American Express is reaching out to creative shops for its ‘Open’ business. The incumbent, CP&B is expected to defend. American Express Open spending was about $40 million in U.S. measured media in 2011.

Quaker Oats Co. has named Omnicom Group’s Organic its digital agency of record as part of a larger agency-consolidation effort by parent company PepsiCo. The Quaker account will be handled out of Organic’s San Francisco office.

Walgreens has awarded creative duties to GSD&M after a review. The Austin-based shop beat the Chicago office of mcgarrybowen in the finals of a review that began in January. GSD&M succeeds Downtown Partners on the business. It’s understood that GSD&M will handle integrated ad duties, including digital-strategy duties. Walgreens spent $230 million on domestic measured media in 2011.

Cramer-Krasselt has won the creative account for Panera following a review. The account, previously at Mullen, will be handled out of C-K’s Chicago office. In the final round of the pitch, the review was narrowed to Y&R, Chicago, Olson, Cramer-Krasselt, and GSD&M. Panera upped its measured-media spending 17% last year, to $42 million.

After several years of working with a range of different agencies for local advertising, Little Caesars has appointed BFG9000 its agency of record after a quiet review. Little Caesars spent $22.4 million on measured media last year.

Agency Creative/ Producers

After a decade at Goodby Silverstein & Partners, Jamie Barrett, partner and executive creative director, is leaving to start his own shop.

Deutsch LA has hired TBWA/Chiat/Day creative director Brett Craig as EVP and group creative director for Dr Pepper and Snapple.

CP+B has promoted Tom Markham to executive creative director. Based out of Boulder, Markham will be the agency’s lead interactive creative.

Tribal DDB U.S. co-president Mike Parker has left the agency to take the newly created job of chief digital innovation officer at McCann Erickson North America.

Aaron Griffiths is joining Arnold New York later this month as co-chief creative officer, partnering with current chief creative officer John Staffen. Griffiths was most recently creative director at TBWA/Chiat/Day New York.

Paul Sutton has joined JWT New York as director of digital production. Sutton joins JWT from CP+B, where he served as group executive producer

Elle Davin has joined the Acquity Group, New York, as a creative director. Davin was previoulsy vice president and creative director at Digitas.

Chavo D’Emilio has been appointed general creative director of McCann Buenos Aires.

Directors/Production

Mikey Please has signed with Hornet for US, Canada and South American representation and with Passion Pictures for representation in Europe.

Morgan Spurlock’s production company Warrior Poets has teamed with Keith Calder’s Los Angeles based Snoot Entertainment and producer Shannon Lords to create commercial production company Warpaint. The company will have offices in New York, Los Angeles and London.

L.A. based studio Duck has added Australian director Knife Party (aka Simon Robson) to its roster.

Passion Pictures has signed Eric Lerner for worldwide representation. Lerner was previously represented by Partizan.

Hollywood-based City Films has added director James Wahlberg to its roster.

Quad Productions has signed French director Paul Mignot.

Boxer Films has signed director Kevin Fitzgerald.

Los Angeles-based production company Bueno Films has signed Jeffrey DeChausse.

Mirror Films has signed the Goetz Brothers.

Design/Editorial/VFX

Red Car Chicago has named Carrie Holecek, formerly executive producer at The Whitehouse, as managing director.

Digital studio Reel FX has signed VFX veteran Keith McCabe as general manager of its commercial division.

Executive producer Amy Lazarus has signed with Wild(child) Editorial.

Interactive

Big Spaceship has hired Yaniv Kanfi as VP of product and partnerships, a newly created position at the Brooklyn-based agency.

Misc.

BETC Euro RSCG was named Agency of the Year and BBDO the Network of the Year at the ADC Awards.

Mother New York won “Best of Show” honors at the One Show for its “Little Marina” campaign created for Target; K-Swiss was named Client of the Year for its work featuring the character Kenny Powers from Eastbound and Down, created by 72andSunny and directed by Caviar Content’s Jody Hill.

The Cannes Lions awarded the food manufacturer Mars Advertiser of the Year.

JWT Bangkok has launched Degree, a standalone design company which will service both network and independent clients in South East Asia and beyond.

The Art Directors Club has hired Ignacio Oreamuno, founder and president of advertising organization Ihaveanidea as its new executive director.

Target has sent out a request-for-information to a number of media agencies. Apparently the information request doesn’t impact its media agency of record, Haworth Marketing & Media. Target spends over $1.5 billion in measured media annually.

Curiosity, Cincinnati expanded by opening its first office in New York.

Amalgamated, New York, has hired Michael Stefanski, most recently VP-advertising at DirecTV, as managing director and the shop’s fourth management partner.

Upcoming Events

May 11 One Show Interactive (NYC, New York)

May 15 CLIO Awards (NYC, New York)

May 21 Webby Awards (NYC, NY)

June 12 AICP Show & Next Awards (MoMA, NY)

June 17 – 23 Cannes Lions (Cannes, France)

June 13 One Show Entertainment (Santa Monica, CA)

MillerCoors is making major changes to its agency roster, cutting ties with its longtime lead creative agency, DraftFCB. As part of the shift, Razorfish has lost creative and digital-media duties. Digital and creative for Coors brands will now move to a new multi-agency group at WPP. Saatchi & Saatchi has been appointed lead creative shop for the Miller Lite brand. Digitas will keep Miller Lite digital-creative and -media duties. The new WPP team will be housed in Chicago and draw on talent from JWT, Ogilvy, Y&R and Grey, as well as digital shops. DraftFCB and Saatchi & Saatchi had been working separately on Miller Lite since January in what was effectively a public tryout for the account.

WPP’s Team Bank of America has been named the new global creative lead on the company’s business, replacing BBDO after a review that also included Hill Holliday, The Richards Group and a team comprised of Digitas and Starcom. In addition, the creative role of roster shop Hill Holliday has been increased, with the Interpublic agency retaining marketing responsibility for Bank of America’s Merrill Lynch Wealth Management and U.S. Trust. Bank of America is estimated to spend $2 billion globally on its communications, making the review one of the largest of the year. The WPP units that will be working on the business have not been identified, but the pitch team was said to include executives from more than a half-dozen agencies.

Heineken has consolidated global media planning and buying at Starcom MediaVest, who beat out WPP’s Mindshare for the account. Heineken spent $458.7 million on measured media worldwide in 2010.

Lavazza, the Italian coffee company, named Protagonist, New York, as its first North American agency of record.

Atlanta based Hooters of America has appointed Fitzgerald+CO as its lead creative agency of record.

Agency Creative/ Producers

CP+B Boulder has hired Rich Tlapek as creative director working on its Best Buy account. Tlapek is a former VP/group creative director at GSD&M Advertising.

California-based agency Pitch has hired John Davis as creative director. Davis was previously executive creative director at David & Goliath Europe. Marius Gedgaudas, previously VP/associate design director at Deutsch LA, joins as design director.

Blue Hive, the WPP company that focuses primarily on pan-European and global campaigns for Ford of Europe, has appointed Karin Onsager-Birch as executive creative director. Karin was most recently creative director at Goodby, Silverstein and Partners.

Directors/Production

Saville Productions has signed Crash director Paul Haggis for exclusive commercial representation in the United States.

Comedy director Daniel Sheppard has joined the roster of Superlounge.

Station Film has signed Josh Soskin for US representation.

Curious Pictures has signed director Randy Roberts to its roster.

Director/DP Mark Williams has returned to L.A.-based Mirror Films.

Humble has signed Paris-based Steven Ada for US representation.

Waspface has added David Alexander to its roster.

London production company Sonny has signed Australian director Justin Kurzel.

Passion Pictures has signed Eric Lerner for worldwide representation.

Hollywood-based City Films has added James Wahlberg to its roster.

Design/Editorial/VFX

jumP LA has added Richard Cooperman to its editing team.

Jonathan Del Gatto has signed with NYC creative editorial shop Hooligan for East Coast representation.

Cut+Run has signed Graham Turner in Los Angeles and Dan Maloney in New York.

Interactive

Digital agency 360i has hired Adam Kerj as its chief creative officer following a six-month-long search. Kerj was executive creative director-founding partner at Saatchi & Saatchi Stockholm.

Dallas-based digital shop IMC2 is changing its name to MePlusYou.

Misc.

The Clio Awards named BBDO New York as Agency of the Year, Ogilvy & Mather as Network of the Year, and Volkswagen as Advertiser of the Year. The Hall of Fame Award went to Wieden+Kennedy London.

BBH took home the Agency of the Year honors at the 16th annual Webby Awards.

TBWA Worldwide is launching Disruption Works, a consulting business that will apply its philosophy of disruptive ideas and thinking to broader, more complex business issues across a range of areas, from research and development to corporate social responsibility. The business, which will operate as an independent unit, has a dedicated staff of 10 people and will be run by Laurie Coots, TBWA’s global CMO.

After 15 years as Ogilvy chairman, Shelly Lazarus is stepping down and will become chairman emeritus, effective July 1. Ogilvy global CEO Miles Young will take over the chairman role.

Upcoming Events

May 10 One Show (NYC, New York)

May 11 One Show Interactive (NYC, New York)

May 15 CLIO Awards (NYC, New York)

May 21 Webby Awards (NYC, NY)

June 12 AICP Show & Next Awards (MoMA, NY)

June 17 – 23 Cannes Lions (Cannes, France)

June 13 One Show Entertainment (Santa Monica, CA)

Mother has been appointed by Cablevision to relaunch the company’s Optimum brand after a review. Roster shop Gardner Nelson & Partners participated in the review, which included shops Vitro and Amalgamated, and will be kept on for other projects. Cablevision Systems spent nearly $110 million on U.S. measured media in 2011, the bulk of which was devoted to the Optimum brand.

Farmers Insurance is searching for a social-media agency of record. Farmer’s brand agency RPA is participating in the review.

Agency Creative/ Producers

DOJO has named Chris Masse to the new position of creative director.

DDB Paris has promoted Alexandre Herve to vice president in charge of creativity. Herve joined DDB Paris in 2003 as executive creative director.

72andSunny has moved newly-created partner Bryan Rowles to Amsterdam to be co-creative director of its Amsterdam office, alongside Carlo Cavalone.

TAXI Canada has appointed Kevin Barclay as ECD of TAXI West.

Directors/Production

Rhythm + Hues has signed director/cameraman Robert Maya.

Production studio Decon has hired creative director and director Wyatt Neumann from R/GA.

The directing team of Spooner and Bonde have signed with Synthetic Pictures.

Virulens has added documentary director Maria Demopoulous to its roster.

Sonny has added Paul Geusebroek to its roster.

Design/Editorial/VFX

MassMarket has promoted senior producer Blythe Dalton to head of production, overseeing all projects run in-house for the West Coast office.

Visual effects house Zoic Studios has appointed creative director/VFX supervisor/flame artist Simon Mowbray to its team. Mowbray was most recently creative director at Pixomondo.

Nomad has added editors Jason Kileen and Val Thrasher to its New York and LA offices.

Interactive

CP+B has promoted Dan Fox to VP, executive creative technology director.

Misc.

WPP’s JWT is rebranding its 60-person Minneapolis office as Digitaria, the San Diego-based digital and technology firm that JWT acquired in August 2010.

At the D&AD’s Yellow Pencil presentation, BETC Euro RSCG Paris picked up four Pencils for their Canal+ spot The Bear. JWT Shanghai won three Pencils for the Samsonite press campaign Heaven and Hell. F/Nazca Saatchi & Saatchi in Brazil collected two Pencils for their Addiction spot for Nike and BBH London won a Pencil for their Barnardo’s spot, Life Story.

Upcoming Events

April 18 – 29 Tribeca Film Festival (NYC, New York)

May 2 – 3 The New York Festivals International Advertising Awards (NYC)

May 15 CLIO Awards (NYC, New York)

June 17 – 23 Cannes Lions (Cannes, France)

BBH has lost lead creative duties for Coca-Cola’s Sprite brand to Leo Burnett, who will begin rolling out a major North American campaign next year. The North American shift followed a quiet review that included BBH, Leo Burnett, and Translation. Sprite spent $9 million on measured media in the U.S. in 2011 (compared to nearly $30 million in the mid-2000s).

Agency Creative/ Producers

Wieden + Kennedy Global Interactive executive creative director, Iain Tait is leaving the agency for Google Creative Lab, where he will serve as executive creative director.

Profero London has appointed Ben Clapp as ECD, replacing Elspeth Lynn, who is joining M&C Saatchi. Clapp was most recently a creative director at Elvis.

JWT London has appointed Ricardo Figueira as its first ever digital executive creative director.

Directors/Production

Nick Piper has rejoined Backyard, where he previously spent eight years, after 15 months at B-Reel.

Jordan Bruner has signed with Strange Beast.

Margo Weathers has joined Holiday Films for Canadian representation.

Design/Editorial/VFX

Wild(child) editorial has signed Tom Schachte.

Fluid has added John Piccolo to its roster.

Jonathan Edwards and Wendy Rosen have joined jumP’s New York roster.

Upcoming Events

April 18 – 29 Tribeca Film Festival (NYC, New York)

May 2 – 3 The New York Festivals International Advertising Awards (NYC)

May 15 CLIO Awards (NYC, New York)

June 17 – 23 Cannes Lions (Cannes, France)

Hill Holliday was selected as agency of record for Merrell, a maker of outdoor shoes and clothing. The company spends about $10 million a year in U.S. measured media.

The NCAA is looking for an agency to help improve its branding and communications. The incumbent agency is Y&R, which has opted not to participate in the review.

Aetna named Ogilvy & Mather its new B2B marketing shop.

PepsiCo’s's North America beverage division has completed the downsizing of its agency roster that was announced earlier this year, eliminating about 100 of the smaller shops on its roster. The beverage group is now working with about 50 agencies, including TBWA/Chiat/Day, BBDO and DDB. The consolidation was billed as a bid to increase efficiency and free up an extra $500 million to $600 million to be spent on advertising for PepsiCo brands this year, with a focus on North America.

Agency Creative/ Producers

EnergyBBDO has brought on Tim Pontarelli as senior vice president and group creative director, focusing on the Frito-Lay business. Pontarelli was previously ECD at Leo Burnett.

Draftfcb Chicago has hired Michel Rothschild as SVP, group creative director of multicultural. Rothschild was most recently at MTV, where he wrote and directed promos.

Leo Burnett Tokyo has promoted Masato Mitsudera to executive creative director.

Leo Burnett Chicago has hired Andrew Meyer as EVP and creative director, in charge of the agency’s North American Samsung business. He returns to Leo Burnett after spending the past four years at Cramer-Krasselt.

Laura Fegley has joined BBH New York as creative director on the global Vaseline account. For the last two years Fegley worked as a creative consultant on brands including Tide, Rembrandt, Old Navy and Dos Equis. She was previously a creative director at JWT New York.

Minneapolis-based Colle+McVoy promoted Mike Caguin to chief creative officer and Eric Husband to executive creative director.

Directors/Production

Futuristic Films has signed director Eddie Alcazar for commercials and branded content.

Locksmith Content has signed Doug Walker for commercials and films.

Giraldi Media has signed Australian Director James Holt for US representation.

B-Reel has hired Alex Jenkins as a creative director in the U.K.

Design/Editorial/VFX

Editors Eric Zumbrunnen and Stephen Berger have returned to the commercials roster at Final Cut.

Ric Albert joined Grand Visual in the newly created role of motion graphics director.

Interactive

RKCR/Y&R has merged its digital agency Saint under the main agency brand. As part of the merger, Jon Sharpe, former Chief Digital Officer at M&C Saatchi Group has been appointed Chief Innovation Officer.

Misc.

CAA Marketing, a division of CAA, won the best of show GRANDY honor at the 2012 International ANDY Awards for “Back to the Start”, a two-minute stop-motion film commissioned by Chipotle to showcase its commitment to sustainable farming. The spot also won multiple Golds at the Art Directors Club Annual Awards and was named one of TED’s 10 Ads Worth Spreading.

Upcoming Events

April 18 – 29 Tribeca Film Festival (NYC, New York)

May 2 – 3 The New York Festivals International Advertising Awards (NYC)

May 15 CLIO Awards (NYC, New York)

June 17 – 23 Cannes Lions (Cannes, France)

After a review that began in November, Grey New York, has been awarded creative duties for RadioShack. Grey succeeds Butler Shine Stern & Partners. RadioShack’s overall ad expenses were more than $200 million in 2011.

TBWA/Chiat/Day LA has been appointed Crate & Barrel’s first agency of record after a review. The measured media spending on the account is just under $10 million.

Leo Burnett has picked up the creative account for Firestone after a review. The Richards Group will retain the Bridgestone brand work. Bridgestone spent nearly $118 million on measured media in the U.S. last year on Firestone and Bridgestone.

Insurer Sun Life Financial has opened an agency review and is seeking new ideas from creative and media agencies. The Martin Agency is the incumbent shop. Sun Life Financial spent $20 million on domestic measured media in 2011.

Taco Bell is reviewing its digital business. The account has moved from DraftFCB to R/GA and back again in the course of a few years, and now the company is seeking a new shop for digital. DraftFCB will continue to handle broadcast, merchandising, multicultural and media. Taco Bell spent $250 million on U.S. measured media in 2011.

Butler Shine Stern & Partners has been named agency of record for Sara Lee’s Hillshire Farms brand after a review, succeeding TBWA/Chiat/Day on the account. In 2011, Sara Lee spent $82.5 million on domestic measured media, about $18 million devoted to the Hillshire Farms brand.

Grey New York and twofifteenmccann San Francisco have been cut from Hewlett-Packard’s global creative review for its personal computer business. Still competing for the business are DDB Chicago, BBDO New York, The Martin Agency, and Deutsch LA. Global media spending on the assignment is estimated at $120 million.

Pfizer has begun a review process aimed at helping to reduce expenses across the company. The process affects a number of agency companies, since the drugmaker has its account spread over a range of shops, including Rapp, Kaplan Thaler, McGarryBowen, Grey, and Euro Life. Pfizer’s ad spending in the U.S. alone is $2.12 billion.

Agency Creative/ Producers

St. Louis ad agency Boxing Clever promoted ECD Jim Harper to Partner.

Directors/Production

Uber Content has signed improv specialist Charlie Todd for worldwide commercial representation.

Celebrity photographer Brian Bowen Smith has joined Mirror Films for commercial representation.

Pictures in A Row (Picrow) has added director Husein Alicajic to its roster.

Design/Editorial/VFX

VFX supervisor Paul O’Shea has been appointed creative director at MPC’s Los Angeles office. O’Shea was previously at The Mill L.A.

Carr Schilling has returned to Cut+Run from CP+B where he was integrated executive producer. Schilling has been appointed executive producer of the Cut+Run Los Angeles office.

Evan Anthony has joined design agency Hush.

BlueRock has added Jordan Green to its roster.

Interactive

McCann NY has appointed Lynn Teo as chief experience officer, a new role at the agency. Teo was most recently head of user experience at AKQA.

Misc.

After 75 years as an independent agency, Doner has handed over an ownership stake to MDC Partners who is making a minority investment in the shop.

Paris-based Havas has acquired a majority stake in the crowdsourcing agency Victors & Spoils.

Target Corp. has named Jeff Jones as exec VP-CMO. Jones was most recently president at McKinney.

Luis DeAnda has been appointed managing director of TBWA Media Arts Lab. DeAnda was previously chief operating officer of TBWA Hakuhodo in Tokyo.

Upcoming Events

April 12 The International ANDY Awards (NYC, New York)

April 18 – 29 Tribeca Film Festival (NYC, New York)

May 2 – 3 The New York Festivals International Advertising Awards (NYC)

May 15 CLIO Awards (NYC, New York)

June 17 – 23 Cannes Lions (Cannes, France)

Chevy has officially appointed the Omnicom Group, Interpublic Group of Cos. alliance “Commonwealth” as its global agency of record. The alliance between the rival holding companies was established months ago to pitch the global creative account for Chevrolet. The Detroit-based joint venture will be composed of executives from San Francisco-based Goodby Silverstein & Partners and its Detroit office, and from McCann Erickson Worldwide. The Chevy brand accounted for $1.1 billion in ad spending in the U.S. last year.

Mullen has been named global creative agency for Grey Goose vodka after a quiet review. Grey Goose will continue its relationship with @radical on branded content. Bacardi Global Brands spent $14.8 million in measured media on Grey Goose in the U.S. in 2011.

After more than five years of working with R/GA, Verizon Wireless is moving its digital creative business to AKQA. The account is estimated to be worth $10 million annually. Other Verizon business units including Fios were not included in this review. McGarryBowen, the creative agency of record for Verizon Wireless, was not impacted.

Cumberland Packing, the maker of brands like Sweet ‘N Low and In The Raw sugar and stevia, has appointed Ammirati as its new agency of record. The Brooklyn-based company replaces Mother, which had been working with Cumberland since January 2010. Cumberland spent nearly $10 million on measured media last year.

Expedia.com has named 180 LA its full-service agency of record, replacing the Martin Agency. Expedia Inc. devoted $45 million in domestic measured media to the Expedia.com brand in 2011.

In the wake of Target’s split with Wieden & Kennedy in January, Deutsch L.A. has received creative assignments from the retailer.

Agency Creative/ Producers

Three executives from CP&B, Dave Schiff, Scott Prindle and John Kieselhorst, are leaving to form Made, a new Boulder, Colorado-based agency specializing in brand-building and communications efforts aimed at helping American companies better compete against global competitors. While at CP&B, Schiff was a VP/executive creative director, Prindle was VP/executive technology director, and Kieselhorst was as executive design director.

Ponce Buenos Aires has appointed Luis Ghidotti as executive creative director. Ghidotti joins from Santo, where he was creative director.

L.A.-based agency Ignited has promoted Jordan Atlas and Troy Scarlott to SVP/executive creative directors.

Victors & Spoils has hired Chad Walker as a creative director. Walker joins from Arnold N.Y., where he was a creative director.

Johannes Leonardo has hired Carla Ballecer and Karen Gereffi as senior copywriter and senior art director respectively. The creative team was previously at R/GA New York.

Publicis London has appointed Ogilvy & Mather creative director Andy Bird as its new executive creative director.

Directors/Production

Therapy Films has signed My Week with Marilyn director Simon Curtis for commercial representation.

Locksmith Content has signed Bucky Fukumoto to its roster. Fukomoto was previously represented by The Directors Bureau.

Tate USA has added directors Laurieann Gibson and Frank Borin as well as the social medial collective, Status Creative, to its roster.

Design/Editorial/VFX

Optimus has promoted Mike Ciacciarelli to executive creative director. Donnie Bauer, formerly design director at Optimus, will move into Ciacciarelli’s former creative director role.

Design agency Pearlfisher New York has appointed Hamish Campbell as creative director. Campbell  joins Pearlfisher from Lewis Moberly.

Cutting Room New York has hired veteran agency producer Lisa Petroni as managing director. Petroni comes to Cutting Room from BBDO, where she was VP/executive producer.

Interactive

JWT is bringing Mauro Cavalletti, head of the digital creative group at Mullen, on board to further integrate the Brazilian agencies of JWT Brazil, CASA and i-Cherry, and to continue their local digitization strategy. Cavalletti will begin in May, in the new role of chief integration officer.

CP+B has promoted Sloan Schroeder to executive producer and Julia Lafferty to producer/video operations manager in its integrated video production department.

Misc.

Naked Communications is opening in Brazil. Naked Brasil is teaming up with a local shop with digital expertise called Player, and several Player execs will join the Naked team. Fernanda “Fefa” Romano, most recently global creative director digital and experiential at Euro RSCG in London, is returning to her native Brazil to be a partner at the new Sao Paulo-based agency.

Wieden + Kennedy Amsterdam has promoted Clay Mills to managing director. Mills replaces Lee Newman, who leaves the agency this week.

The AICP has announced that Rei Inamoto, chief creative officer at AKQA, will serve as its Next Awards Judging Chair, and Master of Ceremonies at the Next Awards presentation on June 12.

Steve Williams, group chief executive at OMD Group, is leaving the agency and the UK to become president at Omnicom’s sister agency PHD in New York. Monica Karo has been appointed US CEO of PHD, replacing Andrew McLean, who is leaving the agency.

McGarryBowen CEO John McGarry has been promoted to a corporate post at the agency’s parent company, Dentsu.

Upcoming Events

April 12 The International ANDY Awards (NYC, New York)

April 18 – 29 Tribeca Film Festival (NYC, New York)

May 2 – 3 The New York Festivals International Advertising Awards (NYC)

May 15 CLIO Awards (NYC, New York)

After more than 10 years of working with DDB, Chicago, Cars.com is considering new agency options. DDB, currently in the finals of a pitch for Hewlett-Packard, has been invited to participate in the pitch for Cars.com. Cars.com, a regular Super Bowl advertiser, spent a total of $29 million on domestic measured media in 2011.

Nascar is planning to launch an agency review. It is said to be looking for a full-service agency experienced in youth, multicultural (with a focus on the Hispanic market) and digital marketing, as well as media planning and events and promotions capabilities. The incumbent, Jump Co., which has worked with Nascar since 2005, will be invited to participate, along with three or four other shops. According to Nascar, the budget will be much more than the $24 million spent on measured media in 2011.

National Geographic Channels has consolidated its media and digital business at Mediahub, a unit of Mullen. The budget for the work Mullen has been assigned is around $40 million.

Crate & Barrel is close to naming a new lead creative agency. Two shops, TBWA/Chiat/Day in Marina del Rey, Calif. and Mother in New York, remain in contention. The winner will succeed longtime lead shop Dangel which split with the retailer last year. Going forward, the media spend is expected to be at least $10 million a year.

Agency Creative/ Producers

BBH New York has named Justin Booth-Clibborn as its head of integrated production. Booth-Clibborn was previously CMO and managing partner at Psyop.

Cramer Krasselt has appointed Derek Green as executive creative director, based out of its Chicago headquarters. Originally from Australia, Green joins C-K Chicago from Saatchi & Saatchi Switzerland, where he was chief creative officer. He takes over from Kevin Flatt, who moves to the new role of senior vice president, digital and design director.

Crispin Porter + Bogusky has hired Cameron Harris as creative director in its Los Angeles office. He will partner with creative director Robin Fitzgerald working on the agency’s Old Navy account. Harris joins from Leo Burnett Sydney.

Rob Doubal and Lolly Thomson have joined McCann London as executive creative directors. The pair were most recently creative directors at Wieden + Kennedy London.

DDB New York is taking on two members of the DDB Sydney creative team, senior copywrite,r Matthew Knapp and senior art director, John Downing.

CLM BBDO has hired Matthieu Elkaim as executive creative director and Benjamin Marchal and Olivier Lefebvre as creative directors. All join from DDB Paris.

Lapiz, the Hispanic division of Leo Burnett, has hired two new creative directors, Flavio Pina and Ciro Sarmiento.

JWT Atlanta has hired two new creative directors. Dana Markee joins from TBWA/Chiat/Day, and Tim Wettstein joins from BBDO New York.

Four months after being promoted from president of McCann, New York, to global managing partner at McCann Worldgroup, Thom Gruhler is moving to Microsoft as VP of Windows phone marketing. He will lead all marketing and communications for the Windows phone division.

Minneapolis-based agency Knock has promoted Sara Nelson and Dan Weston to vice presidents, creative directors.

Directors/Production

NYC-based record label and production company Decon has hired Misha Louy as partner and executive producer. Louy  previously worked at BBDO and Droga5.

Uber Content has signed comedy director Daniel Strange to its roster.

Design/Editorial/VFX

Framestore is promoting Jon Collins, founder and president of its New York operation, to the newly created role of president of integrated advertising (worldwide).

Creative studio Eyeball has hired John Noble as executive producer/managing director of its newly launched operation in Chicago. Noble has worked on production for The Martin Agency, DDB, BBDO, and Chiat Day, and he was most recently responsible for setting up production entity ONE at Optimus.

Hybrid Edit has signed SNL editor Adam Epstein for commercial representation.

Nathan Petty has joined Whitehouse Post as an in-house editor in San Francisco.

Film and TV editor Barry Alexander Brown has joined Nitrous.

Editor Greg Letson has returned to Red Car.

Toronto-based post-production, design and animation studio The Juggernaut has appointed Nick Goso as creative director.

Interactive

Creative duo Carlos Ulloa and Liber Aguilera, known as HelloEnjoy, have joined unit9 for worldwide interactive representation.

Perfect Fools has hired Lotta Brugge as head of production. Brugge joins from Absolut, where she was senior manager interactive solutions.

Misc.

Rattling Stick was named Production Company of the Year by the British Arrows. Advertiser of the Year honors went to Honda, and BBH was named Agency of the Year.

MDC has acquired a majority stake in TargetCast TCM, a New York media agency with 110 employees and $600 million in billings from clients that include AMC, Expedia, Hotels.com, New York Life and Pfizer Consumer Healthcare. With the acquisition, MDC will form a division devoted to its media agencies, called Maxxcom Global Media.

Dentsu was named Agency of the Year at Adfest. 

In an attempt to help advertisers optimize their online-and-TV campaigns, Nielsen says it is ready to roll out a system that standardizes ratings for television and online ads. The new system, “cross-platform campaign ratings,” will combine Nielsen’s existing television ratings, which measure the reach and frequency of ads on TV, with Nielsen’s new online campaign ratings, which apply the same measurements to the Web.

Upcoming Events

April 12 The International ANDY Awards (NYC, New York)

April 18 – 29 Tribeca Film Festival (NYC, New York)

May 2 – 3 The New York Festivals International Advertising Awards (NYC)

May 15 CLIO Awards (NYC, New York)

Following a pitch process that began last fall, eBay has selected Digitas to handle its digital media and digital creative business. Digitas beat out Organic and Swirl in the final round. AKQA, which had earlier been working on a digital project for eBay, did not participate in the pitch. The digital-media budget is between $20 million and $30 million. Venables Bell & Partners handles creative work for EBay.

Droga5 has won creative duties for another Heineken USA brand, picking up Newcastle Brown Ale. Newcastle was previously at Vitro. Heineken USA gave Droga5 the assignment without a review. As agency of record, Droga5 will handle strategic and creative development in the U.S., as well as digital. Newcastle’s marketing spend is low: the importer spent a little over $1 million in measured media on the brand in 2011.

PepsiCo has shifted creative duties for its Quaker portfolio of foods and snacks to Energy BBDO. The move, which came without a review, will shift the business handled by BBDO sibling Juniper Park in Toronto to Energy BBDO.

After a review, Target has added Minneapolis-based Mono to their roster for its grocery and food business. Also included in the review for the business were 72andSunny and Olson. Olson currently handles digital work for Target. In 2011, the retailer spent about $39.7 million on measured media for its grocery business.

Deutsch, Leo Burnett and Arnold have advanced to the final round of American Eagle Outfitters’ global creative and media review. The assignment includes the retailer’s namesake brand as well as Aerie and 77kids. Future media spending is estimated at $35 million annually, about $25 million of it in the U.S.

BBDO, which joined Pinnacle Foods’ agency roster less than two years ago, has been given additional creative assignments for the company’s Birds Eye brand. The business was previously at TBWA\Chiat\Day. Pinnacle spent close to $17 million in measured media on Birds Eye in 2011.

Greater Miami Convention and Visitors Bureau selected the Chicago office of Critical Mass, part of the Omnicom Group, as digital agency of record.

Agency Creative/ Producers

Fallon Minneapolis chief creative officer Darren Spiller has left the agency. Spiller, originally from Australia, joined Fallon in 2009 after serving as regional executive creative director at Publicis Mojo in Melbourne.

Mullen has appointed Dylan Bernd as group creative director. Bernd comes to Mullen from McCann Erickson in NYC, where he was group creative director on MasterCard.

Pablo Buffagni is leaving Conill, Saatchi & Saatchi’s Hispanic agency for independent shop Grupo Gallegos where he will serve as chief creative officer.

Landor Associates has promoted Peter Knapp to the new role of global creative officer. The position will rotate annually, with someone different taking the reins each year.

Directors/Production

Interrogate has signed director Brennan Stasiewicz for commercial representation in the US. He joins Interrogate from MTV, where he was an on-air writer and director.

Comedy director Jeff Gorman has joined The Joneses after exiting his longtime production company Sandwick Films.

Gregor Nicholas, previously repped in the American market by @radical.media, has signed with Chelsea Pictures.

Lance Kelleher has joined Saville Productions for U.S spot representation. He had most recently been with BRW USA. The move marks Kelleher’s return to Saville, a shop that repped him some five years ago.

Director Kevin Wilson, who won the Doritos’ contest grand prize of $1 million when his self-made “Sling Baby” commercial topped the Facebook Super Bowl Ad Meter, has joined the roster of HELLO! & Company.

Bandito Brothers has appointed Suzanne Hargrove as managing director/executive producer of its commercial division.

Design/Editorial/VFX

New York based animation production company Blacklist has signed Canadian visual design and animation studio Tendril to its roster for US representation.

Interactive

JWT has appointed Christophe Cauvy to the new position of European head of digital & innovation. Cauvy joins JWT from Momentum Worldwide, London, where he was senior vice president & regional director of innovation for Europe, Middle East and Africa.

Misc.

Mike Allen, managing partner and president of 180, Los Angeles, will become the agency’s global CEO, succeeding Chris Mendola. Mendola, who was a co-founder of the Omnicom Group shop, moves to the role of chairman.

Visual effects software developer The Foundry has launched HIERO, a new offering for the commercial and advertising sector that provides a ‘pipeline in a box’.

Austin-based agency LatinWoLatinWorks was voted Adweek’s Hispanic Agency of the Year.

Dentsu L.A., the Los Angeles office of Dentsu America, will be renamed Attik L.A.

MDC Partners is expanding its operations in Brazil by partnering with fast-growing local creative agency, Peralta. The partnership will initially focus on servicing major global clients of MDC Partners agency CP+B, and will serve as a platform for further collaboration in the future.

Upcoming Events

March 9 – 18 SXSW (Austin, Texas)

March 18 – 20 Adfest (Pattaya, Thailand)

March 21 British Arrows Awards (London, UK)

April 12 The International ANDY Awards (NYC, New York)

April 18 – 29 Tribeca Film Festival (NYC, New York)

May 2 – 3 The New York Festivals International Advertising Awards (NYC)

May 15 CLIO Awards (NYC, New York)

Ogilvy has resigned the Kraft Honey Maid graham crackers account, which it won less than a year ago, because of conflicts over the creative work.

Y&R has picked up lead creative duties for Hampton, the second biggest nameplate in the Hilton Hotels portfolio, after a review.

EHarmony has appointed GSD&M as its North American creative agency of record. GSD&M replaces the online-dating site’s agency of 10 years, LA-based DW&H. eHarmony spends about $80 million in domestic measured media annually.

Baha Mar, a resort in Nassau, Bahamas, that is scheduled to open in late 2014, chose SK&G, Las Vegas, as its advertising agency of record.

The final four finalists in Mini Cooper’s U.S. review have been identified as BBH, The Via Agency, Fitzgerald + Co. and incumbent Butler, Shine, Stern & Partners. The agencies that did not advance were Anomaly and McKinney. Account revenue is estimated at $5 million to $7 million.

Tractor Supply Company, a chain of farm and ranch supply stores, selected Barkley, Kansas City, Mo., as its agency of record. The assignment, with spending estimated at $48.6 million, had been handled for almost two years by MMB, Boston.

Agency Creative/ Producers

Calle Sjoenell, the deputy chief creative officer at BBH, New York, is leaving for Ogilvy, New York, where he will take on the post of chief creative officer. Mr. Sjoenell succeeds Lars Bastholm, who exited Ogilvy last spring.

Trisha Dowley has joined Mullen Mass as a producer. Dowley was formerly a producer at Arnold Boston.

CP+B has promoted Chad Hopenwasser to VP, director of video production.

Tim Roper, former CP+B ECD on Hulu, has left the agency to pursue directing opportunities.

JWT has appointed Christophe Cauvy to the newly created position of European head of digital & innovation. He will be responsible for accelerating JWT’s digital capabilities across Europe. Cauvy joins JWT from Momentum Worldwide, London, where he was senior VP & regional director of innovation for Europe, Middle East and Africa.

Directors/Production

Executive producers Tim Lynch and Tieneke Pavesic and director Chris Malloy have partnered to open Farm League, a full-service production and content company based in Santa Monica, California and Oregon.

Black Dog Films has signed Casper Balslev and Julian Acosta to its roster.

Director/DP Kent Harvey has joined kaboom.

Director Tony Petrossian has signed with Rhythm+Hues Commercial Studios.

Foundation Content has added directors Cristina Anderlini and Craig Barker to its roster.

Design/Editorial/VFX

Framestore has appointed Jonathan Shipman as head of integrated production in its New York office. Shipman has more than 25 years of production experience in advertising, most recently as head of integrated production at McCann Erickson

Chad Garber has joined Mass Market as senior VFX producer. Garber was formerly a senior producer at McGarryBowen.

Michael Zimbard has acquired pre-vizualisation studio Edit1 and has hired Mike Donovan as executive producer.

Misc.

MDC Partners has acquired a majority interest in Dotbox, a New York-based social-commerce firm with a portfolio of retail and luxury clients.

Dentsu is planning to rebrand its European operations with the nameplate of its stateside agency, McGarryBowen. Dentsu London is set to become McGarryBowen London, while Dentsu Dusseldorf will be known as McGarryBowen Dusseldorf.

Mother NY has appointed Angie Vieira Barocas as partner. Barcoas joined as managing director in 2010.

Paris-based Fred & Farid Group will open its first overseas office in Shanghai in September, headed up by creative directors Feng Huang and Gregoire Chalopin.

At the 2012 New York Addy Awards, BBDO New York won best of show in all three categories: print, integrated, and television.

Sandra Alfaro is moving to Lopez Negrete Communications as managing director-brand leadership after a year running KBS&P’s effort to create a Hispanic unit.

Upcoming Events

March 9 – 18 SXSW (Austin, Texas)

March 18 – 20 Adfest (Pattaya, Thailand)

March 21 British Arrows Awards (London, UK)

April 12 The International ANDY Awards (NYC, New York)

April 18 – 29 Tribeca Film Festival (NYC, New York)

May 2 – 3 The New York Festivals International Advertising Awards (NYC)

May 15 CLIO Awards (NYC, New York)