News

Last month, we covered the teaser trailer for Desire, a short film from Jaguar and Ridley Scott Associates that promised a spring release. True to their words, we have the full-length video in the middle of spring, and with a 13:29 running time, we figured it was best to wait until the lunch break to post it up.

Damian Lewis, star of Homeland, plays Sidney Clark, a posh car deliveryman dropping off a red Jaguar F-Type in a Mexican desert. There are more than a few sexy shots of the red convertible speeding through empty roads, red dust and mountains in the background. There’s a silly plot with a girl and some stolen money that would rank as one of the lesser BMW The Hire films from a few years ago, but the Jaguar just looks cool on screen. If this vehicle existed 50 years ago, Steve McQueen would’ve driven it in Bullitt. Watching this short film will probably make you want to buy the convertible, but even if you have the money, you won’t look this cool. You should buy it anyway.

If Lewis decides to stop acting, he always has a future as a car salesman, sort of.

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We’ve received confirmation that Robert Valdes, who’s spent just about four years as head of production at TBWA\Chiat\Day New York, is leaving the agency come Friday. From what sources tell us, Valdes is leaving of his own accord for a yet-to-be disclosed “new opportunity” though he won’t be starting his new gig for another month or so. During his at Chiat NY as well as TBWA network, Being, Valdes served as HOP on, among other things, several campaigns for Jameson including the “Iron Horse” spot from a couple of months ago as well as various efforts for Absolut such as the “NY-Z” collaboration with Jay-Z.

Prior to joining TBWA C\D NY, Valdes spent three years serving as executive producer at CP+B.

New Career Opportunities Daily: The best jobs in media.

It’s been a busy week on the staffing front at CP+B. Just days after announcing a slew of creative hires in its L.A. office, the Boulder-based agency brings us the news that it’s welcomed back Heather Lefevre, who you might remember from this clip, to serve as group planning director in its Miami office. Lefevre initially worked at Crispin from fall 2007-2008 as a senior cognitive anthropologist (can never get enough of that title) and was part of the multiple award-winning teams that worked on Whopper Freakout and Whopper Sacrifice.

During her career, she’s also held planning positions at the likes of what was then StrawberryFrog Amsterdam as well as DDB Amsterdam, The Martin Agency and Mullen. Lefevre’s not the only one reuniting with CP+B, though, as the agency has also welcomed back Greg O’Neal to serve as account director on Bing. O’Neal’s first tour of duty at CP+B lasted two years and during his career, the account vet worked at the likes of Razorfish and BBH.

New Career Opportunities Daily: The best jobs in media.

On Monday night, Los Angeles Clippers point guard Chris Paul hit a 15-foot bank shot as time expired to put his team up 2-0 over the Memphis Grizzlies in the first round of the NBA playoffs. You should have seen it—it was really cool.

You know what’s even cooler? The fact that Chris Paul finally met his long-lost brother who we learned existed during the holiday season. Finally, State Farm and agency Translation’s sick little experiment, which included separating twins at a young age and documenting their lives for over two decades in the name of insurance, is coming to an end. Finally, Chris Paul can be at peace. And, finally, Cliff Paul has enough money to quit his job at State Farm once an for all, pursuing a new career of professional moocher.

However, having established a reputation for inhumane cruelty, don’t count out the possibility that Translation isn’t done toiling in the lives of the brothers Paul. Sure, they may have reunited the twins, but that doesn’t mean that before the NBA Finals, Cliff is “accidentally” run over by an uninsured driver. I’m just saying, if Blake Griffin shows up to Cliff’s funeral wearing an argyle sweater in a few months, don’t be surprised. Credits after the jump.

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-The Cannes Lions crew will be honoring Lee Clow with the Lion of St. Mark award at this year’s festivities.

-The Grand Effie jury has been announced for the 45th annual North American Effie Awards. link

-Boston-based Businesses for Innovative Climate and Energy Policy, or BICEP, has named hometown marketing/filmmaking company Captains of Industry as their first agency of record. In turn, the latter has crafted a “Climate Declaration,” which has been signed by 33 major companies including Adidas, Intel, Nike and Starbucks.

-TBWA\Hunt\Lascaris plays the ultimate game of fetch in a spot for Jungle Energy Bars (above).

-New York-based agency sparks & honey has appointed Publicis Kaplan Thaler alum Sarah Davanzo as chief cultural strategy officer.

-Maurice Levy shares plenty of thoughts with Campaign during Publicis Groupe’s Investor Day on items including a possible merger with IPG and eventually stepping down from his post. link

New Career Opportunities Daily: The best jobs in media.

Do you excel at explaining phenomena ranging from plate tectonics to nuclear fission using only a pen and a dinner napkin? Doodle double helices—and their accompanying nucleotides? Then listen up, because the American Association for the Advancement of Science (or “triple-A S,” as the cool kids call it) is looking for a new visual Einstein to join the graphics and layout department for its flagship journal, Science, at its Washington, DC, headquarters. Need you be able to tell xylem from phloem, ventricles from atria, a chupacabra from an exasperated kangaroo? Probably not, but be ready to describe how your “proven ability to create sophisticated, high quality visuals” will react with your “strong technology skills in contemporary software packages” to keep the visual standards of Science as high as its impact factor. And don’t forget to balance your equation.

Learn more about this scientific technical illustrator, American Association for the Advancement of Science job or view all of the current mediabistro.com design/art/photo jobs.

New Career Opportunities Daily: The best jobs in media.

-Seattle shop Wexley School for Girls has added Sean Hamilton to its creative team and hired Cassidy Wilber as senior planner for HomeStreet Bank.

-Bi-coastal experiential agency MKG hired Tracy Bussan and Chris Dowling as director of client services and creative director, respectively.

-Our old pal Rich Siegel tells us his new rules were he the king of the hill at his own agency. link

-YouTube celebrates its eight birthday today and has listed its 10 most-watched videos ever. Take a guess at what’s #1. link

-Burlington, VT-based Kelliher Samets Volk has welcomed back Erin Fagnant to serve as brand manager, which calls for her to head up client relations for Okemo Mountain Resort and expand the agency’s outdoor/travel practice.

-A 24-hour romance between a business traveler and, yes, a yoga mat unfolds in a new campaign, led by creative production company Portal A, for Kimpton Hotels (above).

-PBS documentary series Food Forward, which was co-produced by Minneapolis agency Haberman, has been nominated for a James Beard Award. link

New Career Opportunities Daily: The best jobs in media.

Yeah, we couldn’t resist. Again, by sheer coincidence, we have another Doner-related item today thanks to this clip that dropped in our inbox less than a half-hour ago. We’ve already reported on Portfolio Night 11 and posted a couple videos along with it last week, but entering the ring now is Doner, which is celebrating the fact that the Motor City is taking part in the annual recruiting/portfolio review event for the very first time.

So, how else would one inaugurate Detroit’s inclusion into the festivities other than giving a shout-out to native son Eminem. Ladies and gents, we give you “9 Mile,” which of course pays tribute to the hip-hop star’s film 8 Mile and gives a nod to its classic freestyle battle scene but, yes, with a twist. Guess getting your portfolio ripped apart by Doner EVP/ECD Brad Emmett is just as humiliating as getting schooled on the mic by Rabbit. Credits after the jump.

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New Career Opportunities Daily: The best jobs in media.

Since we’ve never been able to make it out to Cali for the annual, now-bloated Coachella festival, we’ll instead enjoy this birds-eye view–literally–from one Chris Crutchfield, a 6’7″ director/actor/motion graphic designer who strapped on a GoPro Hero 3 to give us a “Coachellavated” perspective of the musical extravaganza.

The project was creative directed by Scott T. Chan and produced by his L.A.-based creative studio Whirled, which is perhaps now best known for its annual “Zeitgeist” work for Google. Seeing as we’ll probably never make it out to Coachella though we’ve been saying otherwise every year, we will gladly take this three-minute diversion from the usual advertising news as we head into the late afternoon. Speaking of Coachella, if you haven’t seen it yet, check out Jimmy Kimmel and his crew getting attendees at this year’s fest to lie about liking bands that don’t actually exist.

New Career Opportunities Daily: The best jobs in media.

In the last few months, T-Mobile has pushed out a marketing full-court press coinciding with their iPhone 5 network coverage. Some of the spots have been unusually weird (this isn’t in English, but you should watch), while others, like this cowboy commercial from March Madness, like to add humor by subverting stereotypes. Their latest effort, “The Simple Choice,” was created by Publicis West Seattle and might teach you a thing or two about intellectual expectations when it comes to Dr. Frankenstein and his monster. The spot will run during the NBA Playoffs and will probably become one of those commercials that gets overplayed ad nauseam, even if the first view deserves an inner chuckle.

As you’ll see after watching, T-Mobile goes right after AT&T. I always like when the gloves come off, but on the Shots Fired Scale, this bland discrediting only warrants a 3 out of 10. Next time, I’d like some down and dirty defamation worthy of a negative political campaign ad. If T-Mobile really wants to make an impact, they should go Willie Horton “Weekend Passes” on AT&T. It won’t be very classy, but people will pay attention.

New Career Opportunities Daily: The best jobs in media.

Yep, you read that correctly, folks. A tipster sent us a nice note this morning announcing telling us that not only had his colleague Chris Taylor, a senior art director and 16-year vet at Doner, had a baby on Sunday but he delivered it himself and offered a transcript of how it all went down after the fact. Apparently, a pic of the actual newborn named Finn is on the way as well, but in the meantime, here’s a little play-by-play from Taylor himself. Can’t say we don’t like these little feel-good asides from time-to-time:

“6:20 a.m. KELLI: Get up.
6:23 CHRIS (CALLING MOTHER IN-LAW): I think we’re gonna head to the hospital.
6:23 CHERYL (TO CHRIS): I’m on my way.
6:34 KELLI: @#$*@#!!! We gotta go.
CHRIS SENSING SERIOUS PANIC, RUNS NEXT DOOR AND POUNDS ON NEIGHBORS DOOR.
6:40 CHRIS (TO NEIGHBOR): Can you come over and watch Sutton RIGHT NOW!?
6:40 NEIGHBOR (WIDE EYED): Yeah.
6:41 DRIVING VERY FAST YET CAREFUL WHILE TALKING TO HOSPITAL ON PHONE.
6:42 KELLI: @#$*@#!!! I feel like I need to push.
6:42 CHRIS: Where’s a cop when you need one?!
6:45 KELLI: I’m not going to make it. PULL OVER.
6:45 CHRIS IGNORING REQUEST BECAUSE THAT’S JUST THE PAIN TALKING, PUSH’S THE STATION WAGON TO MAX ACCELERATION ON I-275.
6:46 KELLI: My water broke, PULL OVER!!! IT’S COMING. AAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH! OMG THE HEAD IS OUT.
6:46 CHRIS NOTCES THAT A THIRD PASSENGER WANTS A BETTER VIEW OUT THE FRONT WINDOW. REALIZES THAT IT WASN’T JUST THE PAIN TALKING AND PULLS OVER. DIALS 911
6:50 DELIVERS BABY ON THE FRONT SEAT LIKE A CHAMP.
7:10 WALK INTO HOSPITAL TO A STANDING OVATION.
7:11 DOC/NURSE: You want to be on the news?
7:11 KEL: Nooo!
7:12 NURSE: How are you?
7:12 CHRIS: I can’t believe it’s a boy!

SUMMARY:
At 6:20 I was lying in bed.
At 6:50 I had delivered a child on the front seat of my car on I-275.

That stretch of highway and my volvo will never look the same to me. Gotta thank North Face for keeping my son warm. The jacket is toast, but best spontaneous newborn blanket ever. Very thankful and full of love. My wife is the strongest woman I’ve ever met. And something tells me that our new son shares her determination!”

New Career Opportunities Daily: The best jobs in media.

Marriott and Grey New York are getting that much closer as the brand has now awarded PR duties to the agency, thus expanding a relationship that began last September when the latter succeeded McGarryBowen as AOR for the hotel/resorts chain. No word yet, though, if president/CCO Tor Myhren and now-COO Michael Houston sent a short and sweet memo to staff like last time in regards to this latest win.

Instead, for now, we have this statement from Marriott VP of global brand PR John Wolf, who says, “We chose Grey for its expertise in integrated consumer brand marketing that will help us amplify the innovations Marriott is bringing to market to appeal to Gen X and Gen Y travelers. We were impressed by Grey’s passion, creativity and best-in-class PR practices to maximize the buzz factor across business and lifestyle media.”

We’re checking to see if there was a review for this. While we’re on the subject of Grey, we’re hearing from sources that the agency is still one of the finalists in the Gillette creative pitch and a decision is expected to made by this coming Monday.

New Career Opportunities Daily: The best jobs in media.

“After so many years of averting the border patrol between the disciplines of art and architecture, while inhabiting both yet claiming to be outsiders, this is the ultimate validation,” said Elizabeth Diller last Wednesday at the Plaza Hotel, as she joined partners Ricardo Scofidio and Charles Renfro in accepting the American Academy of Rome’s Centennial Medal for their exceptional contributions to the worlds of architecture and the visual arts. The trio spent the previous evening at the New York Public Library, where they discussed their interdisciplinary design studio’s renewal of Lincoln Center. We asked writer Nancy Lazarus to attend the event and harvest some memorable quotes. Learn more on May 10, when Diller and Scofidio will be joined by DS+R monograph author Edward Dimendberg for a book talk at the Center for Architecture.

Redesigning Lincoln Center was an epic undertaking that involved a prominent public landmark and a painstaking process that evolved over nearly ten years. Diller Scofidio + Renfro, the design studio behind most of the project, has chronicled their experiences in Lincoln Center Inside Out: An Architectural Account (Damiani). The three principals shared their views on the project and the book at a recent event hosted by New York Public Library and moderated by Barry Bergdoll, chief curator of architecture and design at MoMA. The DS+R trio is just as articulate as they are creative, so here are excerpts from that discussion.

On Lincoln Center’s design:
Diller: The old Lincoln Center was too elitist, solid, and turned its back on the neighborhood and community. We were drawn to the promenade levels where everyone pours out in the middle of events. We wanted to extend that social feeling to the rest of the project. We broke down the edges to enable events in the public spaces. There’s more symmetry now across the public and private spaces.

Scofidio: There were no photos of the old Lincoln Center except the main plaza with the fountain. Someone said that in the 1960s, plazas were designed to be desolate.

On how they approached the project:
Diller: To win the project we showed many ideas, since we tend to think in multiples, with different approaches and solutions. We demonstrated our affection for the place and showed how to take it to the next step. We felt we could do it justice and interpret it for contemporary culture. We wanted to transform Lincoln Center for the logic of our time.

Scofidio: We didn’t go in and say here are the problems we have to correct. We just said we can finish Lincoln Center.
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-Bi-coastal prodco Tool has welcomed Anonymous Content alum Danielle Peretz as its newest executive producer. link

-Former McGarryBowen New York head of mobile/emerging technology Spiro Mifsud has joined Tribal Worldwide as head of technology. Mifsud will work out of the latter’s NY office.

-McCann Buenos Aires joined Sony Argentina’s agency roster and will handle creative efforts in non-traditional media for the local market including the development of UX platforms.

-Denver-based company RuMe, which sells reusable tote bags, iPhone cases and other lifestyle products, has appointed Minneapolis digital agency space150 as its AOR for brand strategy, PR and media.

-Leo Burnett London shows us what it’s like to be a fish in a new spot for Kellogg’s Rice Krispies Multi-Grain Shapes (above).

-Dentsu-owned, New York-based digital shop Firstborn has nabbed digital strategy and content duties for Morgans Hotel Group, which owns properties including the Mondrian chain and the Delano. link

New Career Opportunities Daily: The best jobs in media.

While we’re on the Digitas tip, it looks like our sources were spot-on a couple of weeks ago when they told us that Carl Fremont, who left the aforementioned agency after a dozen years of service, was headed to MEC. Truth be told, Fremont has indeed joined the WPP/GroupM media unit as its first-ever global chief digital officer. MEC global CEO Charles Courtier says in a statement, “Hiring Carl is an essential step in the continued growth of MEC globally. Carl’s mix of skills has made him one of the leading digital specialists in the industry; he is uniquely qualified to help us navigate and develop the future of our business.”

Fremont will assume his global CDO post in May and continue to work out of New York. As we’ve mentioned before, prior to his time at Digitas, the exec spent 16 years at Wunderman, leading direct media efforts for clients including AmEx, Citibank and AT&T. In his new gig at MEC, Fremont will serve on the agency’s executive committee, as one would expect considering his title.

New Career Opportunities Daily: The best jobs in media.

We first started hearing murmurs about this towards the end of last year, but they proved to be unfounded at the time. Well, fast-forward a few months and the script has flipped as we’ve received confirmation that Digitas and longtime creative exec Mark Beeching have indeed parted ways. Here’s a brief statement from an agency spokesperson: “After a decade of service to Digitas, Mark Beeching will set course on an exciting new professional path, outside of the agency, and Publicis Groupe. We thank Mark for his signature disruptive thinking and creative leadership and wish him the very best.”

During his decade-long stint at Digitas, Beeching, who worked out of New York, moved up the ranks from global ECD to his most recent position as worldwide chief creative/strategy officer at the agency, overseeing work for clients including AmEx and AOL in the process. No word yet, though, if Digitas has immediate plans to replace him. We’ll keep you posted.

New Career Opportunities Daily: The best jobs in media.

Admit it. Your seven-year-old nephew could out-HTML tag you any day and you think that a Cascading Style Sheet is something with a thread count. That’s where the Mediabistro mothership comes in. They’ve asked us to tell you about the upcoming online course in HTML. Over four fun-filled weeks, web design design guru Laura Galbraith will guide you through a variety of web page production techniques, from column-based layouts and search engine optimization to semantic markup and advanced CSS styles. The online learning fun begins April 30 (materials are available today), and within a few weeks, you’ll have brought a pre-designed webpage to life through the magic of HTML. Preview the course syllabus and register here.

New Career Opportunities Daily: The best jobs in media.

Consider this a left-handed compliment: Time Warner Cable has better commercials promoting their cable service than they do actual cable service. That’s not an exaggeration. Anyone who lives in New York has either experienced firsthand or heard of the terrible reception and customer service. And for anyone planning on writing some snarky, contrarian comment about your perfect Time Warner service, don’t jinx the good cable karma by being an idiot.

That being said, Time Warner is back with another commercial about its sports package, which, according to the above spot, can be watched on just about every mobile device ever created. Victor Cruz, the man in half of all commercials on television, makes an appearance along with golfer Ian Poulter, driver Kasey Kahne, and former NFL coach/current CBS football analyst Bill Cowher (who tipsters have been taking for his acting skills in the last few days). The spot is a short and clever way to include four endorsers at once, a compliment directed completely at the agency behind this, Ogilvy, not Time Warner itself.

In closing, one more reason to dislike Time Warner Cable: Victor Cruz has one contract with TWC and zero contracts with the New York Giants. See another TWC spot with Cowher and Cruz called “The Test” after the jump.

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New Career Opportunities Daily: The best jobs in media.

-CP+B has added a slew of staffers in its L.A. office including ACDs Chris DeNinno and Antonio Marcato (previously at Deutsch LA and RPA, respectively), senior art directors McKay Hathaway and Ryan Wi (ex-Leo Burnett and \MAL, respectively) and finally senior copywriters, Daniel Montanti and Ryan Streadbeck (formerly of McCann and Ogilvy Chicago, respectively).

-While we’re on the hiring front, Portland, ME-based VIA Agency has added a few staffers of its own including ACD/Martin Agency alum David Grindon, copywriter Dan Jordan, who previously had stints at Energy BBDO and D&G and client strategist Whitman Bowers, formerly account lead on Dick’s Sporting Goods while at Anomaly.

-The folks at D&AD have unveiled their 2013 In Book winners and nominations. link; link

-Barkley EVP Jeff Fromm talks to USA Today about millenials and online privacy. link

-Milwaukee-based sports/music/lifestyle agency GMR Marketing, which is housed within Omnicom’s Diversified Agency Services division, has appointed former Live Nation exec Peter Joseph as its new VP of entertainment.

-Mans Swanberg, a director who goes by the name Pistachios and is part of the roster at NYC-based prodco, Blacklist, has unveiled an audio emoticon tool called “HeyHeyButton” (tutorial above). link

-Twitter has reached an upfront deal with Starcom MediaVest Group that pertains to inventory and data access. link

New Career Opportunities Daily: The best jobs in media.

A few folks from Cali-based 72andSunny led by strategist Mike Jacobson are trying to show their support and give something back to some of Boston’s finest who first responded to last week’s marathon bombings with an effort called “This One’s On Us.”

With the help of online fundraising site gofundme, the 72 crew tells us, “We’re partnering with EatBoston to give gift cards from Boston’s restaurants and bars to the men and women who put their lives on the line for the city they love, and to help us all feel safe again.” The monetary goal is $10,000 with all proceeds going to those who responded and as of now, a few hundred dollars have been raised in two days. If you’d care to donate and help out, go here for more info.

New Career Opportunities Daily: The best jobs in media.