Agencies

So, it looks like General Motors’ decision to cut Big Fuel from its agency roster is having a lasting effect as we’ve received confirmation from sources familiar with the social media agency that there have been cuts made across departments in the New York office which were all tied to the loss of the automaker’s account.

Perhaps the most notable casualty, though, in the wake of the GM loss is Big Fuel’s Detroit office, which sources tell us is now closed. Big Fuel opened its Motor City Branch at the end of 2010 following its selection as social media AOR for GM. We’ve been told by our sources that there are still some Big Fuel employees in Detroit, but they are working out of sister Publicis Groupe agencies.

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It was only weeks ago that we mentioned the “Restaurant Catch-Up” blog started by Mendelsohn Zien, which, if you need a refresher, was fully acquired by Japanese agency network Hakuhodo in 2009 and renamed MZ Advertising. But judging from the image above, which is all that greets you when you visit the Santa Monica, CA agency’s homepage, it looks like activity has come to a halt at MZ (links to staff pages including that of Richard Zien have been met with the ol’ “404 Not Found” message).

Perhaps they’re just retooling their site? Whatever the case, we’re still waiting for the West Coast to wake up, but inquiries have been sent to our contacts at MZ, which perhaps never recovered from losing longtime client CKE Restaurants at the end of 2009 (though it still counted clients including Qantas Airways and Farmer John).

 

 

 

 

When the New Orleans Hornets roll into Madison Square Garden tonight to play the white hot New York Knicks, “Linsanity” will be at an all-time high.

By now, even those who haven’t paid attention to the NBA since the days of Michael Jordan have heard about Jeremy Lin, the Harvard-educated, Chinese-American point guard who’s seemingly come out of nowhere to lead the Knicks to a miraculous seven-game winning streak. With each new victory, Lin’s bandwagon grows exponentially. Accordingly, the sports media perpetuates Lin’s growing legend at every opportunity, asking questions like, “Are New York’s Most Exclusive Restaurant’s More Eager to Sit Jeremy Lin or Eli Manning?”

Apparently, “Linsanity” is even spreading to the world of marketing agencies. In fact, Lexington, Kentucky-based agency Cornett Integrated Marketing Solutions is honoring New York’s biggest start by renaming itself “Cornett LINtegrated Marketing Solutions.” According to company president Kip Cornett, “Like Mr. Lin, we are an under-the-radar entity. Although Cornett represents national brands…the world hasn’t experienced the agency’s game-changing work just yet. The world has yet to experience our supreme LINtegrated marketing approach. Although they’re showing no LINperfections, we’re going to keep our new branding until Lin’s New York Knicks lose.”

Yes, readers, we agree that “silly publicity stunt is silly.” But cheer up, buttercups. It’s Friday, and the Knicks still haven’t lost yet. So, what are you waiting for? Jump on the bandwagon while it’s still fun, and somehow work a Jeremy Lin article into your agency’s blog. It’s an SEO booster, if nothing else.

Well, we haven’t really heard from G2 since the holidays (remember this?), so let’s bring you up to speed for one hot minute. We’ve received confirmation that the agency has parted ways with both director of talent acquisition Anna Mintzer and group director, talent acquisition Nancie Rinaldi.

The staff shift follows the recent hiring of one Deborah Hankin (pictured), who officially joined G2 over three weeks ago to serve as executive director, talent management for the agency’s USA operations (which currently includes four offices). Hankin has worked in the past on both the account and recruiting sides at the likes of JWT, Wunderman, Deutsch and what was then FCBi. As for Mintzer, the former G2 talent director spent nearly five years helping lead recruiting efforts at G2 while Rinaldi had spent only seven months at the agency after joining from MediaVest.

 

We’re not entirely sure if this is a legitimate website hacking or a publicity stunt, but from the looks of it, Amsterdam-based agency Pool Worldwide and film production company LEV Pictures have found themselves on the wrong side of internet vigilante group, Anonymous. The above message appears on the homepage of each of the companies’ websites and includes a link to this video:

According to the site’s page title, two anons that run by “F33LT” and “Cr8wCk3r” are responsible for the hack job. If these names sound familiar, it’s because the pair was reportedly responsible for taking down a Brazilian government website in August (though “Cr8wCk3r” is spelled “Cr3wCk3r” in that case).

If we are correctly deducing Anonymous’ reasoning behind this website hack, a Pool Worldwide and LEV pictures viral video collaboration used Anonymous’ name as part of a marketing stunt. Utilizing borrowed interest to turn a profit? Well, it certainly sounds like a plausible event in the world of advertising. It’s funny, because Google didn’t bat an eye when Pool Worldwide turned Maps into a first-person shooter last December. So, dear readers, if you have any information on whether or not Anonymous really is turning its attention toward the world of advertising, please let us know in the comment section.

After spending barely six months at Arnold Worldwide as VP, creative director, Tim Allen has moved on and assumed the newly created position of creative director, experience design at SapientNitro’s Boston office. In his new role, Allen will oversee “navigation, organization and interaction design” across web, mobile and digital.

The creative is perhaps best known for his three-year stint at R/GA, where he helped redesign the agency’s much-lauded Nike+ platform. Now at SapientNitro’s Boston branch, which has worked with clients including Dunkin Donuts and Ram, Allen will join an agency that counts over 100 creatives on its roster.

From what we hear from sources, Zach Hilder has moved on from his ACD post at BBH New York to creative director at 72andSunny. No confirmation on this yet, but you may remember Hilder as the guy who created an image called “Fuck Photoshop Pencil” (above). Yes nerds and those alike, we’ve heard from sources that he is heading to the MDC-owned 72. During his career, he’s worked  as a copywriter at the likes of Energy BBDO and Hal Riney.

 

Yep, since it’s Valentine’s Day, we’ll provide another round of agency efforts for the “holiday. We’re living in an age now when Facebook valentines are reality, so here’s an effort from Y&R and sister agency VML. So who “like, likes” you the most? Figure it out here.

And while we’re on the social media tip, R/GA is doing its own thing with something called “Valentweet,” where you can use Twitter to reach out to your crush and let the agency for the digital age do the rest.Yes, Office Cupid is here, folks, so if you’re feeling frisky, get caught in the crosshairs.

 

We haven’t heard much from the MRM camp since their interesting “Lobby Laundry” experiment, but now, the agency has announced that it’s opened up a new branch Down Under, specifically Melbourne. The McCann Worldgroup digital unit’s new Aussie office will house a leadership team that includes senior creative team Natasha Wood and Matt Stoddart, who arrive from Wunderman, digital director Renee Stewart, social media/CRM strategist Daniel Gray, senior digital producer Ash Pegram and senior designer Cayne Snowden. Meanwhile, overseeing MRM Melbourne will be regional director, Asia-Pacific Mark Cripps.

Update: As tipsters noted this morning, Patricia Berns, who’s spent the last few years as EVP, worldwide account director on Verizon at McCann Worldgroup, is moving back to the West Coast to serve as managing director of MRM’s San Francisco office. She will replace Tim Cunningham, who is moving up to the role of chief strategy officer at the agency. In addition, MRM announced that Andy Queen, current CFO, Eastern region U.S., will become EVP, director of commercial operations, The America’s while EVP/CTO Andy Jacobs, currently EVP/CTO, will be bumped up to EVP, CTO and director of global partnerships

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?