News
Maaco Shifts AOR Duties to Pitch
Well, that was rather short-lived. Barely seven months after selecting Philly-based Red Tettemer + Partners as its first agency of record in 15 years, auto body/repair brand Maaco has shifted duties yet again, appointing Culver City, CA-based Pitch to serve as its new AOR. No word yet on the reason for the switch or even if Maaco held a review, but the brand’s CMO, Chris Furse, says in a statement, “We’re eager to bring a brand new approach on marketing and advertising to the organization and know that the team at Pitch will deliver innovative and exciting campaigns for consumers across the country.”
First order of business for Pitch, which also works with the likes of Burger King (on the youth/family biz), Asics’ Onitsuka Tiger and Nickelodeon, is to develop a $20 million campaign for Charlotte, NC-based Maaco that focuses on the usual print, digital, broadcast, radio, and experiential.
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Rokkan Expands to L.A., Chicago, Welcomes Back Carley as ECD
It’s been a busy morning on the Publicis Groupe front to say the least. Following the big news that Maurice Levy & company was merging Digitas with LBi, NYC-based digital agency Rokkan, which Publicis Groupe acquired back in December, has announced that it’s opening its doors in both Chicago and Los Angeles.
No word yet on what staff count is or specific clients that each office is catering to, but along with the U.S. expansion, Rokkan has welcomed back Brian Carley to serve as its first ECD. Carley rejoins Rokkan after spending the last two years as SVP/ECD at Saatchi & Saatchi NY, where he spearheaded work for clients including Trident, General Mills and P&G. Now back at Rokkan, where he served as creative director during his first tour of duty, Carley will lead creative across the network for a roster including JetBlue, Caesars, Stoli, Sharp and Chipotle.
New Career Opportunities Daily: The best jobs in media.
Monday Odds and Ends
-If you haven’t heard, Martin Agency stalwart/president Mike Hughes has been blogging about his long battle with lung cancer, which dates back to 1995. Today, he updated with a new post entitled “dying in plain sight.” We wish him well. link
-We’ve been told RAPP was behind a a Super Bowl-related online effort called PopTag.Me, which indulged in all things social media smack talk. link
-According to Edmunds and AutoTrader analysis, Hyundai’s Super Bowl XLVII commercials were the most effective drivers of web traffic. link
-Former Smuggler head of production Trine Pillay joined B-Reel as executive producer of its London office.
-L.A.-based prodco TWC Films signed director Kathleen Lorden to its roster. link
-The Ram “God Made a Farmer” Super Bowl ad (which we’ll probably be discussing more at length tomorrow) topped Harrisburg, PA agency Pavone’s annual “Spotbowl” rankings. link
-Creative agency ais London added to its account team, welcoming Kitcatt Nohr Digitas alum David John as account director for clients including PlayStation and Betfair while Katie Booth joins as account director on Vodafone.
-In non-Super Bowl-related ad news, here’s what 72andSunny has been up to for Carl’s Jr./Hardee’s (above).
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Metropolitan Museum Debuts Web Series
The Metropolitan Museum of Art is continuing its multimedia push with 82nd & Fifth, a new web series that will highlight 100 works of art from the Met collection. Each episode includes “Watch,” a two-minute audio and visual essay with a curator and a work of art from the Met collection that changed the way he or she sees the world; and “Explore,” an interactive feature that invites visitors to get closer to the work of art on their own. Among the first episodes is “Modern Living,” in which decorative arts curator Amelia Peck discusses the living room of Frank Lloyd Wright’s Little House. Watch the first six episodes of 82nd & Fifth here, and then watch for new episodes to be posted in pairs every Wednesday for the rest of the year.
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Grey NY Welcomes New CMO
Why should Bacardi hog all the spotlight? Grey New York has found a new chief marketing officer of its own in Jane Reiss, who has spent the last seven years at the City of New York’s official tourism, marketing & partnerships organization, NYC & Company. Reiss, who officially assumes the role of EVP/CMO at Grey NY effective immediately, served in the same role at her last gig, working on local/global tourism marketing outreach, retail, dining and entertainment marketing initiatives and leading biz dev teams for corporate partnerships with clients like AmEx, AT&T, JetBlue and Coca-Cola. Sounds like a busy job.
Now at Grey NY, Reiss will join the agency’s leadership team that president/CCO Tor Myhren and COO Michael Houston (her predecessor on the CMO position). Prior to NYC & Company, the exec spent nearly two decades at NYC full-service agency Margeotes Fertitta & Partners, last serving as managing director/partner.
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Adobe Acts with Reason, Saves $4 Million
Unless you’re an old billionaire looking for a trophy wife, four million dollars for thirty seconds of action might not be such a great investment. Adobe and Goodby, Silverstein and Partners want us to think about fiscal responsibility while we watch a monkey and a horse discuss the benefits of web marketing in their online ad “Adobe Animals.”
The post-Super Bowl spot is one of those meta-commercials that’s about commercials. It’s a clever idea and could’ve been so much more impactful if the writers didn’t settle on monkey fart noises. Adobe was wise not to empty their wallets for prime airtime, because this forgettable spot would’ve been met with head shakes and scoffs.
When God is done making farmers, he can spend some time outlawing talking animals. Credits after the jump.
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We’ll Do it Live! Join Us Here for a Post-Super Bowl Hangout
As we briefly mentioned last week, we’ll be engaging in a little Google+ Hangout chat today, which you can watch below, to offer our own post-game wrap-up in terms of Super Bowl XLVII advertising, social media effects, power outages, broadcast issues, etc. Joining yours truly are PRNewser editor Patrick Coffee, TVNewser’s Alex Weprin and David Angelo, chairman/CCO at David&Goliath, which is of course behind the Kia spots you saw during the Big Game.
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Drink Champagne, Design Tiny Chair, Repeat
The bubbly furniture fans at Design Within Reach have selected the winners in their champagne chair contest, which last month challenged all comers to create an original miniature chair using only the foil, label, cage, and cork from no more than two champagne bottles (glue was the only permitted adhesive). Taking top honors is the “Rockin’ Chaise” (pictured at far left) designed by one Miwa F., who went meta by including a wee champagne holder. Runner-up Jeffery Molter took a systematic approach with a chair that folds up into its own carrying case. And third place goes to Aaron Padilla’s foil basketweave “F8 Chaise,” with a sculpted cork underseat. Pour yourself a glass of bubbly and then click here to see all 319 champagne chair contest entries.
New Career Opportunities Daily: The best jobs in media.
Ravens Win Super Bowl, 49ers Get Jell-O
As far as consolation prizes go, free Jell-O pudding events for the San Francisco 49ers and their fans might not be able to take the sting away from a three-point Super Bowl defeat. But, beggars (and losers) can’t be choosers, so CP+B solicited the help of 49er Hall-of-Famer Ronnie Lott to spread the word about the Jell-O Pudding Drops taking place throughout San Francisco on February 5th.
It looks as if helicopters will fly over the city and drop snackpacks at the five designated drop zones Vietnam-style, which if true, makes this campaign 47 times better. Will San Franciscans walk underneath the onslaught of pudding screaming, “I love the smell of chocolate in the morning?” But, if napalm smells like victory to Robert Duvall, then chocolate pudding must smell like defeat to the Bay Area. Is it wise to associate your brand with losing?
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Bacardi Finds New CMO
And now, a quick non-Super Bowl-related item. Three months after Silvia Lagnado announced her departure from Bacardi Limited, where she spent two-and-a-half years as CMO/president of Bacardi Global Brands, her former employer has finally found a successor in Andy Gibson.
Barcardi Limited’s new marketing head, who won’t officially assume his new role until April, joins from Australia’s Carlton Brewers United, part of Foster’s Group Limited, where he most recently served as CMO. Gibson spent the majority of his career (13 years), though, at Diageo, where he held various marketing/management positions across five continents for the spirits giant. In his new role at Bacardi Limited, which also recently launched a media buying/planning review, Gibson will be based out of the Bacardi Global Brands HQ in London.
New Career Opportunities Daily: The best jobs in media.
Post-Super Bowl Morning Stir
-It’s safe to say Super Bowl XLVII was quite the spectacle last night, what between the power outages, Beyonce’s halftime show and, oh yeah, the game itself. Of course, wedged in between it all were the ads, and here’s an extended cut of CP+B’s entry for Best Buy starring Amy Poehler.
-In case you missed it during halftime, Red Stripe responded to Deutsch L.A.’s VW Super Bowl spot, which some deemed racist (see above).
-As we imagined, Budweiser’s “Brotherhood” spot from Anomaly topped USA Today’s annual Ad Meter, beating out the Tide spot starring a Joe Montana-shaped salsa stain. link
-In other A-B InBev-related news, legal experts believe the brand will eventually be successful in acquiring Modelo Group, the makers of Corona among other beers. link
-Meanwhile, the Dodge Ram “Farmer” spot ranked highest in the ADBOWL. link
-IPG-owned GolinHarris appointed Pierre-Hubert Meilhac as managing director for its Paris office, which works with clients including Foods International and Florida Department of Citrus.
New Career Opportunities Daily: The best jobs in media.
Grand Central Celebrates 100 Years with Stamps, Nick Cave’s Dancing Horses
New York’s Grand Central Terminal turns 100 this month, kicking off a year of tributes to the beloved “cathedral of transit” that escaped demolition in the 1970s by way of a legal battle that went all the way to the Supreme Court. Sam Roberts offers a historical and cultural perspective in Grand Central: How a Train Station Transformed America, newly published by–of course!–Hachette’s Grand Central imprint. Centennial souvenirs can be found at the post office, where the USPS is now offering its Grand Central Terminal Express Mail stamp, featuring Illinois artist Dan Cosgrove‘s illustrated update (note the man with the roller suitcase) to Hal Morey‘s famous sunlight-streaming-through-the-clerestory-windows photo of the 1930s. The top of the stamp art includes the edges of the terminal’s famous sky ceiling, painted with a mural of constellations and figures of the Zodiac (fun fact: the constellations were accidentally painted backwards on the ceiling, so don’t rely on them for celestial navigation). And mark your calendar for March 25-31, when Nick Cave brings dancing horses to Grand Central. The artist will trot out an equine twist on his Soundsuits in a project co-presented by Creative Time and MTA Arts for Transit.
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