Agencies

Word on the Spy line is that Lacey Waterman, the gal behind the infamous “Partnerganger” effort, which even merited a Q+A as a result of our post, is deciding on higher learning as her next gig. Waterman has spent the last two years serving as an art director for McCann in this here New York area. We’ve been told by sources that Yale is her destination and she’s seeking an MFA in design. Kudos, if so, and we’ll let you know.

Here’s a note from Waterman herself, who tells us,  “I’ve decided to take a break from advertising and attend Yale for my MFA in Graphic Design to refine my craft and further develop as a creative thinker. Now that I have some work experience under my belt, I’m going back to school with a fresh perspective and I’m looking forward to applying what I’ve learned in advertising to my work at Yale. It’s sad to step away from the life I’ve built for myself in New York, but I’m excited for this new chapter in my life.”

Somehow, yours truly was able to hit up three events last night (yeah, we know, it’s a hard knock life, but I’m getting old), the last being the CLIO Awards, which once again took place at the American Museum of Natural History way the hell uptown and under dreary skies in NYC. Regardless of the gloom, we felt rather uplifted from MC/plastic surgery advocate Joan Rivers and her self-deprecating humor. Despite what seemed to be laryngitis, the comedienne rallied on and made the requisite Kardashian jokes, showed off her starring spot in a BF Goodrich ad from the 1800′s and presented the Grand Clio to Volkswagen.

Please allow us to apologize for the shitty image, but then again, it was standing room only and our section was booked. Anyhow, it was heartwarming that outgoing Ogilvy & Mather chairman Shelly Lazarus spoke highly of one of her “best friends” and CLIO Lifetime Achievement Award winner, Piyush Pandey. With his brilliant Rolly Fingers-esque moustache and all, Pandey was humble even after Lazarus dubbed the 30-year O&M vet the “godfather of modern Indian advertising.” From then on, through the reels, multiple presentations, etc., we somewhat started to glaze over, so before you do, check out the full CLIO 2012 winners list here. By the way, we once again loved the Spinal Tap-ish labyrinth to get to the show, which gives us an opportunity to view taxidermy at its finest.

Well, guess barely eight months was long enough for Mark Modesto to figure out that it was time to see what lies beyond MARC USA. Modesto, the 30-year Draftfcb alum who joined MARC’s Chicago operation last October as president, is now assuming the CEO position at Ryan Partnership, an integrated marketing agency that has offices in Wilton, CT, Chicago, San Francisco and Columbus, OH and is housed within the Hyper Marketing fold. Modesto isn’t going it alone, though, as his old MARC partner-in-crime John Immesoete, who served as ECD at said agency, is also joining Ryan Partnership as its new CCO. The MARC alums will officially join Ryan on June 4.

Anyhow, you might remember the name Zain Raj, who took over as president/CEO when SolutionSet and MediaWhiz merged last summer and then ultimately assumed the CEO title when SolutionSet/MediaWhiz joined forces with D.L. Ryan to form Hyper Marketing at the beginning of this year. Anyhow, check out the lengthy memo from Raj regarding the new hires after the jump.

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Last week, Miami Ad School graduate and art director-for-hire Felicia Carr caused an online firestorm when she sent out a phony press release claiming that Gerry Graf‘s NY creative shop, BFG900o, had hired her, making her their first MAS alum employee.

Now, whether or not you think Carr’s attention-grabbing ploy was wise or not, or whether you think she should’ve checked her facts to make sure that BFG (which continues to add to its client roster)) really hadn’t hired any MAS alums in the past (they had), you have to admit that Carr got the industry’s attention for better or worse. It also seems, judging by the following press release we just received from one “Welsworth Ellington,” Carr has inadvertently created her own fan club:

BARTON F. GRAF 9000 HIRES ITS FIRST MIAMI AD SCHOOL STUDENT AS GLOBAL CCO

NEW YORK (May 14, 2012) – It was enough to make Gerry say “who the fuck?” But it had to happen. Barton F. Graf 9000 has hired Ari Bazinsky, Miami Ad School Grad, as their Global CCO.

At first glance it doesn’t make any sense. He only has two-and-a-half years experience. The agency doesn’t have a Global CCO position. And BFG 9000 has never actually “heard of him.” So why would they start shopping at the overpriced plain white t-shirt factory of portfolio schools? Because Ari Bazinsky is the shit.

They first became aware of Ari when his 40k banner ad for Toyotathon appeared on their computer screens. As soon as they saw the words “click here to learn more,” BFG 9000 knew they had something special on their hands.

But it’s not just his superior writing skills that attracted them. What really impressed the agency were his forward-thinking initiatives. In fact, Ari’s first order of business is to cancel BFG’s broadband Internet service and invest in a school of high-speed carrier pigeons. It’s a ballsy move for sure, but no great reward comes without risk. Just imagine if Ben Franklin had never flown his kite. Or Kim Kardashian never made a moderately entertaining – albeit anticlimactic – sex-tape with a C-list rapper. Barton F. Graf 9000 believes Ari’s unique vision and groundbreaking ideas will bring that same level of success to their agency.

BFG 9000 is proud to welcome Ari to the family and looks forward to making their own moderately entertaining – albeit anticlimactic – sex-tape with him on-board.

We got in touch with Ellington, who turned out (surprise) to be copywriter Ari Bazinsky (pictured) from Saatchi & Saatchi (Graf’s old stomping grounds, of course). He tells us, “My goal wasn’t really to get press, it was more to have fun with Felicia Carr (who hatched her own ballsy, if not ill-conceived, plan last week)… I can’t really say that I had much in the way of expectations when I wrote this ‘press release,’ but her article made me chuckle and I thought this would be funny.” Is Carr slowly turning into her own meme? If anything, her 15 minutes of fame have been longer than about 95 percent of everyone else we’ve written about on AgencySpy. So, uh, congrats, Felicia.

Just four episodes into its first season, is it possible that the days are already numbered for AMC’s advertising reality show, The Pitch? After two weeks in the Monday, 10pm/9c time slot, the cable network seems to have permanently shifted The Pitch, now scheduling it to air on Sundays at 11pm/10c.

Obviously, this is a strategic move to glean viewers from Mad Men, which airs an hour earlier. But, AMC must also be hoping that America will actually stay up watching TV until midnight before they have to go to work the next day. In any case, this abrupt scheduling change surely caused many fans of the show to miss maybe this season’s most anticipated episode, which featured one of the country’s most talked-about young agencies and a food brand that’s recently shown us it’s willing to take risks to get noticed. (SPOILERS AHEAD!!!)

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After just a 10-month stint as VP of advertising at DirecTV, Michael Stefanski is returning to agency life and joining up with New York shop Amalgamated as not only managing director, but it’s fourth managing partner. Stefanski now joins the leadership/managing partner team that also includes CCO Eric Silver, CEO Brian Martin, and chief strategy officer Doug Cameron.

During his 15-year career, Stefanski served as SVP/senior director at BBDO, where he spent three years and had a four-year stint at JWT, where he eventually was appointed to partner/management director and oversaw the agency’s Domino’s account. As for Amalgamated, the agency’s current client roster includes the likes of Ben & Jerry’s, Coca-Cola brand Honest Tea, CarMax, MSG Networks and Patron brand, Ultimat Vodka.

Word on the street from multiple sources is that Josh Tavlin, who has spent just over a year as SVP/ECD at Momentum’s NY headquarters, is no longer with the agency. Tavlin, who also serves as an adjunct professor at Pratt, dubbed his alleged ex-employer one of “planet earth’s most eclectic experiential agencies.” Anyhow, you might remember Tavlin as a former SVP/group creative director at Ogilvy, where he spent nearly two decades but departed said agency along with fellow creatives Chris Mitton and Bruce Henderson at the beginning of last year. When reached for comment, we were transferred to Tavlin’s assistant at Momentum though direct contact was futile. We’ll keep you posted on the goings on once we get the official word, but we’re hearing that Tavlin was let go by Momentum yesterday.

Update: Momentum confirms that it has parted ways with Tavlin, and while not getting into specifics, the agency says, “We truly wish Josh the best in his next chapter.”

Here was the tip regarding David Shulman, who has served as president of Wunderman for the last two years: “David Shulman out of Wunderman NY.  Forced out, not sure where he is heading.” As Adweek reports, Shulman’s next destination is “unidentified,” but replacing him will be now-managing director Chris Loll. As for Shulman, the exec spent the majority of his career at Digitas, eventually moving up to managing director before heading to Enfatico to serve as chief digital officer for two years.

Update: We got word from the Wunderman camp, who tells us that “…Shu wasn’t forced out, quite the opposite, we wish he would stick around. We like him and he has done a great job with clients, staff and new business in New York. Whomever said that he was forced out simply has the facts wrong. Shulman left because he got a lead global position.” We’re trying to get word on where this “lead global position” exactly is. We’ll keep you posted.

Just days after the departure of executive creative director Jim DiPiazza, San Francisco-based shop Swirl has found his replacement in Kevin McCarthy, who has spent time as a creative director at Y&R San Francisco, ECD at Grey’s Bay Area location, VP/GCD at McCann and ECD/partner at MVBMS (formerly Euro RSCG).

John Berg, managing partner at Swirl, says of his latest hire in a statement, “Kevin is a masterful team builder. He is highly collaborative both internally and externally. His desire to work cross-platform makes him the perfect person to lead our creative efforts and help continue our growth.”

We’ve reached out several times to Chicago’s Element 79 but have no word, though from what we hear, the agency is still suffering from the loss of Harris Bank last year. One tipster paints a rather dire portrait, alleging that “layoffs at element 79 due to harris. 6 people let go and probably more to come with other client losses looks like element is in dire straits. Brian Williams the CEO to blame for all the loses. Once [former partner/CCO Dennis Ryan] left the agency to go to Olson the place has never been able to bounce back. Canice Neary the head creative has not helped the agency at all and he  stays under the radar.  They only have 4-5 accounts left. An agency that have 270 people three years ago is now down to 35 people left.”