Hasta La Creative!

StrawberryFrog named Tyler DeAngelo as its newest executive creative director, effective immediately. He succeeds Shayne Millington, who left the agency for McCann New York earlier this month. 

DeAngelo joins StrawberryFrog from William Morris Endeavor, where he has been an executive creative director since last October, serving as part of the team leading creative for the company’s own properties and fee-based clients (including AB InBev).

“We welcome Tyler as our new Executive Creative Director,” said founder and CEO Scott Goodson in a statement. “Tyler is an extraordinary thinker, innovator and creative leader who over the course of his career has produced amazing work for some impressive brands as diverse as Verizon, AB InBev, Sony PlayStation, Intel and Diageo.”

Goodson added, “Beyond the work, he also has been an innovator in terms of agency models, most recently at William Morris Endeavor where he helped the agency expand its capabilities and scope of work. StrawberryFrog Co-Founder and COO Karin Drakenberg and I, along with the rest of the Frog team, are delighted to have Tyler on board.”

Prior to joining WME, DeAngelo — who brings more than a decade of agency experience to the new gig — spent over two years as ECD at mcgarrybowen New York, working with brands including Intel and Verizon. That followed a little over a year in the same role with Havas Chicago, where he led campaigns for such brands as Michelob Ultra, Cracker Barrel and Sony Playstation.

While with WME, DeAngelo didn’t just make ads. He also “led the rebranding of IMG’s Professional Bull Riders” and co-wrote the corresponding anthem “Hold On” for fellow WME client Steven Tyler … who later included the song on his latest solo album.

DeAngelo’s work has received plaudits from the Cannes Lions, the One Show, the Webby’s and the Effies, among others.

Regarding his new job, he said, “I’ve always admired Scott and this innovative agency. Like the StrawberryFrog team I believe in the power of creativity, tech and culture and the even higher degree of power all three have when seamlessly combined to support ground breaking ideas.”

Olson announced the appointment of Kevin McKeon as chief creative officer, following “a truly exhaustive search process.”

McKeon arrives from StrawberryFrog, where has worked since 2004, most recently serving as a partner and chief creative officer. Prior to StrawberryFrog, McKeon spent two years with BBH as an executive creative director. He has also served as a creative director for BBDO and Lowe. Over the course of his career he has worked with such clients as Levi’s, Heineken, Johnnie Walker AXE Body Spray, Sam’s Club, Pampers, ING Direct and Orexo Pharmaceuticals. His work for Orexo Pharmaceuticals recently won a Gold Lion at Cannes. Olson cited McKeon’s “progressive work,” appreciation for integration and understanding of Olson’s agency model in its decision.

“From our first meeting onward, I’ve been really impressed by Olson’s deep integrated capabilities, their sophisticated thinking, and their incredible grasp on what smart, ambitious clients are looking for in 2015 and beyond,” said McKeon. “I think Olson is poised to make a great leap forward, and I’m just excited to be part of it.”

Here’s a bit of catnip for our regulars: we recently posted on StrawberryFrog’s plans to advertise European (eyebrow) waxing in a campaign tied very, very tightly to the blockbuster softcore film 50 Shades of Grey.

Here’s the ad viewers saw over the long weekend:

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Yesterday, however, the ‘frog’s new MD Chris Perkins told MediaPost that the agency’s new direction isn’t just about promoting nice eyebrows via pop culture touchstones…it’s about fomenting a “cultural revolution.

“The agency is “rebooting” itself. The problem, as Perkins explains it, is that most agencies “see what works from the past and then they just continue it.”

“You develop the creative brief, work against it for six months, and doing round after round of work. At StrawberryFrog we have a better way to do it, a new way of looking at it.”

What is this new way?

“We look in society, into insights that strike a nerve, that are highly relevant, that are passions…Then we connect these powerful forces to the brand benefit, purpose, and value set — and BANG.”

Perkins elaborates, telling MediaPost that the agency’s responsibilities moving forward are more about turning “big cultural movement ideas into sustainable activation” that drive sales…while winning as many industry awards as possible.

In an effort to more effectively sell itself, StrawberryFrog will soon launch a new website; Perkins has more in the MediaPost story, but here’s one topic on which he will almost certainly agree with our readers:

“Right now, Pharma ads are so awful. And they really don’t need to be.”

New, revolutionary work to come.

Sweden is getting its high cheekbones all up in America’s grill once again, asserting its Scandinavian superiority with this online spot for Wasa Crispbread.

An American woman in Sweden takes a yoga class and happily discovers that it’s filled with hunky, English-speaking dads and their adorably flexible babies. Because in everyone’s favorite progressive paradise, family leave for fathers can last a very long time… and, apparently, babies are frighteningly good at yoga.

“I wrote the Yoga Baby script after a visit to Sweden when a friend noted that the Swedes seemed to have more male nannies than anywhere else,” says Scott Goodson, CEO at StrawberryFrog, which created the campaign. “But they weren’t nannies, they were daddies who get 6 months parental leave for each newborn. That deserved a film!”

Sweden has been flexing its blond muscles in ads lately, with this Wasa campaign following the popular “Like a Swede” initiative from trade-union group TCO earlier this year.

“The naturalness of Swedish life, the fit lifestyle and the Nordic mindset is very different and fun and in many cases inspiring for American men and women,” according to Goodson.

Well, America’s pretty cool too. We’ve got … um … Tim Howard … when he’s not playing in the U.K., that is. And we’ve got other great stuff. Like GM Cars and grade-A produce. U-S-A! 

Patriotism notwithstanding, this particular yoga class feels like an exercise in strangeness for its own sake. I guess I shouldn’t get all twisted up about it, though.

Today we can confirm that StrawberryFrog has reduced the size of its New York office.

Details remain unfortunately sparse at this time. A statement from parent company APCO Worldwide reads:
“We are always looking for ways to create greater efficiencies and streamline the business at StrawberryFrog in order to deliver the best value to our clients.  After a recent review of the business, we decided to reduce some layers in management.  As a result, some staff will be leaving StrawberryFrog’s New York office.”
No confirmation on the number of staffers who will be leaving, though our tipster says the move affects “many.”

Some of the agency’s most visible work in 2014 to date has been the Jim Beam “Make History” campaign, starring Mila Kunis and created with the other shops in the FutureWorks collective: Sydney’s The Works and Hamburg, Germany’s Jung von Matt.

Updates as we receive them.

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Jeez Louise, we’re still awaiting to hear from both parties on the matter, but it doesn’t sound good. As you may have read last week, StrawberryFrog staff has sued D.C.-based PR company APCO, the latter of which acquired the agency in early 2012. Well, things are getting ugly. We’ve received word from very reliable sources, and one has spun a holiday-themed yarn like this:

“Strawberry Frog Amsterdam, a massive PR corporation from DC called Apco Worldwide led by Margery & Evan Kraus, and their made-up entity called the “Dutch Advertising Consortium.” The latter was created to save reputations after Apco attempted to shut down the Amsterdam SF office in October…via email. (Talk about breaking up with someone over a post-it note!) The issue now is that “The Dutch Advertising Consortium” may file bankruptcy in the next few days to avoid paying 20 employees and contractors—a move that could leave many broke from unpaid invoices and salaries.

The best part, is that the amount owed to employees would not even make a small dent in their combined revenues of 200M! Be sure to raise a glass to the Ebeneezers at @apcoworldwide and @frogism and tell them what you think about this kind of behaviour in our industry. Let them know that just like the epic tales of Scrooge or the Grinch, @apcoworldwide and @frogism can still turn it around and #dotherightthing by paying employees and contractors what they are owed. We believe in Christmas miracles. “God bless us, everyone!” Thank you, The Tiny Tims.”

FYI, agency founder Scott Goodson emphasizes that the Amsterdam company is controlled by Apco and is not StrawberryFrog, nor is it connected to StrawberryFrog New York. We’ll update when we hear more.

Update: APCO has sent us this statement:

“Hi Kiran –

StrawberryFrog Amsterdam was a standalone investment for APCO Worldwide, and not part of the operations of either StrawberryFrog or APCO.  As we informed the media in early November, APCO decided to end this investment since the clients that had been serviced there had either moved their marketing in-house or switched to other agencies.

We are appropriately following the process for shutting down a business in which we invested, as we informed StrawberryFrog Amsterdam’s staff in early November. We will continue to act in a responsible manner in accordance with Dutch law as the process continues.”

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