Capital One in the UK has changed agencies for its advertising account -- dropping one Omnicom agency (DDB London) for another one (AMV BBDO) (ed note: isn't it a little like dropping one girl to take up with her sister?)

Anyway, the account is worth about $80m (£40m) -- and the reason is that there are new features that Capital One wants to pimp out and they want "a new creative strategy" to do so.

My favorite part:

"Stephen Woodford, DDB's UK chief executive, said: "We've had a successful relationship with Capital One and together we have recognised it is time for a fresh perspective on the brand. We wish them every success with AMV BBDO"."

In other words, "I'm fucking shattered that AMV is taking one of our biggest, highest profile accounts and we are left holding the bag -- hopefully Volkswagen & Phillips don't leave next -- prepare the axe to chop some underlings who were in no way responsible for the loss of the account so I can maintain my year-end bonus."

Good times all around...

Levi Strauss & Co (home of generic, but comfortable, jeans and khakis -- the excitement of DOCKERS!!!) is due to transfer its media and creative business back to BBDO Korea in June, ending an 18-month sentence with TBWA.

The pitch also included Lee DDB. While the reason for the review has not been confirmed, Levi’s’ brand leader in Korea So Hee Kim commented that the Omnicom agency had demonstrated a sound understanding of the fashion industry and of the brand’s target consumer group (what else did you expect him to say?)

BBDO held Levi’s Korean account for four years before the brand appointed TBWA as its agency of record.

Tom Sebok, Managing Director of BBDO New York, has taken flight for Y&R pastures. He'll be leading the shop's North American operations as CEO. Nice fricking jump, dude.

With Mitsubishi Motors North America gone from BBDO coffers, the agency has had to take some action. The shop laid off 10-15 employees that included a SVP title or two from its New York and Los Angeles offices. Good luck to those folks who are now on the hunt.

But... the overall BBDO picture ain't so bad. The firm just won
the Global Imaging and Printing Group assignment from HP ($200
million). Meanwhile, the San Francisco office picked up $50 million from their Harrah's Resort & Casino, Comcast, NBC Universal accounts.

BBDO also just opened new in-house design and production service capabilities to expand client services, so all is not lost.

Tribble points us to a new scandal for the downtrodden GSD&M. Seems the agency is getting sued. The Austin Statesman, spends quite a bit of time following the turmoils of the shop and from their pages, it seems:

"The lawsuit stems from a national advertising campaign that depicts a man waiting to check in for a flight who is asked by attendants to spin a wheel for a prize: a seat on a large plane. A song similar to the theme from "The Price Is Right" plays."

The client, Southwest Airlines, is also named in the suit. The onus is on , owners of the show, to prove that consumers will be confused by the and say, head to the airline's website rather than that of the iconic game show. You might think this is an impossibility. However, consumers can be daft. Totally daft.

Agencies and brands are always getting sued. With their army of lawyers, you'd think they could secure this kind of stuff out of the gate. For example - take the Addams Family themed spots created by BBDO for Mars' brand M&M. The agency and brand cleared only some of the rights with the "Addam's Family Foundation," failing to clear incidentals on the usage rights for likeness of the characters portrayed in the print and TV spots. Mars is now being sued, though BBDO stays in the clear. Ryan Bowling, a spokesperson for Mars, said that it was the company's policy not to comment on pending litigation. C'est la vie.

More piling into India seems to be in Omnicom's future. The company's TBWA division is getting ready to strengthen its presence in India by launching five new divisions or um, buying them. The major focus would be on areas such as lead generation, events, promotions, direct marketing, retail channel development and management, activation and audience development. The first shop to land their will most certainly be Agency.com.

“We are looking at possible acquisitions for retail activation and event management to start with,” Keith Smith, president (international), TBWA Group told Business Standard.

TBWA India has brought Shiv Sethuraman on board from Ogilvy Paris as the chief executive officer to oversee operations of both TBWA and Tequila brands in India. Shiv will be a guiding hand for Tequila what has a had a rough time in India thus far.

Meanwhile, Omnicom shop BBDO has selected two new CDs for the shop: Sandipan Bhattacharya and Manoj Deb as executive creative directors. Both men worked at Grey Delhi before joining the team. The move is expected to be followed a placement for a CEO.

With the inevitable loss of its $155-million Mitsubishi Motors account on the horizon, BBDO Los Angeles seems to be in danger of closing up shop.

Once Mitsubishi leaves BBDO LA, there won't be a heck of a lot left to do there. And staffers are already on the prowl for new gigs.

Considering the state of TBWA Chiat NY, the higher-ups at Omnicom must be using Maalox as a mixer for their evening nightcaps.

Usually, when people think of Harrison Ford, they get a warm, fuzzy feeling. They think of years past... Star Wars marathons, seeing Indiana Jones on the big screen, dressing up like an Amish guy for Halloween because you loved Witness so much...

However, as nice a guy as Harrison might seem to be in all the Barbara Walters interviews, he's apparently not such an easy guy to work with when making an ad. Even an ad to promote an environmental cause he's involved with.

BBDO NY is currently developing a campaign with the actor, and he has attempted to rewrite the creatives' scripts himself... multiple times.

He's finicky about scripts, mainly because he's so concerned about his voice and face being attached to the project. Not because the scripts or concepts are bad... but because... well, he's a celebrity and celebs apparently have earned the right to be difficult.

He's apparently so finicky, in fact, that his demanded changes completely decimated a scheduled shoot in Latin America to get the campaign rolling.

Oh, Harrison. Just go with it. BBDO does great work.

"Luck let a gentleman see/
Just how nice a dame you can be/
I know the way youve treated other guys you've been with/
Luck be a lady with me/"

BBDO West and PHD West are singing this tune right now. The pair have won creative and media duties for the Harrah's Entertainment casino and resort properties. AdWeak is reporting an estimated $50 million annual spend on domestic ads. The duo have edged out TracyLocke and media incumbent Horizon Media in Los Angeles. TracyLocke will retain local advertising work. Who knows about Horizon.
"This is category that we've wanted to get into, and to get into it with one of the most recognized brands is fantastic," said Peter Sherman, managing director of BBDO West in San Francisco and Los Angeles.

This follows RPA's win yesterday of the Mandalay Bay Resort and Casino. The lady is getting around this week, no?

Good. So very good. Cheers to BBDO, director Sam Mendes and HBO for going there.
HBO seems to always go there. The channel has also launched a YouTube channel, which features full-length episodes of struggling programs such as "In Treatment," which need to build audiences and promo clips from "Flight of the Conchords," "The Wire," and others hits fit for the demo. Sweet.