Hasta La Creative!

Doner appointed Eric Weisberg as its new global chief creative officer, effective September 6, when he will take over for Rob Strasberg, who will remain with the agency as global creative chairman.

Weisberg will relocate from New York to Doner’s Detroit headquarters for the position, and will be responsible for overseeing creative across all Doner offices and clients, while reporting to Doner global CEO and president David DeMuth. 

“Eric really stood apart as a collaborative, impact-driven creative leader who has a strong vision for the future and who will help us build a culture of inventive creativity. His expertise in storytelling, technology, data and media will elevate our creativity to better solve modern marketing challenges,” said DeMuth. “As we continue to focus on the emerging needs of our clients and leveraging the power of our integrated capabilities, Eric shares both our desire to flex our creative muscles in new ways and our ambition to fuel the positive momentum building across the Doner network.”

“We couldn’t be more excited to have Eric join Doner,” added Strasberg. “Eric is an experienced, multi-faceted creative leader, who will elevate Doner’s legacy for great work by taking advantage of the modern creative toolbox to power ideas that move people.”

Weisberg joins Doner following 15 years with JWT New York, most recently serving as global executive creative director. While with JWT, he helped established the agency’s first fully integrated creative group and led creative on accounts including Johnson & Johnson, the agency’s largest client, KPMG, Nestlé, Northwell Health and Wild Turkey. Prior to joining JWT in 2001, Weisberg spent three years as a creative with Leo Burnett, a year as a senior copywriter with Saatchi & Saatchi and ten months as an associate creative director with K2 Digital. 

In a statement, Weisberg called Doner “ an underestimated giant in the industry,” adding, “Doner is a network with amazing people, impressive clients, beautiful work and incomparable real-time production capabilities. By adding even more disruptive innovation, Doner can unleash its full potential.”

Here are a couple of spots that actually illustrate the functionality of the product they’re promoting.

This work by Doner of Michigan, launched earlier in the week, demonstrates the many (sometimes excruciating) pains caused by old-school headphones with their freaking cords.

We write this post while wearing phones with a cord too short to allow us to sit up properly, so we get it.

Another one after the jump.

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Doner created a new global campaign called “Mirage” for FIAT, in promotion of their new Fiat 500L, the first four door vehicle from the automaker (which we guess is now officially Fiat Chrysler Automobiles). “Mirage” enlists the help of Diddy and Pharrell‘s hit “Happy,” which you may recall as the song from the world’s first 24-hour music video, and the soundtrack to Despicable Me 2.

“Mirage” is (as you might have guessed) set in the desert. Two lost travelers searching for rescue see Diddy drive by in a Fiat, but dismiss the sighting as a mirage. When they then stumble on Diddy‘s REVOLT soiree, they again dismiss the vision as a mirage, with one of the travelers pointing to the new Fiat 500L and saying, “The Fiat over there has four doors. Fiat only makes small cars, it’s not real.” The line draws attention to the misconception that Fiat only builds small cars as a way of introducing the new Fiat 500L, further cemented by the tagline, “Unbelievably Big” (which is sure to elicit snickers and/or “That’s what she said” jokes from certain corners of the ad community). In the spot, Diddy once again proves himself a much more talented comedic actor than rapper (for further evidence, see Made or Get Him to the Greek), delivering the spot’s punchline (which I won’t reveal here) with great timing.

Doner’s global campaign will roll out this Thursday, with the TV spot running both nationally and internationally, and will also include online components. Stick around for credits after the jump. continued…

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In Doner’s new spot for the 2014 Fiat 500L, colonial Americans are invaded by a group of red Fiat-driving Italians. To prepare, the American women strip off their bonnets and hoop skirts, revealing cleavage and cocktail dresses. A pub sign is replaced by “Club,” and teacups are shattered to make room for steaming espresso.

Sure, if the Italians invaded instead of the British, we might be less straight-laced when it comes to sex. Our government might engage in fistfights instead of filibusters. But the glamorization of Italy seems to me a boring cliche, an unfounded American fantasy that feeds itself. Because of American media, I expected to see beautiful women and smell-wafting pizza in Rome, but the actual trash-filled streets and knock-off style was less than alluring. The whole thing felt like a self-imposed tourist trap.

Like men in speedos on panoramic beaches, Fiat’s ad is slightly amusing, but I wish it had moved past our traditional perceptions of Italian “fun.” After all, it’s not hard to crack a joke at the expense of Berlusconi and his Bunga Bungas.

Credits after the jump

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Yeah, we couldn’t resist. Again, by sheer coincidence, we have another Doner-related item today thanks to this clip that dropped in our inbox less than a half-hour ago. We’ve already reported on Portfolio Night 11 and posted a couple videos along with it last week, but entering the ring now is Doner, which is celebrating the fact that the Motor City is taking part in the annual recruiting/portfolio review event for the very first time.

So, how else would one inaugurate Detroit’s inclusion into the festivities other than giving a shout-out to native son Eminem. Ladies and gents, we give you “9 Mile,” which of course pays tribute to the hip-hop star’s film 8 Mile and gives a nod to its classic freestyle battle scene but, yes, with a twist. Guess getting your portfolio ripped apart by Doner EVP/ECD Brad Emmett is just as humiliating as getting schooled on the mic by Rabbit. Credits after the jump.

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New Career Opportunities Daily: The best jobs in media.