Hasta La Creative!

Publicis Groupe’s ROKKAN has officially launched its new media planning/buying offering, and its staff already includes three industry vets:

• Sean Miller, who is SVP of strategy, most recently worked in the strategy/planning department at R/GA New York
• Lindsay Williams, VP of media and analytics, joins the agency from Estee Lauder, where she was global brand director; prior to that role she worked with several clients at Razorfish
• Joe Meanor will serve as VP of client partnership. He joins ROKKAN from MRY, where he worked as group director

CEO/managing partner John Noe explains the offering’s purpose:

“Media is actually something we’ve been doing for several of our clients over the last couple of years, albeit in a bit of an ad-hoc fashion.”

As client requests for paid services increased, Noe and team decided to launch the new offering, which is less an independent unit than a “natural progression” of the agency’s existing services.

New Career Opportunities Daily: The best jobs in media.

McDonald's puts our minds to the test in this British campaign from Razorfish that features prankvertising and an online quiz.

The premise is that people can't concentrate on anything else when the Big Mac is nearby. Unlike some recent hair-raising ad stunts, and the million-calorie sandwich itself, the prank element here is pretty benign.

On a busy street, a young couple with a camera ask presumably unsuspecting passersby to take their picture. As they primp, a large portrait of a Big Mac is carried past by a different couple, who quickly switch places with the original pair just as the photo is about to be snapped. (It's cool how boyfriend No. 1 starts a sentence as the Big Mac obscures him from view, then boyfriend No. 2 appears and completes the sentence once the switch is made.)

The subjects don't seem to notice that anything's amiss. Maybe a devil baby puking up special sauce would've gotten their attention? Just a thought.

Anyway, the original couple from the clip also host a series of interactive "mind games" designed to demonstrate the Big Mac's distracting power. I thought the hypnotic properties of two all beef patties, yada yada, on a sesame seed bun had been irrefutably established long ago. Obviously, when one appears, so plump and juicy … I cannot turn away!

Oddly, when McD's showed in detail how McNuggets were made, I couldn't make the screen go dark fast enough. Still, I'll have fries with that!

Yeesh, this story will not cease, and the tipster onslaught continues. To add a little bit more color if you will to yesterday’s story about Samsung/Razorfish/Motorola, we’ve got this word from a source in the know. We forgot to mention that Brian Wallace‘s relationship with the agency extends back to his Blackberry days at RIM, where he spent well over a decade and last served as VP/global digital marketing and media.

Once again, we will keep the other parties’ involved name redacted but we have received several tips about this. Here’s the first allegation: “I was part of the Denuo team on Samsung. The only firewall was that we worked on different floors. In many cases, Blackberry people would pitch in on the Samsung work. [Redacted] knew, his former employer didn’t. I heard the same thing happened again with Motorola (I still have buddies there).”

Along with being told that this was “common practice” at the agency, we’ve been told that employees have not only been given two business cards in order to promote both the GS4 and the Moto X “within days of each other,” From what we’ve heard from those in the know it was one card for Razorfish and the other at fellow Publicis Groupe-based shop, Digitas/Denuo. These tips are getting too numerous to accumulate. If you recall, Samsung just hired Razorfish over a year ago to work as the brand’s digital AOR.

New Career Opportunities Daily: The best jobs in media.

Razorfish hasn’t been the most communicative as of late, but we’re checking in on this as we’ve received multiple tips from various sources that the agency cut staff in it the central/SE region, specifically offices in Chicago, Austin and Atlanta. While we await some sort of comment/clarification, our spies tell us that approximately 25 staffers were affected across departments including some VPs. We’re hearing a certain major digital account loss in recent weeks might be to blame, but we’ll of course update as soon as we hear more. Stay tuned.

Update: Asked and received. Here’s a statement from Razorfish that maybe clarifies things: “As with all successful professional services organizations, we regularly adjust our staff levels and skills mix to align with current client needs. In keeping with that strategy, we did have to adjust staff levels in a few of our offices, which totals less than 2% of our North American staff. We will, however, continue to bring new talent and new capabilities into the agency to ensure we exceed client expectations.”

New Career Opportunities Daily: The best jobs in media.

The numbers have been varying all morning on this one, but we’ve received several reports that Razorfish has cut staffers across departments, across cities ranging from Chicago to Atlanta to Austin.

We’re hearing anywhere from 30-50 staffers (actually, some are saying even 100?!) have been affected. Was it due to the Publicis Groupe-owned agency overbooking staff on the Samsung digital biz? We’re not sure at this point, but the tips have been piling up all morning on this one. We’re of course checking and will keep you posted if and when.

Update: Here’s a quick statement from a Razorfish spokesperson: “As consumer needs continue to shift alongside the digital landscape, we periodically make staff adjustments to guarantee we’re equipped with the skills that match our clients’ changing demands. The recent workforce reduction will ensure continued operational health as we evolve these critical offerings moving forward.  Our capabilities and staffing are now further aligned so that we can continue to effectively deliver solutions at the intersection of technology, media and creative.”

New Career Opportunities Daily: The best jobs in media.

Não é de hoje que muitas pessoas têm optado por fazer suas compras online. Muito mais do que livros ou aparelhos eletrônicos, mas também roupas, sapatos e tudo mais que estiver disponível. Basicamente, abrimos mão de experimentar uma roupa em troca das comodidades que um site oferece. Mas é mais do que isso. Online, a gente encontra com maior facilidade produtos pesquisados anteriormente, além de termos sugestões de produtos que combinam com nosso perfil.

Já tem um tempo que a gente tem pesquisado aqui na Royalpixel maneiras de integrar as facilidades da loja online com o PDV físico. Afinal, com tanto avanço tecnológico, fica difícil entender porque o mundo físico ainda não está ligado ao conteúdo digital. Recentemente, entretanto, a Razorfish anunciou um novo projeto, que propõe uma forma de reinventar a tradicional ida às compras.

Denominada 5D, a plataforma já disponível em versão beta propõe integrar diferentes dispositivos digitais em ambientes de varejo. Isso significa que a 5D é capaz de conectar quiosques, telas, tablets e smartphones para criar maior envolvimento do público – e até mesmo dos funcionários das lojas – com os produtos.

Para que essa integração seja completa, são necessários 5 elementos-chave: os dispositivos, conteúdo, experiências, analytics e o gerenciamento do relacionamento com o consumidor. E, é claro, uma boa dose de encantamento, algo que não pode faltar a nenhum bom projeto digital.

Para que o conteúdo funcione, assim como online, ele deve ser relevante e acompanhar o consumidor, criando uma experiência personalizada para lembrá-lo dos produtos que ele viu. Assim, mesmo que o consumidor não compre aquele produto na loja, as informações sobre ele ficam salvas no seu celular e disponíveis para compra em apenas um clique.

De verdade, esse é o tipo de projeto que empolga a gente. E a Razorfish, com o 5D, nos deu ainda mais inspiração para isso.

Post originalmente publicado no Brainstorm #9
Twitter | Facebook | Contato | Anuncie