Hasta La Creative!

Following the departure of chief strategy officer Anush Prabhu for MediaCom, Deutsch New York CEO Val DiFebo announced a reorganization of the New York office’s media, communications planning and data teams, which were overseen by Prabhu. The move also follows the recent hiring of Rachel Mercer as vice president, digital strategy director and the arrival of New York chief strategy officer Andrew Dawson in March.

Post-Prabhu, the agency has realigned its data, tech, communications planning and creative teams.

“There has been a natural gravitation and a growing collaboration occurring between our tech and data departments, as well as our creative and comms planning teams,” DiFebo said in a statement. “We have an incredibly strong leadership team already in place who will serve as the key pillars ensuring our continued success. This will optimize our creative and media output.”

Going forward, communications planning will unite with creative. Director of communications planning Matthew George will align more closely with the agency’s creative department, reporting to CCO Dan Kelleher, who arrived at the agency in April. There will also be closer ties between data and tech, as director of data analytics Rich VanSteenburgh will now report to chief technology officer Trevor O’Brien. On the media side, director of integrated media Karen Benson and director of local buying Maureen Burzynski will now report to chief operating officer Erica Grau.

“By bridging the gap between science and art, copy and code, and insight intelligence and emotion intelligence we’ll continue to change the way brands go to market and result in improved bottom lines for our clients,” added DiFebo.

Deutsch New York appointed Tara Levine as its new chief marketing officer, Adweek reports, filling a vacancy created when Michael Goldberg left to become CEO of Zimmerman Advertising last September. She will begin her new role starting next week, reporting to Deutsch New York CEO Val DiFebo.

Levine joins Deutsch from OMD USA, where she has served as managing director since March of 2014 and U.S. director of business development since joining the media agency in February of 2010. Prior to OMD, Levine spent over a year and a half as director of new business for Euro RSCG. That followed an almost two year stint with Arnold New York as management supervisor, business development and director, business development. She also spent over two years as marketing manager for American Stock Exchange and five years as an account executive with DDB.

“We have a lot of big plans for our New York and Los Angeles offices, and that’s the lens through which we looked at Tara,” DiFebo told Adweek. “We’re aiming for big growth, change and doing things differently. She’s up for that. Tara has global experience and experience across all communications touchpoints. She is very modern in her thinking about clients and about our industry, which is very aligned with where we are.”

Deutsch NY and TNT are using Mob City‘s Twitter handle, @MobCityTNT, to debut the screenplay of the series’ premiere, 140 characters at a time. This will make Mob City, “the first television screenplay ever to be adapted for, and published through, Twitter.” They’ve dubbed the process “adaptweetion.”

The first tweets of the Mob City screenplay were made on Monday, with new tweets appearing every 45 minutes between 10 AM and 7 PM (and later tonight). They’ve also taken advantage of Twitter Cards to inject photo and video footage into the stream. Those late to the game can also catch up by visiting the microsite for the script, where it is presented in chronological order. This all leads to the debut of Frank Darabont‘s three week television event this tonight at 9. Deutsch NY and TNT will make their last tweet tonight at 8:30, but they’re not giving everything away. To experience the final scene, you’ll have to turn in to TNT tonight at 9 and catch the episode. The cast and crew of the show — including @frankdarabont, @miloventimiglia, @simonpegg, @edward_burns, @jonnybernthal – also added their commentary to the feed to keep things interesting.

Tweeting (almost) the entire screenplay of a debut episode is a risky move, but it’s a good way to get people talking about the show before it even airs.“Today, fans are tweeting in real time with their favorite shows, and we wanted to stoke preshow chatter by providing fans with an experience that will invite them in before the show even airs,” explains Kerry Keenan, Deutsch NY’s chief creative officer.

Clearly, TNT is betting that the writing will suck you in and make you want to watch Mob City tonight. Leaving out the final scene is an obvious necessity, as some might wonder why they’d tune in to see a premiere when they know how it ends. I’m curious to see how this plays out, and what kind of effect this social campaign has on Mob City‘s ratings tonight, if any. Head on over to mobscript.com and @MobCityTNT, and let us know your thoughts on this campaign in the comments section. And tune in to TNT tonight at 9 for the show, if you’re interested. Credits after the jump. continued…

New Career Opportunities Daily: The best jobs in media.

We’ve been getting tips all morning and now have confirmation that Deutsch partner/CCO Greg DiNoto is no longer with the agency. Taking over his position is Kerry Keenan, whom Deutsch is hiring away from her own agency, Half Irish, which she co-founded earlier this year after leaving the global ECD role at Y&R. Here’s a note from Deutsch on the switch:

Deutsch New York CEO Val DiFebo announced today that Kerry Keenan has been hired as CCO/Partner. “Kerry is a live wire: she is a source of inspiration, sharp and passionate about this business and has an adventurist spirit. We believe Kerry will be a strong addition to the team,” noted DiFebo. Here’s more of the note:

Keenan has built a reputation for creating innovative work that crosses and combines all mediums and connects with consumers. During her career she has specialized in creating and producing high profile branded content, including: producing Y’all vs Us: Head to Head, a docu-drama series distributed nationally by Fox Sports Net for Cellular South, staging a major mock protest for client Ikea that went viral, creating an invisible pop up store for Airwalk, and developing a series of shorts for MTV2 called Maturity is Overrated.  Her work on numerous blue chip businesses have earned quite a bit of attention and hardware including:  Gold Cannes Lions, D&AD Pencils, Gold Andy¹s, Gold One Show Pencils, Webby’s, AICP Best of Show and others.

“I have always admired Deutsch’s distinct and entrepreneurial culture. I have a tremendous amount of respect for Val who has been able to do what few others have keep all agency offerings under one roof, allowing one team to solve problems together and generate the best ideas together,” said Keenan. “The partners are a group of smart, fun, and super passionate people who genuinely like each other and will roll up their sleeves and push each other to make the work great. I can’t wait to be a part of it.”

“Kerry has a fresh, collaborative grass roots approach to unearthing big, high profile creative ideas,” said DiFebo. “A highly regarded and respected creative, Kerry has what it takes to create a groundswell of growth and brand building work for our clients.”

Keenan takes over the CCO position from Greg DiNoto. “Greg has been a great contributor in both tours of duty at Deutsch and we fully support and wish
him great success in his next chapter,” said DiFebo. Keenan will join the agency on September 30th.

No word yet on where DiNoto’s heading, but we’ll let you know when we find out.

 

New Career Opportunities Daily: The best jobs in media.