Hasta La Creative!

Brooklyn-based Huge just got a bit smaller.

A group of senior executives from the Interpublic Group of Cos.’ digital shop are decamping to start a new shop. Dubbed Work & Company, the agency is launching with: Huge’s Founding Partner and Chief Strategy Officer Gene Liebel; Creative Director Joe Stewart, Partner and Head of Product Design Felipe Memoria and VP-Product Design Marcelo Eduardo. Mohan Ramaswamy, a former product strategy lead at Huge and most recently, an engagement manager at McKinsey, is also joining the new shop.

Mr. Liebel has given notice but remains in his role at Huge for the time being.

Continue reading at AdAge.com

TV networks showcasing their wares during the recent upfront have a bigger concern than one-upping their broadcast rivals: grabbing attention from original content on nontraditional platforms, many of which are not ad-supported.

This influx in originals such as Netflix’s “House of Cards” and “Hemlock Grove” is being blamed for the overall decline in TV viewership, and potentially stealing dollars from the estimated $63.9 billion U.S. TV-ad market in 2013.

Originals are a small but growing factor. “We think the shift from ad-supported viewing to Netflix had a negative impact of $500 million on total advertising during the quarter,” UBS analyst John Janedis wrote in a research note in April.

Continue reading at AdAge.com

There aren’t many marketing executives who would advertise a convertible as the perfect ride for a freezing winter day–or a sunny night. But that’s what Kevin Mayer, VP-marketing for Volkswagen Group of America, is doing in a campaign for the all-new Beetle convertible.

Mr. Mayer and his agency, Deutsch, created a new spot showing a young woman awakened in the wee hours by her boyfriend. But as they tool around town in his Beetle convertible, we see the sun is up, but the streets are deserted. The reason? They’re driving around Fairbanks, Alaska, so-called “Land of the Midnight Sun.” The tagline: “Perfect for a sunny night. The all-new Beetle convertible.” The spot follows one that has been running for some time showing a masked man walking into a convenience store. The cringing cashier fears he’s about to rob the joint. But when the oblivious masked man returns to the car, viewers can see that he and his friends are wearing masks because they’re driving the Beetle convertible on a winter day.

Marketing spending for the Volkswagen brand has shot up in recent years, jumping from just $200 million when Deutsch won the account in 2009 to more than $360 million in recent years. The company, which also operates Audi, Bentley and Porsche among other brands, ranks as the country’s 58th largest national advertiser, according to Ad Age’s DataCenter.

Continue reading at AdAge.com

(TrendHunter.com) With Yahoo! recently purchasing Tumblr for 1.1 billion dollars, it’s clear that the blogosphere, with all its opportunities for niche blogs, will be forever changed. Now’s a good time to…

Shaken, stirred … or skinny?

It’s a question that could be asked at a growing number of restaurant chains seizing on the low-calorie-liquor trend spawned by Skinnygirl Cocktails.

T.G.I. Friday’s, Chili’s, Cheesecake Factory and others are slapping generic phrases like “skinny” and “slender” on cocktails as they target weight-conscious drinkers. And Champps Americana and sibling chain Fox and Hound this month unveiled a handful of drinks with fewer than 140 calories using Skinnygirl brand spirits on a lighter summer menu.

Continue reading at AdAge.com

Well, the decision came a tad quicker than we expected but according to reports from you know who, Chicago-based Cramer-Krasselt’s relationship with Porsche continues as the automaker has retained said agency’s services after a pitch that dragged on for six months. You’ve probably read Porsche’s perspective, now here’s a quick note from C-K president/CEO Peter Krivkovich:

“During the past five and a half years, C-K has enjoyed a great relationship with Porsche and we look forward to continued success together.

After the client’s best sales year ever in 2012, the best Q1 in their history to kick off 2013, and all of the industry recognition for smart strategic and creative thinking, we know we’re onto something good as PCNA’s agency partner.

When reviews like this happen – and this was a long and thorough one – it’s a good reminder for everyone that we are prepared for the challenge to work just as hard for our clients now as we were the day we were invited to their first pitch.

In the end, the proof is in the results. And Porsche has them.”

Peter Krivkovich”

As we mentioned last week, sources in the know were telling us that Porsche narrowed down its creative review to incumbent C-K, which has handled the account since 2007,  and Minneapolis-based Olson.

New Career Opportunities Daily: The best jobs in media.

SEAT SAFE DRIVE is an innovative mobile app, which transfers to the mobile world the emotional father-son insight, deeply rooted in popular culture: “Daddy don’t speed.”
SEAT SAFE DRIVE is free, available on App Store and Google market, on Spanish and English languages.

The App allows a child (or a loved one) to record a personalized message to be played on the smartphone of the father (driver) whenever he exceeds the speed limit.
In other words, the 21st century: “Daddy don’t speed “.
wSEAT SAVE DRIVE APP also permits the loved one’s photo to be displayed, organized in different parameters. Additionally, when the trip finishes, the app provides statistics about where and when the driver has run too fast. Thus, when the user repeats the journey, he will know where he should be more careful and drive slowly.

How does Seat Safe Drive app work? SEAT Safe Drive is the easy and effective SEAT application that benefits a safer driving. It is very easy and effective. The driver can take a photo and record a message of someone important to him and every time the app, through a GPS system, detects the allowed driving speed is exceeded, the photo and the message would be activated. Once the driver listens to the message, it would remind him what is really important and this way he would decide to lift his foot off the gas.

Advertising Agency: Grey, Barcelona, Spain
Advertising Agency: Grey, London, United Kingdom
Creatives: Antonio Montero, Enric Nel.lo, Raul Gassol, Luke Scholler, Nacho Gómez, Bastian Kühl, Alejandro Arriagada y Marta Díez.
Digital production: Joaquín García-Morato, Juanjo Rogado

Yahoo has followed up its $1.1bn acquisition of Tumblr by unveiling a complete overhaul of Flickr, its photo sharing service.

“The same amount of fuel will take you farther.”

Advertising Agency: McCann Erickson, Tel Aviv, Israel
Creative Director: Sigal Abudi
Art Director: Gilad Hirsch
Copywriter: Udi Avital

“Slide your hand and see how does it feel without an Esmaltec Automatic Washing Machine”

Advertising Agency: Acesso Comunicação, Fortaleza, Brazil
Creative Director: Rodne Torres, Marcus Braga
Creative: Rodne Torres e André Freitas
Photographer: Falcão Jr.
Retouching: Alexandre Castro e Leandro Lopes
Account manager: Gustavo Rocha
Media: Luana Saraiva