Accounts

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)

Accounts

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)

Accounts

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)

Accounts 

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)

Accounts

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)

Accounts

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)

Accounts

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)

Accounts

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)

Accounts

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)

Accounts

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)

Accounts

CP&B has won Applebee’s creative account after a review. The account had previously been handled by McCann Erickson. Applebee’s spends more than $100 million annually on advertising. The final four contenders for the account were CP&B, Publicis Dallas, Barkley, and Kirshenbaum Bond Senecal & Partners.

Chili’s has parted ways with Digitas, its digital agency of record. The move comes less than a year after Chili’s handed the agency the account following a review.

Time Warner Cable is planning to shift its digital marketing account from Neo@Ogilvy to OMD without a review. Time Warner Cable spent $629 million on U.S. measured media in 2010. The digital aspect of the account is estimated to be about $50 million in spending. This move does not impact Ogilvy’s Time Warner Cable creative business.

Agency Creative/ Producers

Draftfcb San Francisco has hired Jon Drawbaugh as SVP, head of integrated production, and Donald Tench IV as VP, director of interactive. Drawbaugh joins from Goodby, Silverstein and Partners, and Tench joins from CP&B.

The Martin Agency has promoted Mike Lear to vice president/creative director.

BETC has hired creative team The Triplets, consisting of Juri Zaech, David Aronson and Samuel Moore.

CLM BBDO has signed Matthieu Elkaim, Olivier Lefebvre and Benjamin Marchal, all previously at DDB Paris.

Toronto-based agency Zulu Alpha Kilo has appointed Jon Webber as creative director and David Adams as design director.

Tony Dieste, who in 1995 helped found Dieste Harmel & Partners, now known as Dieste, is returning to the agency as chairman. He has been working in the private equity field since leaving the agency in 2008.

Denver-based agency Cactus has hired Brooke Warren as senior broadcast producer on all its accounts.

Directors/Production

Chicago-based Radar Studios has added Pix Talarico, and Adam Pierce to its roster.

British production company th1ng Corp is expanding into the US with a New York production office and studio in Soho, to be headed up by Bill Hewes, who joins th1ng from Filmtecknarna. Th2ng, the live action arm of the group, has expanded its roster of directors by signing US feature film talent Rob Cohen.

Paydirt Pictures has signed director Rob Feng.

Academy Films has signed WIZ.

Harpoon Pictures has added director Alejandro Toledo to its roster.

Design/Editorial/VFX

Chicago-based editorial house Cutters has added Matt Walsh as editor/partner. Walsh was previously with the Whitehouse.

Nice Shoes has promoted Lenny Mastrandrea to head of color.

Interactive

Miami-based agency La Comunidad is expanding with several interactive hires. Eduardo De La Herran joins as interactive creative, Munia Bilbao joins as interactive copywriter, and Jaume Leis joins as interactive art director.

Misc.

WPP reported profits of more than $1.45 billion for 2011, up 43% from the previous year. Reported revenue was up 11.4% to $16.05 billion.

Richard Beaven has announced he will step down from his post as worldwide CEO of Initiative to pursue opportunities in documentary photography.

Alain Groenendaal has been elevated to president-CEO of Grey Latin America. Mr. Groenendaal joined Grey in 2008 to lead Wing, the marketing-communications shop focused on the Hispanic and Latin American markets, and he will continue to be Wing’s president-CEO.

Elizabeth Coveney has joined Arnold Worldwide as managing partner and executive director to lead the McDonald’s business.

Havas is dropping the Euro RSCG brand and replacing it with the name Havas Worldwide. Havas CEO David Jones also announced the introduction of Havas Digital.

The Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity is partnering with the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation in an effort to generate communications ideas that could help change the world. ‘Grand Challenges Explorations: Aid is Working, Tell the World’ aims to inspire brand communicators to come up with an idea that will help solve a global problem.

Venables Bell & Partners has launched vpb orange, a brand innovation consultancy that will offer brand strategy, concept and experiential design, as well as new product development and idea solutions to both new and existing VB&P clients. Vbp orange will be led by director of brand strategy, Harlan Kennedy, design director, Blake Bakken, and director of brand development, Colleen McGee.

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

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

May 15 CLIO Awards (NYC, New York)

Dads in Briefs… Little Minx directors Nico+Martin’s new spot for BGH Air Conditioners will make you cringe.

A TED Talk from the future as envisioned by Prometheus director Ridley Scott, directed by Luke Scott, CG by Absolute Post.

For The Guardian’s first major brand campaign in 25 years, Rattling Stick director Ringan Ledwidge delivers a modern twist on an old tale.

Twelve countries in 35 days. Rabbit directing duo The Fines make their way around the world for Gillette and BBDO.

Adweek’s Ad of the Day: Caviar director Reynald Gresset’s epic commercial for Mass Effect 3.

A lot can happen in four years. Rattling Stick director Pete Riski’s new spot for Renault, out of Publicis London is a touching take on a young couple’s relationship.

Kenny Powers unveils the fastest shoe you’ve ever seen in this new spot for K-Swiss Blades, directed by Caviar’s Jody Hill.

Congratulations to Caviar and RSA – Two of Creativity’s 2011  A-List production companies.

Accounts

Southwest Airlines, who has worked with GSD&M for more than three decades, has initiated an agency review. While the review isn’t expected to encompass the airline’s full creative account, it does include a significant piece of the business GSD&M works on, including Southwest’s fall advertising campaign. The agency has been asked to participate in the process. In 2011, Southwest spent a total of $249 million on domestic measured media.

 BBH, New York has been named creative agency of record for the Weather Channel after a review. BBH beat three other shops: BBDO, Atlanta, AKQA, and Fitzgerald & Co.

Droga5 continues to expand its relationship with Kraft Foods’, its latest assignment being the launch of a major new gum brand later this year.

Arby’s is handing its creative account to CP&B from BBDO without a review. The move comes just a month after the chain named former Burger King Global CMO Russ Klein CMO. Arby’s spent $111.7 million on U.S. measured media in 2011.

Wireless carrier U.S. Cellular has chosen Mullen, Boston, to handle its creative and digital account after a review. The accounts were previously handled by Publicis & Hal Riney and sibling agency Modem. U.S. Cellular spent $74.5 million on marketing in the U.S. from January through October of last year.

Commonwealth Bank, Australia, has split with Goodby, Silverstein & Partners and moved its business to M&C Saatchi, Sydney. The shift came after a nearly three-month global agency review triggered in part by pressure on the bank to work with a local agency. The finalists were GS&P, DDB and M&C Saatchi. The company, one of Australia’s “big four” banks, spends around $100 million on marketing communications.

The five finalists in Hewlett-Packard’s global creative review for its personal computing division are twofifteenmccann, The Martin Agency, Grey, DDB, and BBDO. Global media spending on business in play is estimated at $120 million.

R/GA has been appointed global digital agency of record for Unilever’s leading deodorant brand, Rexona.

Huawei, the Chinese telecoms company, has appointed BBH as its global advertising agency for its devices business unit, following a pitch. The account will be managed by BBH offices in London and Shanghai, focusing on the UK, China, Japan, Europe and North American markets.

Agency Creative/ Producers

VCCP has hired Mother creatives Thierry Albert & Faustin Claverie to join the agency as creative directors.

CP&B has promoted Neil Riddell to the role of VP, executive director of Product Innovation. Riddell has been with CP&B for 13 years and was one of the founders of the product innovation group in 2007.

Austin-based Proof Advertising, has hired Scott Staab as digital creative director and Rob Story as associate creative director.

Chicago-agency veteran Steffan Postaer has been named executive creative director for global ad shop Gyro’s San Francisco office. He will run it jointly with office President Robert Ray. Postaer was most recently chairman and chief creative officer of Euro RSCG, Chicago.

Tim Allen joined the Boston office of SapientNitro in a new post, creative director for experience design. He was previously a creative director at R/GA, New York.

Tim Coughlin has joined the Cleveland office of Doner in a new post, vice president and brand leader, managing the daily operations of the new Geisinger Health System and Health Plan account. Coughlin was most recently director for advertising and branding at the Cleveland Clinic.

Saatchi & Saatchi Sydney has hired two new senior creative teams, Steve May and Nils Eberhardt, and Darren Borrino and Stuart Turner. Tod Duke-Yonge has been promoted to head of design, under new ECD Damon Stapleton.

Micah Walker has joined Australian agency The Monkeys as a creative partner. Walker was an executive creative director at Mojo Sydney for the past four years and formerly a creative partner at Fallon London.

Directors/Production

Toronto-based Holiday Films has added director Sasha Levinson to its roster for Canadian representation.

MRB Productions has signed Chuchie Hill as a commercial director.

Rascal Films has signed noted Broadway director and choreographer Casey Nicholaw for his first career representation as a commercial director.

Limey has signed director Nick Jones for U.S. representation.

Directors Bo Platt and Antony Hoffman have joined Believe Media for global representation.

DNA/David Naylor & Associates has signed Paris-based director Tony “Truand” Datis, and Shaun of the Dead director Edgar Wright for exclusive representation in the US. DNA has also formed a new strategic and creative partnership with London-based production company Stamp.

Design/Editorial/VFX

Click 3X has added senior designer/art director Ryan Duggan and senior flame artist/VFX supervisor Mario Caserta to its team.

Airship Post, the LA-based sister company to Arcade Edit, has appointed Matthew Lydecker as creative director and lead artist.

Chicago-based VFX studio Leviathan promoted former design director Tim Sepulveda to VFX director, and added producer Lauren Shawe and senior FX designer Nathan Davies to its roster.

Misc.

Interpublic Group of Cos. has reported that it nearly doubled its net income for 2011 to $551.5 million, up from $281.2 in 2010. The company’s annual revenue was up 7.8%, to about $7 billion.

Cannes Lions announced the presidents for the Design, Film Craft and Radio categories at this year’s International Festival of Creativity, with Bruce Buckworth, Ivan Zacharias and Rob Mclennan all added to the line-up.

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

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

May 15 CLIO Awards (NYC, New York)

Accounts

After a review, Avis has hired Leo Burnett as its U.S. creative agency. McCann was the incumbent on the account. Avis Budget Group devoted nearly $30 million in domestic measured media to market the Avis brand between January and November 2011.

After a three-year run, San Francisco-based agency Pereira & O’Dell and the University of Phoenix are parting ways. The University of Phoenix spent $156 million in domestic measured media between January and November 2011.

Henkel Consumer Goods has shifted creative duties for its laundry and home-care brands, including Purex, Renuzit and Soft Scrub, to Pereira & O’Dell. Purex was previously handled by Energy BBDO. U.S. measured media spending for the brands was a combined total of nearly $30 million in 2010.

Agency Creative/ Producers

Ogilvy & Mather has hired Lee Newman, managing director at Wieden & Kennedy, Amsterdam, as its president.

David Rolfe is slated to join BBDO New York in March as its director of integrated production, reporting to David Lubars, BBDO’s chairman and chief creative officer. Rolfe comes over from CP&B, Boulder where he held the same title. CP&B does not plan to name a new director of integrated production. Instead the agency will name a director of video production in the next few weeks.

Ari Merkin, executive creative director at CP&B Miami, is also leaving the company. Merkin will still be connected to CP&B parent MDC Partners in a consulting relationship.

Deutsch LA has appointed Jerome Austria as EVP, group digital creative director for Volkswagen. Austria, who has been working for the agency on a freelance basis since 2011, was the creative behind the ‘The Bark Side,’ VW’s online teaser for this year’s Super Bowl spot through the agency. Prior to joining Deutsch, Austria was co-executive director of Wieden+Kennedy NY.

Energy BBDO has appointed Giovanni Settesoldi and Luissandro Del Gobbo as senior vice presidents, creative directors. The duo joins Energy BBDO after spending four years at Grey Paris as creative directors.

The Martin Agency has promoted Joe Alexander to executive creative director.

CP&B has promoted Mike Danko to associate creative director and Kate Hildebrant to executive producer.

DNA Seattle has hired Pete Hughes and Lianne Onart as associate creative directors.

Aude Gandon, the Paris-based L’Oréal worldwide account director at McCann Erickson, is leaving to join Publicis Worldwide.

Art director/designer Mark Beacock has left Lean Mean Fighting Machine to set up a new creative agency Turned Out Nice Again. He is joined in the new agency by partners Sam Willard and Tom Bur.

Directors/Production

Rabbit has signed comedy director Bobby Farrelly for his first-ever commercial representation.

Futuristic Films has signed documentary director Daniel Junge to its roster.

Green Dot Films has signed director Robert Jitzmark, who comes to the LA-based company from Hungry Man.

Accomplice has signed director Otis to its roster.

ONE at Optimus has added director Brian Johnson to their roster.

Robin Fryday has joined Nonfiction Unlimited for representation for spots and documentaries.

Caviar is opening a London office in a joint venture with UK-based Pulse Films, adding to the production company’s existing offices in Amsterdam, Brussels, Los Angeles and Paris. The move will make Caviar’s roster of directors available to the UK market. Sadie Ward at Pulse Films will act as head of sales for Caviar’s London office.

Motion Theory has announced that it has rebranded and will now operate as MTh.

The Sweet Shop has extended production services into Bangkok, Thailand, adding Claire Davidson to its executive team to lead the company in the South East Asian market.

Misc.

Droga5 has received several million dollars in backing from prominent investors who are trying to help the agency expand while retaining its independence. The investment was led by a private group headed by investor Henry Silverman and media mogul Bob Pittman, and is understood to be between $5 million and $10 million. The funds will be used primarily to expand the agency’s New York office, and to help Droga5 open its doors in a new market, most probably London.

Publicis Groupe has completed a share buyback to end its decade-long partnership with Japanese ad giant Dentsu. The Paris-based holding company bought a block of 18 million of its own shares from Dentsu for $848.5 million.

A year after exiting the top post at Y&R, Hamish McLennan joined News Corp., as executive VP, Office of the Chairman – a job created to help the embattled company forge ties with global brands.

Upcoming Events

February 9 – 19 Berlin International Film Festival (Berlin, Germany)

March 9 – 18 SXSW (Austin, Texas)

March 21 – British Arrows Awards (London, UK)

For RSA Films’ latest project, The Re:Generation Music Project directed by Amir Bar-Lev, five DJs turn the tables on the history of music.

Chronicle opens at number one at the Box Office – RSA director Josh Trank is the youngest ever to helm a chart-topping movie. 

Sofia Coppola’s new spot for Marni at H&M, edited by Consulate’s Chad Sipkin.

Kanye and Jay-Z’s new music video, edited by Consulate’s Peter Johnson.

‘Eastbound and Down’ – back with Season 3.

Behind the scenes with superstudio on Ty Evan’s Chevy Kickflip Superbowl spot.

Check out The Chevy/OK Go music video, ‘Needing/Getting’, produced by Caviar Content.

Keith Schofield at Caviar Content is up for a Woodie.

Rabbit directing duo +jacksonkarinja’s new spot out of Anomaly for NBC Sports captures the intensity of athletic preparation.

‘The Grey’, behind the scenes with RSA’s Joe Carnahan.

Rabbit directing duo Loki’s Sundance award-winning documentary ‘Detropia’ puts Detroit back in the spotlight.

Get the lowdown on superstudio’s Cass Bird, profiled in Tmagazine.

Rabbit director Brent Bonacorso, with Absolute Post and Consulate editor Peter Johnson bring to life the inner-workings of the mind in this surreal spot for CTIA,‘Your Mind is a Wireless Place’.

Accounts

GlaxoSmithKline is moving the global creative account for Aquafresh toothpaste from Grey Group to TBWA Worldwide, which will manage the business out of London. In the U.S., Aquafresh spent $41.9 million on advertising in 2010.

Zimmerman has been named agency of record for Extended Stay Hotels following a review. Media spending for Extended Stay Hotels, which has 685 locations in the U.S. and Canada, is estimated at $17 million to $20 million.

AOL is searching for an agency to help it devise a new brand campaign in the hopes of reconnecting with consumers. It’s understood that the company is looking to award the assignment to an agency by early March.

MediaCom was awarded responsibility for Subway’s U.S. digital media efforts, taking over the business from Publicis Modem. Pizza Hut’s digital spending is expected to be about $25-30 million this year.

U.S. Cellular, the nation’s sixth biggest wireless carrier, has narrowed its creative agency review to incumbent Publicis & Hal Riney in San Francisco and Boston-based Mullen.

After a pitch between Venables Bell and Tribal DDB and DDB, Venables Bell has landed Intel’s biggest assignment this year: a global campaign for its ultrabook laptop processors. The resulting campaign, which will include TV, print, digital and outdoor ads, is expected to break in April and run through the fourth quarter of 2012.

The finalists in Bank of America’s global creative review were revealed to be roster shops BBDO, Hill Holliday and Digitas, as well as The Richards Group and a team from WPP Group.

Possible Worldwide and Grey’s Europe, Middle East and Africa division have formed a partnership that will see the two WPP shops collaborating on accounts, starting with shared client Procter & Gamble.

Agency Creative/ Producers

Matt Bonin is joining Ogilvy & Mather New York in the new role of chief production officer, from TBWA\Chiat\Day where he was executive director of integration.

Johannes Leonardo has hired Jenny Gadd to the newly-created position of head of integrated production. Gadd was previously executive producer at digital agency North Kingdom.

Bemis Balkind has appointed Elisabeth Lucas as creative director, Digital, and Adele Martin as senior project manager, Digital.

New York-based agency The Vidal Partnership has hired Gustavo Lauria as managing partner, chief creative officer. He was most recently creative director at La Comunidad in Miami.

Carmichael Lynch has promoted executive creative director Dave Damman to chief creative officer.

Y&R’s new North American chief, Carter Murray, has also been made CEO of Y&R New York. The current CEO, Tom Sebok, will be leaving the agency effective immediately. Sean Howard joins from Wunderman as general manager of the New York office.

Directors/Production

Strange Beast has signed director Sam Mason for worldwide representation.

New York/San Francisco-based Bodega has signed director and former agency creative Dave Merhar for commercial representation.

Directing collective Special Problems has joined The Sweet Shop for commercial and branded content work worldwide.

The Traveling Picture Show Company (TPSC) has signed director Enda McCallion for exclusive representation in the US.

Venice-based Mighty has signed directors Kim Nguyen and Hugo Menduina to its roster.

Click 3X has signed comedy director/DP team Josh Ruben and Vincent Peone, owners of j+v films, to its Click 3X live content division.

Director Daniel Junge has joined the roster of Futuristic Films

Jeff Scruton, former executive producer at MJZ, has joined Motion Theory as president and executive producer.

Design/Editorial/VFX

Pixomondo has hired Steve Pugh as an executive producer to help oversee projects from its Burbank office.

Crash+Sues, the Minneapolis-based hybrid VFX, animation, color correction and creative editing company, has appointed Sven Shelgren as executive producer.

Interactive

Tool has added web developer Jason Nickel to its interactive director roster. Nickel developed the ‘Take This Lollipop’ Facebook app with director Jason Zada.

Misc.

Publicis Groupe announced a 7.3% increase in revenue to $7.7 billion for 2011, leading to a record profit of $795 million for the year.

PepsiCo Inc. is cutting 8,700 jobs and boosting its marketing budget by as much as $600 million in 2012 as it tries to overhaul a struggling U.S. beverage business that is losing ground to Coca Cola. To free up cash for the new marketing investments, PepsiCo intends to reduce the number of agency partners on the beverage side of the business, where it plans to go from 150 agencies to 50.

DDB is seeking a new business development chief amid the exit of Brandon Snow. Snow, who assumed the role of U.S. director of business development in August 2008, is returning to his former employer, the National Basketball Association.

Anomaly, Budweiser’s global brand agency, is getting ready to open in Toronto. The office is expected to be up and running by April.

Upcoming Events

February 9 – 19 Berlin International Film Festival (Berlin, Germany)

March 9 – 18 SXSW (Austin, Texas)

Accounts

Kraft is once again changing up its roster, handing Saatchi & Saatchi creative duties for Kool-Aid and Capri Sun, brands previously handled by Ogilvy. Between January and November of 2011, Kraft spent between $35 million and $40 million in domestic measured media on Capri Sun, and about $20 million on Kool-Aid.

Independent shop Profero will handle global digital duties for Tresemme, The assignment does not appear to affect Tresemme’s lead creative agency Mullen. Measured media totaled $58 million for Tresemme in the year ending November 2011.

Italian casual-dining chain Bertucci’s has tapped SapientNitro as its agency of record, a move that’s part of a larger overhaul for the Boston-based chain.

MillerCoors is bringing in roster agency Saatchi & Saatchi to assist DraftFCB on a new campaign for the struggling Miller Lite brand. DraftFCB has been the brand’s lead creative agency since 2009.

McCann Worldgroup, via its health-and-wellness practice HumanCare, has been awarded consumer creative duties for several Merck brands. McCann HumanCare is now the lead agency for all of Merck’s respiratory brands, including Nasonex, Singulair and Dulera. Nasonex was previously handled by BBDO, while Dulera was previously handled by DDB.

Hewlett-Packard is looking for a global creative agency to handle marketing for its personal computing division. The company parted ways with Goodby Silverstein & Partners in November, and roster agency Twofifteen McCann has been handling the work since then.

Agency Creative/ Producers

AKQA is opening an office in Paris with Nike as its founding client. The creative team at the Paris office will be headed by Peter Lund as creative director, and Nicolai Smith as associate creative director. Both will report to James Hilton, chief creative officer at AKQA Europe.

DOJO San Francisco has hired John O’Hea as a creative, reporting to Geoff Edwards and Mauro Alencar. O’Hea was previously an art director/ACD at Goodby Silverstein & Partners.

Jean Batthany has joined the Chicago office of DDB Worldwide as senior vice president and group creative director, leading work on the Safeway account. She was most recently creative group head at Merkley & Partners, New York.

Directors/Production

Lost Highway Films has added director Elma Garcia to its roster.

Director Ian Kammer has joined Bueno Films for exclusive U.S. spot representation.

Directing collective Special Problems has joined The Sweet Shop for commercial and branded content work worldwide.

Recommended Media has signed director Sinuhe Xavier for U.S. commercial representation.

The directing team of Adam Brodie and Dave Derewlany, (Adam & Dave), has signed with Los Angeles-based production company Arts & Sciences.

Design/Editorial/VFX

Absolute Post New York has appointed Melanie Wickham as executive producer, while her predecessor, Sally Heath, has moved to the role of joint managing director, working alongside Andy Barmer in the company’s London office. Wickham was previously a senior VFX producer at The Mill and an EP at Animal Logic, Sydney.

New York and Philadelphia-based Bigsmack has hired animator/designer Wonhee Lee as creative director.

New York creative studio Charlex has promoted director/CD Ryan Dunn to executive creative director.

RhinoFX founder Vico Sharabani and Alex Frisch, co-founder of Method Studios have teamed up to launch COPA (Co-Op of Artists), a collective of VFX artists working in the commercial and feature film space.

Interactive

Digital shop Layer One Media has opened a new office in Chicago. Jason Reimer, who joined the company two years ago, will be creative director, with Brody Buss as president and Ryan Janecek as director of business development.

Misc.

The Gunn Report released its annual results for 2011, with Wieden + Kennedy Amsterdam scooping the top agency spot and BBDO earning agency network of the year.

The Walt Disney Co has acquired a controlling stake in UTV, India’s largest media and entertainment company. UTV is the leading television producer and broadcast network in India.

Cannes Lions announced the addition of the Young Lions Design Competition to the 2012 International Festival of Creativity. The new competition will see teams of two briefed to work on a special project on behalf of an appointed client. Within the allotted 24 hours, competitors must produce a logo/brand identity, a 150-word description of how the brand identity fits the brief and a 150-word description of how the brand would evolve.

Upcoming Events

February 9 – 19 Berlin International Film Festival (Berlin, Germany)

March 9 – 18 SXSW (Austin, Texas)

Accounts

Following a long review, San Francisco-based Union Bank N.A. has chosen hometown operation Eleven as its new advertising agency of record.

As part of its ongoing effort to cut costs and agencies, General Motors has consolidated its $3 billion global media-buying and planning account with Aegis’ Carat.

Just months after launching, The Bull-White House has landed on the Unilever roster. The agency will handle lead creative duties for Slim-Fast, including TV, print, digital and experiential.

Fallon has been named lead creative agency for chicken chain and sports bar Buffalo Wild Wings without a review. The incumbent, Atlanta-based shop 22Squared, is losing the creative portion, but will retain the media planning and in-store promotion duties. Buffalo Wild Wings spent $60.7 million on measured-media in the U.S. from January through October 2011.

The four finalists for Applebee’s lead creative agency are CP+B, KBS&P, Publicis Dallas, and Kansas City-based Barkley. Total media spending on Applebee’s is around $135 million a year. McCann, whose New York headquarters has handled the business since 2007, is not defending.

Outdoor TV manufacturer SunBriteTV has hired independent shop The Buddy Group as its digital agency of record.

Agency Creative/ Producers

Chris Cereda has been appointed chief creative officer at Translation. Most recently, Cereda served as executive creative director at KBS&P.

Seattle-based agency Wexley School for Girls has hired Todd Grant as a creative.

Amalgamated has added two creatives to its team: Coral Garvey joins as design director from Anomaly, where she was an art director/designer, and Jake Dubs joins as a copy writer from 72andSunny.

Brooklyn agency Big Spaceship has appointed Mark Pollard as VP of brand strategy. He was most recently SVP, director of planning innovation at Saatchi + Saatchi NY.

JWT London has promoted executive creative director Russell Ramsey to one of three new executive partners at the agency, alongside James Whitehead and Joseph Petyan. All three will be equally responsible for the running of the agency, replacing Guy Hayward who left JWT at the end of last year.

Directors/Production

Epoch Films has added Martin Aamund to its roster for commercial representation.

The Directors’ Bureau has added music video director David Altobelli to its roster.

Blink has signed director Paul Minor.

Original has signed director/cameraman Mark Dektor for exclusive representation in the United States.

Nexus has added directors Kris Hofmann and Philippe Gamer to its roster. 

Ben Tricklebank has joined Tool’s roster as interactive director.

The directing team Rhett & Link have joined the Synthetic Films roster.

B-Reel creative director/partner Oscar Tillman is rejoining the digital production company’s New York office. B-Reel NY has also named founding partner Petter Westlund chief creative officer, and promoted Patrick Ehrlund from art director to creative director.

Design/Editorial/VFX

Jay Lichtman has joined VFX studio MassMarket as managing director. Lichtman was previously executive producer at Method Studios.

Wild(child) Editorial has hired Argentinian editor Diego Panich.

David Garber has joined international visual effects company Pixomondo as executive producer of Motion Graphics.

Editor John Maloney has joined the roster of BlueRock.

Interactive

Kris Longo has joined Bonfire Agency, New York in a new post, vice president for advertising sales and business development.

Digital agency Rokkan has appointed Zach Newcomb as the agency’s first executive account director. Newcomb was previously director of new business at CreateThe Group.

Misc.

Jackie Kelman Bisbee of Park Pictures will be chairing the Association of Independent Commercial Producers (AICP) Show this year.

After what was tantamount to a full-court press by web companies and internet users, congressional backers of the antipiracy legislation SOPA and PIPA have decided to shelve the bill for the foreseeable future.

Sasha Savic has joined MediaCom, New York, as chief executive, a new post. He was previously chief operating officer at Havas Media Group North America.

Patti Clifford, formerly a chief human resources officer in the Financial Services sector, has been appointed global chief talent officer at Arnold.

Spending for ads online in the U.S. will exceed spending for ads in newspapers and magazines in 2012. Online ads in 2012 are predicted to total $39.5 billion, up 23.3 percent from $32 billion last year, while print ads will total $33.8 billion, down 6.1 percent from $36 billion last year.

Ad spending in all American media this year is forecasted to reach $169.5 billion, up 6.7 percent from 2011.

Droga5, New York is Creativity’s Agency of the Year 2011.

Upcoming Events

January 19 – 29 Sundance Film Festival (Park City, Utah)

January 20 – 26 Slamdance Film Festival (Park City, Utah)

March 9 – 18 SXSW (Austin, Texas)

Accounts

Target dropped longtime agency Wieden & Kennedy. In 2009, Wieden, which had been on Target’s roster for years, was made the retailer’s first lead agency without a review.

Health-care giant Aetna has launched an agency review with an eye towards consolidating the number of shops that handle media-buying and planning, direct marketing and digital duties. The company currently works with Havas’ Arnold on creative, which is not part of the review.

Walgreens is reaching out beyond its lead creative agency, Chicago-based Downtown Partners, for creative and branding help. In 2010, Walgreens spent about $212 million, down from $228 million the prior year.

Sibling agencies Critical Mass and Downtown Partners are set to pick up advertising duties for the Illinois Lottery. The account was previously handled by Energy BBDO, which had originally won the Lottery account in 2009.

Burger King is adding two new agencies — Mother, New York and a new Ogilvy affiliate agency called David — to its U.S. mix.

Bank of America with $1.55 billion in ad spending in the U.S. alone, has embarked on a review with an eye towards reformulating its brand positioning.

Agency Creative/ Producers

Wieden + Kennedy New York has tapped Lora Schulson to lead content production, replacing Gary Krieg, who is leaving after 14 years at the agency. Schulson most recently served as co-executive director of content production at Y&R, N.Y.

JWT North America has hired two new digital creatives to join the WPP shop’s leadership team: Jeff Benjamin, who is a partner at CP&B and Mike Geiger, chief digital officer and associate partner at Goodby Silverstein & Partners.

Former Deutsch EVP Eric Springer has joined creative think tank Pitch as chief creative officer (CCO).

GSD&M has hired Glen Sheehan as senior vice president, group creative director.

Crispin Porter + Bogusky has hired two new creative teams in its London office under new ECDs Ben Walker and Matt Gooden. Ben Carey and Henrik Delehag, and Bertie Scrase and Christen Brestrup.

Steve Hayden, vice chairman of Ogilvy, retired just before Christmas.

Cheil USA has made two new senior creative appointments: Adam Wohl joins as group creative director, and Kaare Wesnaes, former director of creative development at AKQA, joins as director of creative technology.

Directors/Production

RSA Films has announced the return of Director Baillie Walsh for commercial and music video representation in the US and UK.

Motion Theory has added Swedish team Marlind & Stein to its directorial roster.

Brooklyn-based Greenpoint Pictures has added new directors Nick&Ben and Rodney Ascher to its roster.

Mike Maguire has signed with Biscuit Filmworks for commercial representation worldwide except for Canada where he continues to be handled by Suneeva.

Independent Films has added Matt Smukler to its roster.

Director Seyi Peter-Thomas has joined Station Film.

Director Paul Gay has signed with O Positive for US commercial representation in the U.S.

Tool has added Benjamin Weinstein to its live action directorial roster.

Washington Square Films has signed Margin Call director J.C. Chandor for exclusive representation in its commercial division.

Home.corp has added Oscar-nominated visual effects director Nick Davis to its roster for commercials representation worldwide.

Original has signed director/cameraman Mark Dektor for representation in the U.S.

Nola Pictures has added director Greg Ramsey to its roster.

Design/Editorial/VFX

VFX studio Absolute has hired Melissa Stephano as senior producer and Kevin Couture as senior CG artist/lighter.

VFX studio Light of Day has hired Kristen Barnard as head of production. She previously worked as a producer at JWT, BBDO and Darcy.

Frank Effron has rejoined Cut + Run as an editor after a brief stint at Sitch.

Interactive

Integrated production studio Utopic has appointed Heather Mitchell as post executive producer.

AKQA has promoted Pierre Lipton to executive creative director, leading the creative department in its San Francisco office.

R/GA New York has appointed Chris Bradley as executive creative director. Bradley, who will work on MasterCard, comes to R/GA from Big Fuel.

Misc.

Eastman Kodak company, one of the Pioneers in both analog and digital photography, filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection.

YouTube, in partnership with Scott Free Productions is launching a film festival that will play out online and send 10 finalists to the Venice Film Festival.

Alexander Payne’s The Descendants won the golden globe for best drama.

Upcoming Events

January 19 – 29 Sundance Film Festival (Park City, Utah)

January 20 – 26 Slamdance Film Festival (Park City, Utah)

March 9 – 18 SXSW (Austin, Texas)

The Bark Side: A teaser (!!) for Volkswagen’s 2012 Superbowl commercial, helmed by Keith Schofield of Caviar Content, goes viral.

Lazarov, a short film by Paranoid’s Nieto premieres at Sundance.

Accounts

McCann Erickson has lost its Lufthansa global creative business to independent German shop Kolle Rebbe.

Best Buy has added CHI & Partners and Wunderman to its roster of lead agencies. The shops will be responsible for the development and production of digital and social-media programs, as well as weekly promotional vehicles and Best Buy business unit campaigns.

Novartis has chosen Starcom as its agency to handle the more than $600 million global media account.

Following a seven month review, Toys R Us has selected OMD to handle media buying and planning, as well as various digital tasks. Toys R Us has a marketing budget of more than $100 million. MEC, which has worked with the retailer for six years, failed to retain the business.

Mullen and client Panera Bread Co. are parting ways amid what the agency calls creative differences.

New York Life has selected Euro RSCG as the company’s new agency of record. Euro won the account over TBWA\Chiat\Day and Carmichael Lynch. The New York Life AOR responsibilities were previously handled by Taxi, which did not defend.

Agency Creative/ Producers

Draftfcb has promoted Javier Campopiano to regional creative director general for Latin America.

R/GA New York has appointed Steve Whittier as executive creative director. Whittier, who will work on the Nike account, was most recently integrated creative director at Y & R.

Jason Fund has joined StrawberryFrog, NY as strategic community director, working on Jim Beam. 

Johannes Leonardo has hired Andrea Gustafson as head of design.

Directors/Production

Director Jon Barber has joined production company Interrogate for US representation.

Design/Editorial/VFX

Visual effects/design house MassMarket has added executive producers on both coasts, naming Nancy Nina Hwang to serve in its New York office and Elexis Stearn in Los Angeles.

Venice boutique publicVFX has made two new hires: flame artist Max Harris, and Michael Shelton who joins as head of 3D.

Pixeldust Studios, the Washington DC and New York-based digital animation and visual design studio, has hired Dianna Costello as executive producer.

Interactive 

Digital agency Firstborn has hired Toby Marlow as senior producer, managing creative projects for Sony, which awarded its make.believe business to Firstborn in September. Also joining Firstborn is producer Leo Seely.

Misc.

Volkswagen’s “The Force” by Deutsch, was the most-viewed ad on YouTube in 2011.

According to Kantar Media’s latest ad-tracking report, television has proved resilient against the general slowdown in total U.S. advertising spending over the first nine months of the year. Total U.S. ad spending in the third quarter ebbed to a tiny 0.4% gain over 2010 for the July-September period. But the television sector registered a 3.2% gain for the same quarter. Procter & Gamble Co. remains TV’s biggest spender overall, even with a 6.9% decline over the nine-month frame to $1.2 billion.

A group of ’60s-era creatives from DDB – Chuck Schroeder, Don Blauweiss, Ed Griles and Sid Myers – have launched a new marketing firm called Senior Creative People that will focus on the 60+ demographic. 

Accounts

Anheuser-Busch InBev has chosen McGarryBowen and Translation for Bud Light marketing after a lengthy review. The agency will handle lead creative duties for Bud Light, and work in concert with Translation Advertising. Anheuser-Busch InBev spent more than $276 million in measured media on Bud Light in the U.S. in 2010. The two agencies beat out a host of shops believed to include Droga5, CP&B, as well as longtime incumbent DDB.

Ogilvy & Mather has picked up global creative duties for Philips after a review. Three other shops contended for the business: Leo Burnett, TBWA and DDB, the incumbent. Philips spends about $40 million on measured media in the U.S. and more than $100 million globally.

Droga5 has won creative and strategic duties for Amstel Light. Amstel spent $10 million in measured media last year.

Droga5 has added more business from Puma in the form of its Teamsport unit, making the agency the global AOR for the entire account and marking the end of Puma’s relationship on this account with Syrup.

Visit Florida, Tallahassee, the official tourism marketing corporation for the State of Florida, selected the Miami office of SapientNitro as its lead agency of record. The assignment had previously been handled by the Miami office of DDB Worldwide.

Euro RSCG Chicago has picked up U.S. CRM duties for Sony PlayStation.

Unilever is launching a global review of its $6B-Plus media account just over two years after completing the last one.

Agency Creative/ Producers

Wieden + Kennedy announced the addition of four new partners: Portland ECD Mark Fitzloff, Global Interactive ECD Iain Tait, London Managing Director Neil Christie and Portland Managing Diretor Tom Blessington.

Steve Weinswig joined R/GA as vice president and managing director of the San Francisco office.

Grey Group has appointed Lucas Panizza as executive creative director for its Grey and G2 operations in Argentina.

Former Ogilvy North America Chief Digital Creative Officer/N.Y. CCO Lars Bastholm has been appointed Chief Creative Officer at Cheil, a newly created position. Bastholm will be based in New York and will partner with newly appointed Cheil USA CEO Dave Weaver to relaunch Cheil’s One Agency as Cheil Worldwide’s new U.S. flagship, Cheil USA.

101 London has hired Augusto Sola as partner and creative director.

Deutsch New York has promoted seven of its creatives to the role of vice president: Judd Counsell, Donovan Goodly, John Heath, Rich Kolopeau, Cindy Kridle, Katherine Moncrief and Chip Rich.

WPP is creating a new boutique agency for Ford’s Lincoln luxury model. The as-yet-unnamed agency will be based in New York and will be open for business effective Jan. 1^st. Automotive consultant Cameron McNaughton will head the agency as president, reporting to Satish Korde, CEO, Team Detroit. Jon Pearce will serve as chief creative officer.

Ogilvy & Mather is opening a new international agency called David that will be headed by Gaston Bigio, Ogilvy’s regional creative director, and two Ogilvy Brazil execs, CEO Fernando Musa and VP Creative Director Anselmo Ramos. David will officially open with offices in Sao Paulo and Buenos Aires in January 2012, with a New York office planned for later in the year.

Directors/Production

Producer Kevin Matusow has launched a new production studio, The Traveling Picture Show Company (TPSC), based in Los Angeles.

Bueno Films, the production house headed by director/cinematographer Albert Kodagolian and executive producer Chris Crawford, has hired Annie Hanlon as executive producer.

European Director Jon Barber has signed with Interrogate for US representation.

Design/Editorial/VFX

VFX studio Absolute NYC has appointed Dan Dixon as head of CG.

Character animator Anders Beer has teamed up with Brickyard VFX co-owners Dave Waller and Geoff McAuliffe to launch General Gau, a hybrid animation/production company that will be based out of Brickyard’s Boston office.

ShootersNYC has hired veteran editor David Smalheiser.

Interactive

Facebook and Heineken announced a worldwide partnership agreement, collaborating on digital campaigns for Heineken brands. Financial terms were not disclosed. As part of the deal, Heineken will gain access to new Facebook products.

Misc.

After resolving its labor dispute last month, the NBA is renewing three of its major long-term partnership deals – with Anheuser-Busch InBev, Gatorade and AutoTrader.com.

Adweek’s annual Agency of the Year report named mcgarrybowen U.S. agency of the year, BBDO global agency of the year, and AKQA digital agency of the year.

TBWA\Chiat\Day and TBWA\Media Arts Lab earn SHOOT’s Top Ad Shop Of 2011 Honor.

Check out Jake Szymanski’s new skits with Will Ferrel for Old Milwaukee beer.

With two new spots for Cracker Barrel, Paranoid’s Nieto creates a magical breakfast voyage for Euro RSCG/Chicago.

Nike Jordan takes flight with Dwayne Wade in Ringan Ledwidge’s latest spot out of W+K.

Accounts

Telecom giant Sprint is severing ties with Goodby Silverstein & Partners, its creative agency since 2007. Digitas will serve as the new primary agency for the Sprint brand, managing brand strategy, advertising, digital, offline media, digital buying and analytics. As part of the move, Publicis is creating a new dedicated unit, dubbed Team Sprint, to run the Sprint account. It will be led by Digitas President Tony Weisman. Although the digital agency will be leading the account, creative network Leo Burnett will also be part of Team Sprint.

A year after hiring indie shop David & Goliath to handle creative work for Carl’s Jr. and Hardee’s, parent company CKE Restaurants has moved the account to 72andSunny, without a review. The combined budgets for both restaurant chains in 2010 was $63.6 million in domestic measured media.

Lands’ End is searching for an agency. The review is believed to include both creative and media duties. The brand is looking to overhaul its marketing and increase its media outlay to $20 million, from $6 million in 2010.

After a three-month-long review, Bayer is consolidating all media duties with WPP’s Mediacom, replacing Interpublic Group of Cos.’ Initiative. Mediacom had already handled global duties, and it now adds the U.S. business. In 2010, Bayer spent around $300 million on measured media in the U.S. and $800 million globally.

After a two-month review, MediaVest has been named media agency of record for Cox Communications, replacing a number of local shops. The account has an estimated $75 million to $100 million in measured media spending.

Mattel is searching for an agency to supply creative ideas to help market its games business. Mattel currently has no lead shop handling that portion of its account.

Swedish carmaker Volvo is moving to a new global advertising structure. As part of the shift, it will dismantle “Team Volvo” and move lead global duties to Arnold. The move means Arnold becomes the agency of record for Volvo in both the U.K. and in China.

Agency Creative/ Producers

Michael Boychuck is moving to Leo Burnett Worldwide from SK+G in Las Vegas, where he served as ECD. At Leo Burnett, Boychuck will be senior vice president and creative director. Boychuck is joined by his creative partner, Mark Moll who will also be SVP and CD.

Paulo Coelho has joined Pereira & O’Dell as associate creative director.

BFG 9000 has hired Google Creative Lab alum Laura Janness as head of planning, Dean McBeth, formerly of Wieden + Kennedy Portland as director of digital creative and former Coca-Cola global communications manager Kelly Donahue as account director.

The VIA Agency has named Jason Lucas, previously senior creative director at BBDO New York, as Group Creative Director, digital.

Deutsch NY promoted five group creative directors to executive VPs. The new EVPs are Morgan Caroll, George Decker, Liz Gumbinner, Paul Kekalos, and Jeff Vinick.

Jason McCann has been named creative director in AKQA’s New York office. McCann was previously VP, co-executive creative director.

R/GA has hired Steve Weinswig as VP/managing director to head its San Francisco office.

Directors/Production

Jonas Arnby has joined HSI Productions for representation in the U.S., U.K., and Canada.

Chelsea Los Angeles has hired Jonathan Gribetz as an executive producer.

Gentlemen, the directing duo comprised of Brett Snider and Billy Federighi, has joined GO Film.

Uber Content has signed director Molly Schiot for global representation.

Design/Editorial/VFX

Editor Erik Carlson has signed with Volt for exclusive representation, marking the launch of creative editorial at the VFX/Motion Design studio.

Township & Company, a multi-disciplinary design, animation, and visual effects studio, has launched in Canada as a sister company to Axyz.

FLUID NY has launched an audio post studio, “Mr. Bronx,” and added David Wolfe to the position of Lead Mixer and Engineer.

Effective January 2, Steve Morrison will become general manager of Foundation, Chicago, and serve as its lead editor. Morrison has spent the past five years at Draftfcb, Chicago, heading up Inside Job, the agency’s in-house editorial shop.

Interactive

Ginny Golden has joined Wieden + Kennedy Portland as interactive creative director on the agency’s Procter & Gamble account. Golden was previously a creative director at the Washington, D.C. office of AKQA.

Montreal-based director Vincent Morisset has joined Unit9 for interactive representation.

Misc.

In an effort to streamline its relations with music publishers, YouTube has acquired RightsFlow, a New York start up that processes royalties for the music industry. Through the deal, YouTube will gain a system for processing royalty payments to tens of thousands of publishers whenever music is included in a video that is played on the site.

Wieden + Kennedy Portland was awarded shots magazine Agency of the Year.

JCPenney has hired PMK-BNC, an entertainment and consumer PR agency, to help refresh the retailer’s image.

Two firms, ZenithOptimedia and Group M, have released revised global forecasts for ad spending that suggest less growth in 2012 compared to what was predicted earlier this year.

Y&R has signed a lease to move to 3 Columbus Circle from 285 Madison Avenue around the middle of 2013.

Upcoming Events

December 13                AICP Foundation Holiday Party (New York, NY)

Accounts

Maine-based Via Agency has been selected to handle lead ad duties for Perdue chicken after a 40-year relationship with Deutsch and predecessor shops came to an end. Perdue in 2010 spent about $18.8 million on U.S. measured media.

After two and a half years of working with Butler, Shine, Stern & Partners, RadioShack is looking for a new creative shop.

Diet Coke’s account for North-West Europe is up for grabs, as Coca-Cola seeks new agency relationships to help push the brand’s collaboration with the fashion world.

Merck Consumer Care, a unit of Merck & Company, chose Publicis Worldwide to handle three creative assignments with combined spending estimated at close to $50 million. The assignments are for Miralax in the United States, the Dr. Scholl brand in Latin America, and a prospective new product in the United States. Publicis Worldwide joins Euro RSCG Worldwide on the global Merck Consumer Care agency roster.

Heineken is consolidating global media planning and buying at one agency, and is pitting roster shops Publicis Groupe’s Starcom MediaVest and WPP’s MindShare against each other in a review that will be completed by mid 2012.

Coca-Cola announced that Ogilvy Latina will be the lead agency for a new, global Cultural Leadership assignment.

Agency Creative/ Producers

David & Goliath Los Angeles has appointed Todd Grant as creative director.

DOJO San Francisco has appointed Edwin Veelo as senior creative.

McCann New York has hired Adam Ulvegärde and Robert Lund, a creative team from Forsman & Bodenfors in Sweden, as creative directors on McCann’s IKEA business.

Saatchi & Saatchi Australia has appointed Damon Stapleton as executive creative director. Stapleton joins from TBWA/Hunt/Lascaris in Johannesburg.

Johannes Leonardo has hired Luca Grelli as creative director working on clients including Google, Bacardi, Chanel, Coca-Cola and Anheuser-Busch InBev.

RKCR/Y&R has hired DDB’s Toby Talbot as executive creative director, replacing the outgoing ECD Damon Collins. Talbot is currently the group ECD of DDB New Zealand and regional creative director for DDB Asia Pacific.

Colorado-based Sterling-Rice Group has promoted Wade Paschall to group creative director. Before joining SRG, Paschall was a group creative director at Arnold Worldwide where he oversaw all creative work on the Jack Daniel’s account.

After an 18-month stint at independent Cramer-Krasselt, Anne Bologna is headed to MDC Partners to become a managing director at the holding company.

Venables Bell & Partners officially opened Lumberyard, a studio that will produce advertising and content to be used in digital and traditional media channels. The San Francisco ad agency has hired Deva Ferar as director of content development to manage the new operation.

Directors/Production

Believe Media has added French director Lionel Mougin to its roster.

The Famous Group has signed John X. Carey for live action directing.

Director Paul Iannacchino has signed with Washington Square Films for commercial representation.

Director Philippe Andre has joined Biscuit Filmworks for North American commercial representation.

Executive Producer Andrew Traines has joined The Sweet Shop to helm the US operations as Managing Director.

Director Mr. Hide has signed with @radical.media for commercial representation.

Design/Editorial/VFX

Bi-coastal production company Stardust has named Tania Staykova executive producer of its New York office.

Nice Shoes, the NYC-based design, animation, visual effects and color grading studio, has appointed Kristen Martini as managing director.

Spontaneous has hired VFX artist Ed Manning as CG supervisor based in its New York office.

Interactive

CP+B has appointed Tom Markham as digital creative director based in its Boulder office. Markham comes to CP+B from Lowe Worldwide where he was global digital creative director.

Misc.

WPP has entered a deal, subject to regulatory approval, to acquire public-affairs and government-relations firm The Glover Park Group.

Time Warner has hired Laura Lang, chief executive of the digital-ad firm Digitas, to run its Time Inc. magazine-publishing division, the nation’s largest magazine company.

Wieden+Kennedy, Amsterdam was awarded the Eurobest Film Grand Prix for Heineken’s ‘The Legendary Making of the Date’. Tribal DDB Amsterdam was named Interactive Agency of the Year.

Upcoming Events

December 13                AICP Foundation Holiday Party (New York, NY)

‘Where is your line?‘, an interactive short film for The Havens Crisis Center by Rattling Stick’s Sara Dunlop picked up 4 golds at the British Arrows Craft Awards, including Best Direction.

Accounts

BBDO, New York, will be the creative agency for Foot Locker, as well as sibling brands Lady Foot Locker and Kids Foot Locker, and has also picked up holiday creative work for the Foot Locker brand in the U.S.

 After 11 years with Austin, Texas-based GSD&M, Kohler has put its kitchen and bathroom creative account into review. Kohler last year spent about $24.5 million in measured media.

New York State has a new ad agency: BBDO was selected to handle the “New York Open for Business” global marketing push recently launched by Governor Andrew Cuomo.

Health-focused retailer GNC has chosen Durham, N.C.-based McKinney to serve as its new creative agency.

Digitas, Boston has been hired by Dunkin’ Donuts to handle loyalty marketing.

Arc Worldwide has been awarded creative and digital duties for Foster’s, Molson Canadian and Sparks. The win came without a review. Foster’s creative was previously handled on a project basis by Digitas. Digitas remains the digital agency-of-record for Miller Lite, and continues to handle other project work for the brewer.

For its expansion in the U.K. market, Carnival Cruise Lines won’t be using its U.S. agency, Arnold. The contenders for the $10 million UK assignment are M&C Saatchi, RKCR/Y&R, and Karmarama. 

Agency Creative/ Producers

Profero New York has hired Damian Claassens as head of creative. Claassens joins from Publicis Modem, New York, where he headed up creative on the agency’s LG Global account; prior to that, he was group creative director at AKQA New York.

DDB has appointed Simon Higby from DDB Stockholm to head up the creative department at DDB Copenhagen.

DDB Chicago has hired Argentinian creative team Ariel Abramovic and Bruno Acanfora from BBDO in Argentina to be associate directors.

Denver-based agency Karsh Hagan has promoted Matt Ingwalson and Sean Topping to creative directors.

Directors/Production

The Sweet Shop has hired Andrew Traines to helm its U.S. operations as managing director.

MRB Productions has signed Stephen Gyllenhaal to its roster as a commercial director.

Production and design studio The Department of the 4th Dimension (The D4D) has added actor/director Eric Stoltz to its roster.

Jeff Scruton, longtime executive producer at MJZ, has parted ways with the company.

Design/Editorial/VFX

Hollywood post studio Cinelicious has hired VFX supervisor and lead flame artist Ben Looram and is launching Cinelicious Take Out, a new model of ‘pop-up’ style visual effects and color creative delivered to any location.

Interactive

Publicis Modem has named Brian Skahan executive vice president, managing director of the digital agency’s New York office. Skahan was previously chief technology officer at Crispin Porter + Bogusky. Skahan replaces Hyo Young Yeon who left for the digital design consultancy, Fjord, where he was appointed president for its US offices.

Misc.

Netflix announced that it would partner with Fox to revive “Arrested Development” five years after its distributor pulled the plug on the series. New episodes will stream exclusively to Netflix subscribers starting in 2013.

Droga5’s Puma “After Hours Athlete”, directed by Ringan Ledwidge, scooped the Grand Prix and two golds at the Ciclope International Advertising Craft Festival.

Upcoming Events

November 28 – 31         Eurobest Advertsing Awards (Lisbon, Portugal)

December 13                AICP Foundation Holiday Party (New York, NY)

Accounts

JC Penney is bringing in Peterson Milla Hooks to work on its general market creative account, an account that for the last five years was handled exclusively by Saatchi New York.

Heineken USA is launching a creative review for its Amstel Light brand. The move ends a four-year run working with the Dallas-based Richards Group.

Dick’s Sporting Goods, which has traditionally handled its $60 million creative account in house, is looking for an agency.

Avis Budget Group has issued an RFP for its Avis advertising business, which McCann Erickson won in 1999. In 2010, Avis spent $1.6 million on measured media advertising – down from nearly $28 million as recently as 2007.

DDB has terminated its global contract with Anheuser-Busch InBev, freeing the agency to pursue other beer brands.

Grey has won creative ad duties for Mike’s Hard Lemonade after a review. Grey takes over the account from the New York office of Havas’ Arnold, which chose not to defend.

Bridgestone Corp. has selected Optimedia as its media-buying and -planning agency for the Bridgestone and Firestone tire brands. The selection follows a review in which a number of large media shops were competed for the more-than-$100-million account.

Agency Creative/ Producers

BBDO Minneapolis President/CCO Denny Haley is retiring. He will be succeeded by Neil White.

Anomaly has opened an office in Amsterdam, and appointed Hazelle Klonhammer, most recently md of Grey Amsterdam, as managing director.

California based Vitro has merged with the NYC Shop SKINNY to become Vitro New York, with a combined total of just over a hundred staffers.

McCann Worldgroup has appointed Fred Schuster to lead its new global creative production company (formerly known as EXP), reporting to Nick Brien, chairman and CEO. Prior to joining, Schuster was CEO of RedWorks, Ogilvy’s global integrated creative and production company.

Teddy Lynn has been appointed the first director of content at BBDO, New York. He will work closely with chief creative officer David Lubars to bolster the agency’s branded entertainment offerings.

Ron Shamah, who led business development at the SapientNitro New York office was promoted to vice president and managing director.

Directors/Production

Station Film has signed Borderline Films, the partnership of Antonio Campos, Sean Durkin and Josh Mond, for commercial representation.

Slim Pictures has added director Ludovic Schorno to its roster.

aWHITELABELproduct has signed director Alison Chernick for global representation.

Tool has joined forces with UK-based production company Mustard.

Believe Media has added French director Lionel Mougin to its roster.

Director/cameraman Marcus Stevens has joined The Artists Company.

Design/Editorial/VFX

New York based Animation Production company Blacklist has added director Saiman Chow to its roster for US representation.

Global VFX and digital studio, MPC, has announced the recent appointment of Justin Lane as managing director at its New York office.

Simon Mowbray has joined international visual effects company Pixomondo as a creative director.

Interactive

Walmart is dropping R/GA as its digital agency of record after a three-year relationship. The Martin Agency will now manage all digital-marketing needs.

U.K.-based digital agency LBi has acquired youth-marketing shop Mr. Youth for approximately $40 million.

Trailer Park has hired Adam Hauck as executive producer for its Interactive TV, Menus and Content division.

Digital Pulp has appointed Mitchell Caplan as partner and managing director.

Misc.

DraftFCB has appointed Peter Drakoulias global chief of staff, a newly-created position.

Penn State University’s Board of Trustees has enlisted Omnicom Group agency Ketchum for crisis communications counsel.

HBO, Sports Illustrated and Endgame Entertainment have partnered to develop a documentary series exploring how sport has shaped American culture. The series will air on HBO in 2013.

Weber Shandwick and a sister agency have both given up a PR account for Kellogg Co. only weeks after being awarded it, due to an apparent conflict of interest.

BBDO New York won Agency of the Year at the annual London International Awards.

For its 2012 event, Cannes has announced a new award category: mobile creative work.

Upcoming Events

November 28 – 31         Eurobest Advertsing Awards (Lisbon, Portugal)

December 13                AICP Foundation Holiday Party (New York, NY)

Accounts

Ikea is expanding its relationship with McCann, New York, now tasking the agency to overhaul the retailer’s website.

Casual dining chain Applebee’s is looking for a new creative agency. The incumbent, McCann Erickson, will not participate in the review. The chain spends more than $100 million annually on advertising.

Liqueur brand Grand Marnier is looking to increase its digital presence and has tapped Culver City, CA-based The WOO as its first-ever digital AOR.

After a review, Cramer-Krasselt Chicago has been selected to handle the estimated $50 million integrated account for the amusement park company Cedar Fair.

RAPP New York has been awarded digital creative duties for baby food/products brand Gerber.

After a year-long review, ExxonMobil has consolidated global advertising duties with Universal McCann for media, while global creative will largely be handled by BBDO Worldwide. Spending is estimated at $300 million.

Goodby Silverstein has resigned its remaining Hewlett-Packard business, ending a 16-year working relationship.

Agency Creative/ Producers

Thom Gruhler, previously president of McCann, New York, has been appointed global managing partner at McCann Worldwide.

After a ten-year absence from the TBWA network, Laurent Janneau has returned to assume the title of worldwide managing director for the agency’s global Infiniti account.

After 35 years at DDB, Bob Scarpelli will officially step down at the end of this year.

Mark Moll is moving from New York to Chicago to assume the title of SVP/creative director at Leo Burnett.

Directors/Production

Directing duo dom & nic have signed with Station Film for U.S. representation.

Design/Editorial/VFX

Lauren Bleiweiss has been hired as executive producer at Final Cut New York.

The Armory, a new company representing a collection of directors and designers in high-end visual effects, live action, motion graphics, branding and design, launched in Los Angeles.

Jill Silberstein, formerly executive producer at Mother Productions, has joined New York-based Sound Lounge as executive producer.

Misc.

Chris Franklin of Big Sky Editorial won the HPA Award for Outstanding Editing of a Commercial for Ogilvy’s American Express “Curtain”, directed by Bryan Buckley.

Paris-based ad holding company Publicis Groupe and one of its clients, France Telecom-Orange, are setting up a new venture capital fund to finance digital-age startups. The two companies said they would invest an initial $200 million, and intend to invite undisclosed others to invest another $200 million.

Disney Interactive Media and YouTube have signed an agreement to invest $10 million to $15 million developing three original video series for distribution on Disney.com and YouTube.

EMI Group Ltd has been sold in two parts for $4.1 billion. Universal Music Group has agreed to buy the recording division for $1.9 billion. The publishing division in charge of songwriting copyrights, was sold to Sony/ATV, for $2.2 billion.

Activision Blizzard’s Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 has become the biggest entertainment launch ever with an estimated $400 million in sell-through revenue and more than 6.5 million units sold in North America and the U.K. in the first 24 hours of its release.

Upcoming Events

November 8                         UK Music Video Awards (London)

November 8 –10                 Ad:tech Conference (New York)

November 11                       Saatchi & Saatchi New Directors’ Showcase (Shanghai)

November 28 – 31             Eurobest Advertsing Awards (Lisbon)

Congrats to Caviar’s Daniel Wolfe and So Me on their UK Music Video Awards!

Congratulations to Kohle Yohannan who took home The Lucie Award for Photography Curator/Exhibition of the Year for “Beauty Culture” at The Annenberg Space for Photography!

Accounts

Famous Footwear has named Y&R, Chicago its new creative agency after a review. The company has about $31 million in measured media.

Mike’s Hard Lemonade is reviewing ad agencies less than two years after handing the account to ArnoldNYC. The measured media spend in 2010 was $10.2 million.

Anheuser-Busch InBev has picked Starcom USA to handle U.S. media-planning and research duties after a review that included six agencies.

After a review, Philips has divided its more than $100 million global media business between MPG and the incumbent, Carat.

McLaren, the sports car company that was launched last year, has announced a global review.

Agency Creative/ Producers

Three months after taking up a senior post at Ogilvy, New York, John Kottmann is moving to DDB. In his new role, Kottman replaces James Lou who served as both U.S. Chief Strategy Officer and head of strategy for DDB Chicago. Lou will now focus on the U.S. full-time.

Digital agency Blast Radius has appointed former StrawberryFrog creative director Serena Connelly as ECD, East Coast and Mark Waggoner, formerly of Razorfish joins as ECD, West Coast.

Johannes Leonardo has hired Aaron Phua as creative director.

Creative director Judith Grey has left KBS+P.

Y&R New York has hired Rick Liebling into the new position of Creative Culturalist, with a brief to provide clients with greater context and understanding of how people are creating and participating in culture. Prior to joining Y&R, Liebling was director of digital strategy at Coyne PR.

Grey Amsterdam has appointed Marika Zijp as creative director.

San Francisco-based agency Eleven has hired Mike McKay, formerly of BBDO, Saatchi, and Goodby Silverstein, to serve as a partner and its first-ever chief creative officer.

Pittsburgh-based agency Brunner has named Rob Schapiro as executive creative director. Brunner was most recently senior vice president, creative director at the Martin Agency.

Grant Smith and Rick Ardito are returning to BBDO New York on the AT&T account under Greg Hahn.

Directors/Production

Rattling Stick, the U.K. production company founded by directors Daniel Kleinman and Ringan Ledwidge together with president Johnnie Frankel, will open an office in LA this month. Feature and commercial producer Jennifer Barrons joins as Partner/EP.

Andy Garcia has signed with Dark Light Pictures for representation as a commercial director.

Independent has added director Ed Sayers to its roster.

Chicago-based Radar Studios has hired director AK and visual effects duo COPA.

Editor Adam Zuckerman has signed with First Wave for commercial representation.

Uber Content has added Director Keith Rivers to its roster for global commercial representation.

Design/Editorial/VFX

Red Car has signed Josh Towvim.

Interactive

Publicis Groupe, Paris, is aligning Digitas Health and Razorfish Health, with the Publicis Healthcare Communications Group. Digitas Health and Razorfish Health will operate as stand-alone units inside Publicis Healthcare.

Misc.

McCann Global Health, New York, is being formed by McCann Healthcare Worldwide and will be based in a unit of the agency, the RCW Group. The group will specialize in public health education efforts.

Omnicom Group has acquired a majority stake in Mudra Group, India’s top agency.

Beattie McGuinness Bungay announced the launch in London of BMB Media, a joint venture with Omnicom-backed agency Goodstuff Communications.

In an attempt to build a more advertiser-friendly product of professional-quality video, YouTube announced its entry into original programming. The video site has partnered with content creators to launch 100 new video channels. The partners include Hollywood production companies, celebrities and new media groups that will produce mainly niche-oriented videos. YouTube is advancing $100 million to the producers who will share ad revenues with the site.

DOC NYC, Morgan Spurlock and Grey New York announced the creation of Launch PAD, an initiative designed to help connect documentary filmmakers with prospective brand partners.

Canon unveiled a new high-end digital video camera called Cinema EOS.

Upcoming Events

November 8         UK Music Video Awards (London, UK)

November 8 – 10 Ad:tech Conference (New York, NY)

Rattling Stick’s Ringan Ledwidge directs ‘Life Story‘, a powerful new spot for children’s charity Barnardo’s out of BBH.