With the upcoming launch of Fox Sports’ potential ESPN rival Fox Sports 1 on August 17, the brand has chosen Pereira & O’Dell New York as lead creative agency for its 24-hour sports network. This move expands a relationship that began in the spring as P&O’D had already been working on a project basis on 1-2 assignments for Fox Sports 1. In a statement, Fox Sports EVP/head of marketing Robert Gottlieb says, “We’ve never brought in an outside creative agency on a continuous basis as we have significant in-house capabilities. With Pereira & O’Dell  we have found a great partner who  can operate as a creative think-tank as we enter the market with Fox Sports 1. We’re thrilled with their  initial work and look forward to what’s    coming down the pipeline.”

What’s coming down the pipeline includes not only work for upcoming Fox Sports 1 shows like Fox Sports Live, Fox Football Daily and Crowd Goes Wild but a big campaign supporting Super Bowl XLVIII, which will take place in New York. While Pereira & O’Dell gets down to work, its newest client is still trying to iron out deals with Time Warner Cable, DirecTV and Dish.

We first heard about this at the beginning of July and at the time, the Arnold camp couldn’t confirm that Curt Detweiler had assumed a senior-level post at the Havas-owned agency. Well, what do we have here, it appears that Detweiler has updated his LinkedIn to show that he’s now EVP/managing director/ECD at Arnold Worldwide. It doesn’t seem too far-fetched considering that Arnold’s global CEO is Robert LePlae, who in 2009 while serving as McCann North America president, brought on Detweiler as the agency’s North American creative chief.

LePlae eventually split from McCann in fall 2011 and landed at Arnold a year ago to initially assume the role of global president. As for Detweiler, the creative exec remains based out of San Francisco it appears. We’re trying to get  confirmation on his arrival and specifics such as his start date from Arnold, but as you may know, Detweiler spent several years as a creative director at various TBWA offices and served as partner/ECD at the now-defunct Ground Zero before joining McCann.

Sure, we’ve seen far more clever routes being taken by creatives in order to land an agency (we think this guy set the bar), but hey, we can always appreciate those taking more standard steps to sell themselves. Take for instance this enterprising Toronto guy/gal who among other things, boasts via Craigslist that he/she does one hell of an impression of characters from The Mighty Boosh, the U.K. comedy troupe that had a show on BBC years ago. Not sure if that will really help this digital copywriter’s cause, but hey, there’s this:

“Perks of working with me include:

-The submission of polished, timely work
-Full access to my knowledge of obscure rap music
-A delicious curry dish at every office potluck (it’s all I know how to cook)
- My impersonations of characters from The Mighty Boosh
-A two-week break from my Mighty Boosh impersonations at Christmas

Your duties will involve:

-Paying me every two weeks
-Occasionally supplying me with coffee
-Providing me with at least one healthcare benefit”

Not sure if this person’s looking locally, but if so, your move, Toronto agencies. Hey, we like the moxie.

We first inquired about this two weeks ago when the tips came in and have yet to hear back, but there seem to have been some notable defections in recent times from West Studios. If the name doesn’t ring a bell, West is the San Francisco-based shop that was launched two years ago by former Apple global marketing communications head, Allison Johnson, and was initially co-funded by Twitter co-founder, Jack Dorsey (we’re being told that Dorsey has since distanced himself from the company). During its initial launch, West was headed up by Johnson, former Martin Agency GCD Keith Cartwright and Katalyst digital head, Sarah Ross.

Well, as tipsters have pointed out, the latter two are no longer at West and in fact Cartwright doesn’t even acknowledge his time at the operation on their LinkedIn profiles. Of course, these aren’t the only notable departures from the SF shop in recent months. Travis Britton, former Cutwater principal/ECD who joined West as chief experience officer last year, has parted ways as has COO, Amanda Kelso (former W+K ECD Todd Waterbury was also in the mix but is now of course serving in the same role at Target). And today, we’re hearing that a major client is on the outs with the shop. We’re putting in more inquiries to the rather secretive West Studios, and will try to clarify what the state of the union is as soon as we hear more.

-TDA_Boulder continues with more outdoor hijinks for FirstBank in a new campaign that emphasizes the word “free” while making folks wonder, “so, what’s the catch?” (above)

-Devin Brook has taken the helm as managing partner of Brand New School’s L.A. and New York studios.

-Apple is set to unveil the next iPhone on Sept. 10. link

-Vulture asks Breaking Bad‘s Bob Odenkirk to analyze actual lawyer ads. link

-Forgot to mention this on Friday, but if you haven’t heard, Y&R has been tapped as the first global agency of record for the Special Olympics, which will hold its World Summer Games in Los Angeles from July 25-August 2, 2015. Ad duties will be handled out of Y&R’s New York office.

We figured we’d hold off on posting about this until this afternoon because it’s Friday and you might actually be able to view this in full, if you haven’t already, because it deserves to be.  Werner Herzog, the legendary director, writer and/or producer of a million projects including Grizzly Man during his 50-year career, has gone behind the camera once again for the above documentary, From One Second to the Next. This is the epic, poignant, sad and important extension of the ongoing “It Can Wait” PSA campaign initially launched by AT&T that has now been supported by the other major wireless carriers including Sprint, T-Mobile and Verizon.

Herzog, along with BBDO New York, continues to hammer the message home that texting while driving doesn’t shouldn’t mix via the tales of four different people who were affected by it on either end of the spectrum. Be safe this weekend and if you’d care to, take the “It Can Wait” pledge here. Credits after the jump.

Read more

-Blind Item: SF Management Supervisor Crowdsourcing Love

-Jason Sudeikis Confuses American Football with Soccer for NBC Sports

-Ogilvy Cuts More Staff in Chicago

-Mark Taylor Leaves CP+B…Again

-McGarryBowen Parts Ways with ECD, CFO

-Coca-Cola Makes Personalized Billboards with Geofence Technology

-Mackler, TBWA C\D NY Part Ways

As you may recall, a few weeks ago, the Publicis Groupe agency now known as DigitasLBi unveiled a new logo complete with a unicorn (see Vine intro clip below). Despite a few folks scratching their heads about it, DigitasLBi apparently remains undeterred in celebrating their new magical, mystical mascot as you can see above. The image was posted on Facebook earlier this week and features DigitasLBi North America CEO Tony Weisman and, yes, a pony dolled up as a unicorn. You can just feel the enthusiasm though none more so than from the guy dressed like a conductor standing behind them. Where was our invite? Anyways, happy Friday!

-President/creative director Rick Colby and CEO Andrew Orci have officially launched Santa Monica-based shop COR, which we’ve been told is “dedicated to serving the new general market.” Oh yeah, COR, which works with brands including Sutter Home and Cox Cable, will also be appearing on this season of AMC’s The Pitch. link

-Arnoldnyc has unveiled the first national TV spot for “personal genetics” company, 23andMe (above).

-A VentureBeat writer wonders what’s wrong with mobile ads. link

-Victors & Spoils CEO John Winsor tells us why agencies are to blame for deferred payments.

-Facebook is proceeding with caution when it comes video ads because Mark Zuckerberg apparently doesn’t want to annoy the social network’s one-billion-plus members. link

-Two months after taking over lead creative duties on Cadillac, Boston-based IPG agency Hill Holliday has found a new chief strategy officer in Graham Ritchie, who heads to the States after serving as managing partner of Publicis Mojo, Australia and New Zealand.

-TBWA\Chiat\Day LA has appointed Peter Ravailhe as managing director of its Gatorade account.

-Fresh fruit arrangement specialist Edible Arrangements has appointed The Richards Group and Horizon Media as its creative and media AOR, respectively.

-Canadian-based Scotiabank has enlisted a variety of odd characters to support its 2013 AIDS Walk for Life, which will take place Sept. 14-22 (above). link

-Whitehouse Post has welcomed editor/Spot Welders alum Lucas Spaulding to its Los Angeles office.

-YouTube founders Chad Hurley and Steve Chen are back with a new, free mobile app called MixBit. link