Agencies

Oh well that’s a curious headline, isn’t it. Who’s the thief? Not important, because it rhymes and you’re reading this so now onto the point. We want to know what you think about planners.

Their weeks-long brief writing process has been proven enough that the practice is now an industry standard. And from a business perspective, there’s a lot that can be billed against with planning — research, time, bodies, and of course the decks, which can go a long way to selling through campaigns. So you might not like it, but those planners are probably helping pay your check.

And at the end of the day, this is business, and each day, it’s losing ground to industries that do a better job of quantifying results. There’s an argument to be made that planners help advertising get a step closer to legitimacy. That is, assuming your planner is actually doing his or her job.

There are quite a few agencies out there bucking the planner trend while others still rely quite heavily. But what do you think?

Create a social media strategy, launch your campaign, and track the results in our Social Media Marketing Boot Camp starting February 16. The online event and workshop will feature speakers including The Onion‘s Baratunde Thurston (left), Facebook’s Morin Oluwole, and bitly’s Tim Devane. Register now.

The fabricated holiday that is Valentine’s Day is fast approaching and, of course, the agency world is cashing in. Since we’ve already seen the W+K contribution, why not showcase other agencies who want to reach consumers who are stuck in Cupid’s crosshairs.

Durham, NC’s own McKinney has launched a web app called “Meet Me in the Photo Booth” that lets users invite a partner into a virtual photo booth (webcam necessary), take a few pics and share them on Facebook and Twitter or even print. The agency is also running a little contest where those who tweet their best pics to @mckinney can have a chance to snag a big box of chocolates in time for Valentine’s Day. So, we guess the winner gets to save a few bucks there and still comes out looking like a star.

 

Then there’s Y&R Singapore’s effort for Kirin beer called the “Beerbro-quet.” If your man, woman or friend prefers booze over flowers (and remember, it’s the thought that counts), why not indulge them with a 10-pack of Kirin Ichiban mini-cans?

Finally, this one’s been making the rounds, but Blast Radius is helping its client Starbucks turn Valentine’s Day into another augmented reality experience via a little “Cup Magic.” See demo below:

While we’re on the Minneapolis tip today, we should let you know that less than a year after leaving Fallon for fellow Twin Cities operation Carmichael Lynch, Dave Damman has been promoted to chief creative officer at the latter agency (the post was vacant for months and was last held by Jim Nelson).  Damman rejoined CL last March as ECD on Rubbermaid and First Energy accounts as well as new business pitches.

The new Carmichael Lynch CCO, who kickstarted his career at Saatchi & Saatchi New York as an art director and assumed the same title at TracyLocke among other agencies, will oversee a client roster that includes the aforementioned Rubbermaid (make that Newell Rubbermaid) as well as Subaru of America and Jack Link’s. Damman first joined Carmichael Lynch in 1996 and worked on Harley-Davidson and Brown Foreman.

Do you have an hour to spare tomorrow, say between 1-2 CST? Well, if so, Minneapolis agency Campbell Mithun, which is currently getting its search underway for a new set of interns, is hosting a live-streaming “talkinar” where the topic of discussion is what’s being dubbed “The Sharing Economy.” Sure, it sounds like something better suited for The McLaughlin Group, but hopefully the fast-paced clip above featuring a person armed with a Sharpie and a sleeve makes it that much more enticing (hey, there will be panelists!). If you’re so inclined to join in on the fun, head here.

Well, here’s some good news filtering out of the Big Fuel camp, though details are pretty hazy at this point. Sources familiar with the matter confirm that the social media agency has hired 30 people in the U.S. for an unnamed client. No word on whether the Publicis Groupe shop is staffing up in Detroit, New York or both, but following a major loss like GM, this isn’t the worst way to start off 2011.  As we try to dig for more info, your guess is as good as ours for now as to which client our sources are referring to exactly, but feel free to weigh in.

Each week, we’re sent hundreds of pieces of advertisement-y work that falls into the fun-to-watch-video category. There’s not enough time in the day to think up copy for all of them so here’s a round-up of the best ad-related video we’ve seen in the last 7 days. You’re welcome.

11. Just four days after the internet found out about people flying over New York City, 6 million views have been racked up on the YouTube clip for this campaign for the upcoming film Chronicle.

10. The second season of HBO’s Game of Thrones is coming on April 1, and this trailer gave more than a few of the show’s fans something to look forward to.

9. Augmented Reality flashed its toothy head this week in this AR world tour for National Geographic from Appshaker.

8. Acura is pushing its new NSX super car with the help of Jerry Seinfeld and Jay Leno, the car world’s biggest celebs.

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Our old pal Josh Siefert, senior marketing strategist at Brooklyn-based, IPG-owned digital shop HUGE, has returned. Let him regale you with a tale about CES. Take it away, sir.

I cannot for the life of me understand why anybody outside of the electronics industry goes to the consumer electronics show, least of all, ad agency people, digital or otherwise. Sure, everyone loves gadgets and using them may change consumer behavior over time, but walking the floors taking in the 20,000 different products that electronics giants are shilling strikes me as a colossal waste of time. Agencies perhaps have finally realized that digital actually changes the way consumers behave in their lives and subsequently interact with brands. But, showing up to a gadget show in an attempt to be more relevant? Bizarro.

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When was the last time we heard from MRM? Oh yeah, that’s right. Anyhow, the McCann Worldgroup digital/direct agency has a new global business leader in tow by the name of Jim Wayand, who will oversee, *sigh*, Team Intel. A six-year Microsoft vet, Wayand last helped lead global digital marketing efforts at the Redmond, WA institution. With the move to MRM, which will see him take a seat in the agency’s San Francisco office, Wayand will report to Dave Boede, president, Americas Region as the global “Team Intel” Executive Sponsor.

Cline Davis & Mann may not be the sexiest of names when it comes to the agency world, but figured we’d tell you that the global agency, which has a client roster ranging from Pfizer to Bayer HealthCare, has cut 10-15 percent of staff according to sources familiar with the matter. Apparently, there was a meeting called in the last few days to discuss a “new organizational structure” and those that were affected included CDM and CDMi New York as well as development team Link9, and the network’s San Francisco office might possibly be closing. Of course, we’ve reached out to the CDM higher-ups on the matter but have yet to hear back.

Barring any earth-shattering, groundbreaking addition to this tiring meme, we assure you that we will put the Shit blah blah says to bed with this submission from New York-based shop Bold Worldwide. We’re imagining the dialogue within isn’t too overstretched, but if folks at agencies really talked like this on a regular basis, it makes us that much more proud/relieved to be working from the outside looking in. Play on, players.