Chris Einhauser Leaves Droga5 to Join Zambezi as Group Account Director

Los Angeles-based independent agency Zambezi hired Chris Einhauser as group account director, focusing on the Cox Automotive’s Autotrader and Kelley Blue Book brands and reporting directly to Zambezi partner and managing director Pete Brown

“Chris is a fantastic people person and a top notch ad man,” Brown said in a statement. “He has experience with some of the greatest brands in the business. He’ll be an incredible asset for Zambezi and for our client Cox Automotive as we continue to grow both our brands. We’re totally excited to have him join us.”

Einhauser joins Zambezi from Droga5 New York, where he has spent nearly two and a half years as a senior account director on Smartwater, Dun & Bradstreet, Chase Bank and Johnsonville Sausage. Before joining Droga5, he spent a little over a year as vice president, account director at Grey New York, where he worked on the agency’s LongHorn Steakhouse account. Einhauser has also served stints in account supervisor roles at Cramer-Krasselt and Venables Bell & Partners.

“I’m so happy to join an agency that is doing amazing work and pumped to be working across the iconic Kelley Blue Book and Autotrader brands,” said the newest Zambezi employee. “I’m a relationship guy. I prefer open doors, candid discussions and a personable work environment between clients and colleagues. That’s what fosters a great partnership and ultimately the best outputs, and that’s what Zambezi is all about.”

Einhauser’s marks the latest in a string of new hires at Zambezi in recent months, including Janine Zaim as its first director of recruiting last month, executive director of technology Justice Erolin in July, marketing and business development Josie Brown in May and group strategy director Ryan Richards/account director Gordon Gray in March.

World Surf League Tries Comedy in Ads Starring the Sport's Offbeat Characters

The World Surf League catches a whole new wave with “Beach Breaks,” a series of comedy shorts from agency Zambezi and director Peter Miller.

Unlike past WSL efforts that focused on the inherent drama and chaos of surfing, the new work casts the league’s athletes, announcers and executives in skits designed to appeal to both long-time fans and those just discovering the sport.

“The WSL felt like they were succeeding in showing the best competitive surfing in the world, but were missing out on some of the offbeat characters and unique fun that is at surfing’s core,” Zambezi senior art director Chris Rutkowski tells AdFreak.

In seven 30-second clips running on WSL broadcasts and the league’s social platforms, the league “stayed true to the laid-back image of surfers with honest, sometimes self-deprecating humor to make the surfing world as inviting as possible,” Rutkowski says.

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Zambezi Kicks Off Football Season for Autotrader

Los Angeles agency Zambezi launched a new spot for Autotrader to coincide with the start of the NCAA and NFL football seasons entitled “Kick.”

“Kick” follows the agency’s installation and interactive event for the brand in Miami this summer, as well as June’s “Driven by Sport” effort. The new addition to the agency’s “Life is the Filter” campaign  shares an athletic focus with that ad, but in this case tells the story of a father and his daughter/multi-sport athlete. “Kick” opens on the daughter enthusiastically kicking the back of her father’s seat from her spot behind him, as an image of an Autotrader search for a car with more legroom appears onscreen. From there she turns to karate, prompting dad to go for the wagon, soccer and finally football, as dad surprises her with her first car after she kicks a winning filed goal. The spot ends with the tagline “The only car search engine driven by you.” 

“Kick” succeeds thanks to its narrative fluidity, as well as its decision to focus on a father-daughter relationship with a concluding football scene ahead of the new season. The scenes transition well with different sports accompanying different vehicles as the girl grows up from scene to scene, establishing the connection between father and daughter while also emphasizing a connection to the brand. It’s not groundbreaking, adhering to its share of category conventions, but it’s boundary pushing in its own little way and it’s easily the best Autotrader spot we’ve seen from Zambezi.

“Kick” makes its broadcast debut today during CBS’ coverage of SEC football and will also run during the network’s NFL coverage, as well as other major cable outlets, VOD and Networks.com.

Credits:

Client: Autotrader

Agency: Zambezi
Founder, Chief Executive Officer: Chris Raih
Executive Creative Director: Josh DiMarcantonio
Associate Creative Director: Ben George
Associate Creative Director: Nick Rodgers
Jr. Art Director: Paula Coral
Jr. Copywriter: Erin Meulbroek

Head of Content: Alex Cohn
Producers: Jordan Sider, Andrew Gage
Managing Director: Pete Brown
Account Director: Matt Kline
Account Supervisor: Lauren Bondell
Assistant Account Executive: James Almazan
Project Manager: Courtney Szews
Chief Strategy Officer: Kristina Jenkins
Group Strategy Director: Ryan Richards
Production Intern: Will Stiles

Production Company: Sanctuary
Director: Scott Pickett
Director of Photography: Damian Acevedo
Producer: Christopher Cho
Executive Producer: Preston Lee

Editorial: Blink Studios
Post Producers: Jordan Sider, Katrina Nahikian
Editor: Ling Ly
Assistant Editors: Sasha Perry / Paul Oh

Audio: Lime Studios
Audio Mixer: Zac Fisher
Audio Assistant: Kevin McAlpine

Executive Producer: Susie Boyajan

Color Correction: Company 3
Colorist: Sofie Borup
Producer: Clare Movshon
VFX: Arsenal
Flame Artist: Chris Noellert
Senior Producer: Pravina Sippy
Music: “Check Me Out”
Composer: Little Denise
Music Supervision: Good Ear Music
Music Supervisors: Andrew Kahn & Jackie Shuman

Zambezi Names Justice Erolin as Its First Executive Director of Technology

Los Angeles independent agency Zambezi appointed Justice Erolin as partner, executive director of technology, a newly-created position at the agency.

Erolin joins Zambezi following almost five years at the Los Angeles offices of Deutsch, where he most recently served as SVP, creative technology director. Previous titles included senior creative developer; associate technology director; and vice president, creative technology director. While with Deutsch, he managed all technology efforts for the VW.com platform and worked with other clients including Dr Pepper Snapple Group, Playstation, Avvo and Anthem. Prior to joining Deutsch in August of 2011, he worked as a programmer and web developer for companies including AIG SunAmerica, Stamps.com and ASP.net. 

Erolin’s appointment follows the arrivals of group strategy director Ryan Richards and account director Gordon Gray in March and executive director, marketing and business development Josie Brown in May, as well as the agency’s expansion to a new Culver City headquarters.

Autotrader Bets on Indie Band Sjowgren in Its Latest Hook for Millennial Car Buyers

In its latest effort to pitch Autotrader to the 18- to 35-year-old crowd, Zambezi casts the online service as a kind of Tinder for millennials looking to hook up with new cars.

Our story takes place in and around a music festival, where a millennial guy and gal, dissatisfied with their respective means of transportation—and in the girl’s case, her current boyfriend—form an instant attraction. 

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Zambezi Appoints New ECD, CSO

Zambezi announced the appointments of Josh DiMarcantonio as executive creative director and Kristina Jenkins in the newly created role of chief strategy officer.

DiMarcantonio fills a vacancy left by the departure of co-founder/ECD Brian Ford, which we confirmed in January; Ford is now a freelance creative director, copywriter and director working in the Los Angeles area.

DiMarcantonio joins the agency from 180LA, where he spent the last nine months as a creative director working on Expedia and Adidas. That followed a stint in the same role at Deutsch LA beginning in March of 2013, during which time he worked with Taco Bell. Prior to Deutsch LA, he was a creative executive with CAA Marketing for almost two years, working with clients such as Chipotle, Coca-Cola and Diageo. Before that he spent over a year and a half as an associate creative director with TBWAChiatDay, working on accounts such as Planters, Skittles, What Thins and Twix. That followed nearly four years as a senior copywriter for W+K, working with clients including ESPN and Nike.

KJ_portrait_960x1027Jenkins joins the agency from mcgarrybowen, where she most recently served as culture intelligence officer after periods as a group planning director and director of cultural planning. While with mcgarrybowen she worked with clients including  Disney, 7UP, Verizon Innovations, Reebok, Kraft and Mondelez.

She also played an important role in the agency’s Honda Europe CR-V, United, Sears and Reebok new business wins and led trend intelligence, including millenial-themed content.

Zambezi Launches ‘Made of Greatness’ for TaylorMade

Zambezi has launched a new campaign for TaylorMade with the 60-second spot “Made of Greatness,” the agency’s first work for the brand since taking over for Eleven without a review early last year.

The anthem ad is shot in black-and-white and introduces TaylorMade’s new R15 club, following several golfers who are dedicated to the club. While elegantly shot, with good shots of the R15 in action, the sub-par voiceover (“…because for greatness, good enough is never good enough.”) tends to drag it down. In addition to the anthem ad, Zambezi is also releasing a series of vignettes featuring PGA golfers Sergio Garcia, Jason DayJustin Rose and Ryan Palmer, as well as supporting print and digital components.

We Hear: Co-Founder/ECD Out at Zambezi

We have little in the way of details at the moment, but a source at Venice, California’s Zambezi tells us that Co-Founder/Executive Creative Director Brian Ford has left the agency.

Ford, whose name sat atop the credits for such recent campaigns as September’s “Cheat on Your Vodka” for VEEV, helped launch Zambezi with Chris Raih more than eight years ago after spending a decade as a Wieden+Kennedy copywriter working on Nike and other accounts.

As recently as summer 2013, Adweek named Zambezi one of the Los Angeles area’s “biggest and buzziest” shops, citing clients like PopChips, 2K Sports, Champs, and vitaminwater (you may remember the NBA2K14 campaign starring “Michael Jordan uncensored“).

The agency and its PR firm are currently “not able to comment” on the matter, which means that the rumors are true but that they cannot give us any specifics on why Ford is leaving, where he’s headed, or who may replace him.

Updates as they come in.

Zambezi, Hungry Man Release Another Awkward fruitwater Spot

Last month, vitaminwater’s fruitwater  brand got a little weird with Christina Applegate in the first of its new ads in a campaign created by Venice agency Zambezi and production studio Hungryman.

Today the company released its follow-up, another entry in the “painfully awkward” genre. Here’s “Decoy”:

The earlier one after the jump in case you missed it:

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Zambezi Adds Digital Director Ricardo Diaz

Ricardo Diaz 2Creative agency Zambezi has just announced the hiring of Ricardo Diaz, who will serve as their new director of digital.

Diaz will fill the role of “digital zen master” for Zambezi, having emerged from a computer science background and over eighteen years of digital marketing experience. As director of digital, he will be responsible for “guiding brands through innovations and progressive methods to amplify their message and make fans out of consumers.”

Diaz joins Zambezi from TBWA/Chiat/Day, where he worked from 2007-2013. He has helped create award-winning campaigns for the GRAMMYs, Gatorade, Pepsi, Nissan, Sony, VISA and Adidas. Prior to TBWA/Chiat/Day, Ricardo worked at The Cannery, a small production company, dating all the way back to 1999. Zambezi adds that “His laugh is infectious, and no cure exists.”

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