Hasta La Creative!

Including a narrative is usually a good way for a commercial to hook the audience with creativity, but this Y&R Midwest zombie spot for Sears actually overdoes the narrative focus to the point where the  brand association is almost negligible. We know, zombies are popular, but it seems like the creatives put more time into the character development of the actors than organically integrating the product. Somebody really enjoys The Walking Dead.

The setup: a girl and a guy running from zombies try to escape in separate cars. The guy’s car won’t start, but the girl’s car has a Diehard battery that is still kicking even after the apocalypse, which is conceptually clever. But, the 70-second running time is too long for the two-second insert shot of a Diehard battery at the very end. If the first 35 seconds of the ad were cut, the relevant story points would still be in tact. There’s also a #SurviveZombies for brand engagement, but if you want or need a reliable car battery, you probably don’t care about hashtags or zombies. Credits after jump.

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And thus, the Matt Anthony era at Y&R begins. In what we’ve been told is his first major announcement since taking over for Carter Murray at said agency as North American president/CEO earlier this year, Anthony has announced that Y&R’s Austin-based SicolaMartin will now be known as Y&R Austin. As a result, Y&R’s North American network now spans five markets, which also includes likes of Y&R Midwest, West  sorry, California and New York.

In a statement, Anthony, who joined Y&R after spending nearly two decades at WPP sibling VML, which he was a founding partner of, says, “We are excited to make this formal integration of the Austin agency to our North America network. The truth is we have worked alongside SicolaMartin as partners within Y&R for many years.  While the transition will be seamless and easy, its impact will be powerful.  Y&R Austin has a great offering, fully integrated capabilities, and a strong culture. Their clients will benefit from access to our talent and resources.  But it is also clear that Y&R clients in other markets will benefit from their expertise and experience.”

We’ve been told that the 28-year-old shop formerly known as SicolaMartin, which has shared clients with its parent including Dell and SanDisk since joining as a subsidiary in 2001, will house a staff of approximately 50. Cherie Cox, who has been with SicolaMartin for 20 years and most currently serves as its CEO, will keep the same title at Y&R Austin.

New Career Opportunities Daily: The best jobs in media.

Since 1944, the United Negro College Fund has operated under the banner “A Mind is a Terrible Thing to Waste.” Today, they’re updating to the too-long slogan “A Mind is a Terrible Thing to Waste But a Wonderful Thing to Invest In.”

Regardless of its verbosity, Y&R New York and the Ad Council’s new campaign is a smart, relevant adaptation. Instead of accepting donations for their fund, UNCF is “taking the cause straight to where the money is,” and has created the first-ever stock for social change. Columbia University economist Clive Belfield created an algorithm to determine the value of a share, which investors can purchase via Better Futures’ website.

The Better Futures campaign puts concept into practice, and shows people that they’re not just giving money, they’re investing in future generations. Y&R’s pro bono work will include print and TV PSAs that “use real stories from real UNCF students to show how that investment will pay dividends for all our futures,” says Michael L. Lomax, president/CEO of UNCF, in a statement. If investors are inspired to get involved, the Better Futures stock could be Wall Street’s most meaningful.

Credits after the jump.

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One of the oldest agencies in America, Young & Rubicam turns a whopping 90 years old tomorrow, and they’re throwing a party.

Now, a 90th trip around the sun can’t be taken lightly. I mean think of all the thousands of people whose hard work kept Y&R going through the Great Depression, World War II, and a third event of equal or greater importance! So, as any great agency in a similar position would, Y&R is celebrating nine decades with a hashtag, #advertisingis. It’s a pretty big deal.

Those who tweet their opinion about what #advertisingis (Bread? Love? Incest? Spite?) tomorrow between the hours of 2-3:30 pm ET will see their tweets appear on a large interactive digital billboard in Times Square. It’s supposed to be a big billboard, probably almost as big as the giant American Eagle billboard, but not quite. Still, pretty big one would assume. Add your Twitter avatar to Y&R’s birthday mosaic, and watch the hashtag event of tomorrow live here.

New Career Opportunities Daily: The best jobs in media.

Well, WPP-owned Y&R New York has stuck to its guns and as noted back at the end of 2011, the agency is officially making its move to Columbus Circle on Monday, thus saying goodbye to Madison Ave, where it’s resided for the last 87 (!) years.

The agency’s global CEO David Sable (who you see above christening Y&R Way) has this to say in a statement: “This is a historic day. But Madison Avenue is a state of mind, not a state of place. Today, the Northeast corner of 40^th street and Madison Avenue is Young & Rubicam Way. And the 285 Marquee is coming with us and will adorn the café in our new space. Since 1926, we have been definers of the best of the innovation of Madison Avenue – creative leaders, business shapers, inventors, innovators. We look forward to continuing that innovative, entrepreneurial spirit by creating Madison Avenue West in a new state-of-the art work environment that has been designed to accommodate who we are and how we work in the epicenter of New York City, the greatest media town in the world.”

As mentioned previously, the Y&R space at 3 Columbus Circle will not only occupy said agency, but WPP siblings including Wunderman, VML, Blast Radius, BrandBuzz, Bravo, Kang & Lee, KBM Group and ZAAZ.

New Career Opportunities Daily: The best jobs in media.

Y&R Midwest is trying to steer Pinterest users toward charitable shores, possibly because they're sick of them posting only about food and lingerie. Y&R's idea, called Helpin.It, is a set of Pinterest boards set up for families who lost almost everything to Hurricane Sandy. Each pin links to an Amazon registry where that particular item can be bought and sent directly to the family. The idea was inspired by BBH's work for the African Medical Research Foundation, and I hope it catches on enough to be extended to more victims of Sandy and other disasters. New Orleans could still use a little help, for example.

Une belle série pour la marque de boutiques et de lunettes Grand Optical, autour de la nouvelle collection “Black”. Une déclinaison de cet accessoire sur des chiens en tout genre. Une idée réalisée par l’agence Young & Rubicam, et une direction artistique de Stéphanie Pasteur.

Previously on Fubiz

• Die Sculpture
• Lego Wallets
• Pony Pony Run Run – Walking on a Line