide events series Creative Mornings, collaborative workspace Studiomates, to-do app TeuxDeux, and temporary tattoo company Tattly. In other words, side projects are pretty much her thing. While yesterday’s keynote featuring SpaceX/Tesla Motors CEO Elon Muskfocused predominantly on technology, Roth Eisenberg used her time to inspire creatives to use their enthusiasm to find success. Inspired by her Swiss aunt, a fashion designer and artist, she emphasized the importance of creatives surrounding themselves with other creative people saying, “Nothing more refreshing than being around people who are passionate about what they do.”

For creatives hoping to find the same type of success as herself, Roth Eisenberg listed these 11 steps:

1. Invest your life in what you love
2. Embrace enthusiasm
3. Don’t complain, make things better
4. Trust and empower
5. Experiences > money
6. Surround yourself with likeminded people
7. Collaborate
8. Ignore haters
9. Make time to think and breathe
10. If an opportunity scares you, take it
11. Be someone’s eccentric aunt

“Real connections are not made through computer screens,” Roth Eisenberg says. The immense growth of Studiomates and Creative Mornings in a short amount of time is undoubtedly a testament to Roth Eisenberg’s own passion and emphasis on creative collaboration.

New Career Opportunities Daily: The best jobs in media.

We always have a soft spot for the slice of life-after-advertising tales and the latest involves Regan Meador. A former senior digital/traditional strategist at Euro RSCG and Grey, Meador left the industry life in NYC back in 2011 and headed to the North Fork of Long Island, where he started Southold Farm & Cellar and is looking to plant “weird grapes” on a 23-acre patch of land he’s purchased in his new home turf.

Since planting grapes can be expensive (and since most of us probably don’t have the income that folks like wine-maker/Tool frontman Maynard James Keenan do), Meador is turning to, where else, Kickstarter to raise $15,000 to plant a specific varietal on at least one acre of his land this spring. He’s got 19 days to go and is more than halfway to his goal, so if you care to join in on the Long Island wine-making process, go here.

New Career Opportunities Daily: The best jobs in media.

It’s never been easy to get some prompt, direct feedback from Translation, and this week’s been no exception. Over the last 24 hours, we’ve received several tips that Chris Cereda, who’s led creative at the New York-based agency for a year as CCO, has left Translation. Once again, we inquired directly to the agency and without comment, were directed to the man himself, Translation founder/CEO and Adage’s latest Executive of the Year, Steve Stoute, who we’ve come to know a bit in recent months.

Unfortunately, we’ve been unable to reach Stoute (let alone Cereda, who’s LinkedIn appears to have disappeared as well) when calling his office and are still waiting to hear back. As for Cereda himself, the Translation CCO has led the charge on various notable campaigns in recent months including the fun State Farm “Chris Paul/Cliff Paul” work and of course, the various Bud Light/Platinum efforts. Prior to joining Translation, the creative chief served as ECD at KBS+P and has worked at McCann on accounts including MasterCard during his career. We’re checking with all resources on this, so we’ll update with comment if and when we do hear back (wishful thinking, perhaps).

New Career Opportunities Daily: The best jobs in media.

Since it’s been a while since we last mentioned Wondersauce (see: ReadQuick iPad app from six months ago), here’s a quick update from the digital design/development shop founded by AgencyNet/Code and Theory alums, Eric Mayville and John Sampogna, back in late 2011. The Sauce camp has added a fourth partner in fellow Code and Theory vet Brett Waszkelewicz, who will lead creative in the shop’s NYC hub as CD/partner and in turn joins the leadership ranks that includes CDs Mayville and Seth Klassen and managing director, Sampogna.

Waszkelewicz, who while at C+T served as CD on publishing sites for Mashable, The Verge and Ebony, has actually been working with Wondersauce for the past few months but didn’t officially make partner until this week. As for Wondersauce itself, along with ReadQuick and client work for the likes of HBO, Samsung and A-BInBev, we’ve been told that the shop has grown staff to 11 and is expected to launch a new site in the coming days.

New Career Opportunities Daily: The best jobs in media.

After two decades-plus of co-running Bay Area operation Hoffman/Lewis, Bob Hoffman, aka the @AdContrarian is calling it quits, saying in a statement and perhaps is eyeying appointment to the papacy, according to this statement: “I just celebrated my 40^th year in the agency business, and it’s time for a change. It’s better to leave 5 minutes too soon than 5 minutes too late. It’s time to reevaluate my professional life. That’s fancy business talk for ‘do something else.’”

Hoffman continues, “The agency has grown almost 30% in the past year, and it’s nice to be able to leave on an up note. I haven’t decided what I’ll do next, but I plan to continue my writing and speaking about advertising. Also, I understand there’s a job opening at the Vatican.”

Hoffman formed his San Francisco-based agency–which has lost its share of notable staffers in recent months–in 1991 alongside Roger Lewis, who subsequently retired in 2004. The departing exec will be succeeded by 19-year agency vet Josh Nichol on April 1 at Hoffman/Lewis, which counts clients including USC, Toyota and McDonald’s.

New Career Opportunities Daily: The best jobs in media.

Yes, we have received confirmation that after 13 years at Deutsch, serving as partner, chief media officer most recently, Peter Gardiner has resigned from the agency this week. Here are the statements from all parties involved:

“Today Deutsch NY CEO Val DiFebo announced that Peter Gardiner, Partner, Chief Media Officer, would be leaving the agency to pursue entrepreneurial interests and investments in the media and tech space.  Gardiner joined Deutsch in 2000 and during his tenure helped grow Deutsch’s media offering at a time when many agencies were unbundling their media operations.  He was an important part of the agency’s success and we wish him well.  Gardiner’s last day will be February 28^th.

An announcement will be made early next week regarding the plans we have in place, it’s a 1 + 1 = 3 approach that will continue to keep us ahead of the curve.

And from Gardiner himself:

“Having been a Partner of one of the best agencies in history has been incredibly rewarding and fun. But leaving Deutsch now gives me the opportunity to find, grow, and nurture startups in the media and tech space. I’m excited about what’s ahead and I thank everyone at Deutsch for the best years of my professional life, so far…”

During his time at Deutsch, Gardiner  helped launch Media Bridge Entertainment, a product placement company that introduced pay-for-performance as its core offering, nearly a decade ago as well as research unit, Consumer Prime.

New Career Opportunities Daily: The best jobs in media.

Not sure why we received so many tips about this (and from different IPs, mind you), but yes, sources familiar with the matter have confirmed that Bryce Sparks, who we’ve been told worked as account director on the Axe, Wisk and CREA accounts while at Toronto-based Union, has joined up with Ogilvy Toronto this week. We’ve been told the parting was amicable between the shop formerly known as CP+B Toronto and Sparks, who spent the majority of his ad career at DDB Canada, working out of Vancouver most recently as global account director on the Canadian Tourism Commission biz.

New Career Opportunities Daily: The best jobs in media.

Quik est une vidéo issue de la collaboration entre The Berrics et Quiksilver. Ce film très réussi a été tourné dans les rues de Los Angeles et permet de donner une idée de la ville à travers le skateboard. Le film suit Austyn Gillette roulant dans des endroits mythiques de la ville. Une superbe vidéo à découvrir dans la suite.