Hasta La Creative!

In dated but unreported news, Executive Vice President Mathias Appelblad recently left Deutsch LA for TBWA‘s Media Arts Lab, which has witnessed some executive-level changes as its relationship with sole client Apple shifts.

Appleblad joined Deutsch in February 2013 to assume the then-new role of EVP/Digital Executive Creative Director, creating work for Volkswagen and others. Prior to that move, he spent nearly three years as EVP/ECD at BBDO New York, where he worked on campaigns like GE’s “Ecomagination.”

Appleblad’s agency roots lie overseas with Sweden’s Forsman & Bodenfors; he joined F&B after establishing himself as an art director with various companies and worked on IKEA’s “Dream Kitchen for Everyone (no noise)” as Interactive Creative Director.

We have no official word on his position at MAL, but we will update this post if we receive more information.

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This morning we received confirmation from a spokesperson that Cheryl Childers, longtime Executive Director of Production with TBWA‘s Media Arts Lab, officially left the agency last week.

MAL is, of course, the famously “secretive” shop TBWA set up in 2006 to work exclusively for Apple, and Childers was a member of the core leadership team at the time of its founding. Of the four names listed in that release, two remain with MAL: ECD Eric Grunbaum and CSO Elena Hale (onetime Brand Leader Alex Moulle-Berteaux now serves as CCO at Aereo).

Childers had been with TBWA for some time before the establishment of MAL as well; her LinkedIn profile notes 23 years spent with the organization.

This move is the largest staffing change at MAL since the January appointment of president Erica Hoholick, formerly of Ogilvy London. The agency gave no details regarding the reasons for Childers’ departure or her future plans.

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After reportedly searching to fill the role outside the agency, TBWA\Chiat\Day L.A. has instead filled the chief creative officer position from within, Adweek reports, turning to Stephen Butler, formerly an executive creative director. Fabio Costa and Brent Anderson were also promoted to executive creative director positions, working under Butler.

Butler joined the agency in July 2013, following a stint as a creative partner at Mother in London, where he worked with brands like Coca-Cola, Ikea, Motorola and the London 2012 Olympics. He also served time as a creative director Bartle Bogle Hegarty, also in London, where he worked with Levi’s. In his new role, Butler will manage a department working with Gatorade, Adidas, Southwest Airlines and Energizer.

“Clients want to work with him, agencies want him on their team,” director of media arts Lee Clow said of Butler. “His brave, groundbreaking and unforgettable ideas will help push our creative boundaries.”

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While we can’t offer any more details, we can confirm that Jason Clement will be leaving his role as executive director at TBWA\Chiat\Day and TBWA\Digital Arts Network in Los Angeles.

The how, the why and the where regarding this move are unclear, but here’s some background:

Before beginning his current stint with TBWA (which he began as director of digital strategy), Clement served as SVP and group planning director at Deutsch New York, director of emerging platforms at W+K, and partner/director at Ogilvy‘s global media agency, Neo@Ogilvy.

No word on where he’s headed next or who will assume his role.

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The ongoing Apple vs. Samsung battle looks even less flattering for TBWA\Chiat\Day after Business Insider and others gained access to more emails detailing a contentious back-and-forth between head of marketing Phil Schiller and James Vincent of Media Arts Lab.

The full exchange is worth a read for your daily allowance of Schadenfreude. Some key points:

• TBWA proposes an emergency meeting to address matters that seem more relevant to PR than ad departments: brand likability, employee behaviors, etc.
• The ad proposal is to “change the conversation” with a focus on differentiating the iPhone from the Galaxy
• TBWA also proposes a regular marketing communications meeting to facilitate “more open and expansive ways to experiment with ideas”

Schiller wasn’t buying it.

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While we await a statement, which should come through later this afternoon/evening, we’ve received confirmation from sources familiar with the matter that TBWA\Chiat\Day LA has cut approximately 24 staffers. We’ve been hearing conflicting reports over the last hour on the Spy line that either the layoffs are happening both today and tomorrow, or just today.

If you recall, late last month we reported that not only was the Infiniti review leaving the agency in the lurch, but that another major client, Pepsi, was “reorganizing” the the way it coordinates US and global marketing. Not sure of how this plays into today’s layoffs at Chiat LA exactly, but hopefully we’ll get some clarification once the meetings have taken place and we receive a statement, which we’ll of course post once sent.

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TBWA\Greater China is launching its first ever “Young Bloods” program — sort of like the agency’s version of Young Glory or Young Guns — as part of its global talent initiative.

The agency describes Young Bloods as “a fully immersive creative competition whereby successful candidates work alongside members of the agency’s creative department on client briefs, with the ultimate reward of one candidate being offered a permanent role within the agency.”

TBWA’s Young Bloods program began back in 2001, the brainchild of TBWA’s Worldwide Creative Director, John Hunt. “The programme is special because it’s not an internship,” explains Hunt. “The idea is so bloody simple – we just drown the talent with creative opportunity to do real work. It’s the only way to inspire and nurture the best young talent available. The Young Bloods release a lot of energy throughout the agency as well as offer a fresh perspective on our client’s brands. Often we learn as much from them, as they learn from us.”

TBWA/Greater China began the recruiting process near the end of 2013, working closely with The One Club in China to review potential candidates. The agency received submissions from all over China, and made a final selection of three young creatives: Jing Li, Xujia Niu and Guo Giang. This September, the submission process will begin all over again.

TBWA/Shanghai partnered with P.I.G. China to create an online film promoting the venture, which you can view above. It’s a strange one. Stick around for credits after the jump. continued…

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Well, perhaps this is old news by now, but it does appear that John Norman is leaving his chief creative office position at TBWA\Chiat\Day LA after barely 18 months at the helm. Here’s one tip we received a few hours ago that may provide some clarification (and according to sources in the know, is legit): “John Norman will be leaving his post as Chief Creative Officer of TBWA\Chiat\Day Los Angeles. John’s last day with the agency will be March 31 and until then he will be working with our Executive Creative Directors, Brent Anderson, Stephen Butler and Fabio Costa, to transition leadership across all our accounts.”

According to Adweek, BBH London partner/deputy ECD David Kobulsz is in talks to co-lead Chiat LA  with Butler following Norman’s official departure. Speaking of Norman, the departing CCO joined TBWA\Chiat\Day LA after serving in the same role for two-and-a-half years at The Martin Agency. Prior to Martin, he held senior creative positions at the likes of W+K and Goodby.

As for the Chiat LA ECD team, Anderson has been with the agency for nearly nine years, Butler joined last summer after serving as creative partner at Mother while Costa worked with Norman at Martin before joining up with TBWA C\D LA as global GCD just after the CCO’s arrival.

Update: After the jump, you can read the brief note Norman sent to his TBWA\Chiat\Day LA colleagues earlier this afternoon that somewhat reveals his future plans, which have something to do with a certain founder of Translation.

Update 2: Yes, as has been reported, Norman will assume the role of CCO at Translation, a role we recall was last occupied by Chris Cereda, who eventually joined up with Scratch/Viacom Media Networks.

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A phone call has confirmed that Erica Hoholick has rejoined her old stomping grounds at TBWA\Chiat\Day Los Angeles, where she spent six years as managing director and oversaw client efforts for the likes of Sara Lee, Gatorade and Pepsi. Hoholick has spent the last three years at Ogilvy London, where she served as worldwide managing director on the agency’s Dove business. From what we’ve been told, Hoholick will take on the role of president of TBWA\Media Arts Lab beginning next week. Spies tell that a new chief strategy officer is on the way as well. During her career, Hoholick has also worked on the account side at various Saatchi & Saatchi offices as well as Y&R

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Most likely, this video of Macklemore and his Jazzy Jeff shadow Ryan Lewis is a staged marketing effort from TBWA\Chiat\Day LA to promote the 56th Grammy Awards. The two musicians hop on a New York City bus with a boombox and start performing an impromptu concert full of Macklemore’s signature exuberance and corny hand movements. The riders on the bus start dancing and feeling the music – the bus driver even starts clapping on (probably fake) closed circuit footage.

I’d probably react the same way if Macklemore came on the crosstown bus. But you know how I know it’s not real? Because if anyone came on NYC public transportation with a boombox and started making noise, there will undoubtedly be at least two people who hate it and tell them to shut it off before they turn into depressed and sarcastic versions of the Hulk.

But whether it is real or not, the question everyone wants to know is: where is Ray Dalton? Credits after the jump.

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