Doner

It looks like the one and only Paul McCartney is on the promotional trail, having released his peculiarly titled album “Kisses on the Bottom” this week. Macca as they call him is not only gearing up for a tour, but also took a day or two in London last month to shoot this spot that’s part of the ongoing Harman/JBL “Hear the Truth” campaign from Southfield, MI’s own, Doner. Sir Paul’s rather timely, new single, “My Valentine,” is the featured tune and we have to say, the man himself lo0ks pretty good for almost-70. Despite the low-key mood, we’ll take this over Maroon 5 any time. Look for this spot featuring McCartney in all his smooth, romantic form to break on the telly during the Grammys on Sunday.

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Have you ever been at a friend’s party when Maroon 5 comes blaring in on the house stereo system and thought, “Wow, this band sucks. Could it just be the speakers?” With JBL brand speakers, you can now put your theory to the test and come to the realization that, wow, Maroon 5 sucks even more in high definition sound than they do through cheap, generic speakers.

The “Hear the Truth” campaign from Doner and audio equipment manufacturer and marketer HARMAN features a truly bizarre variety of artists praising the quality of JBL speakers. So, what artists featured in the campaign do JBL speakers allow you to hear as the musicians intended? Aside from Maroon 5 (bleh), there’s China’s “King of Pop” Li Huan (huh?), sailing enthusiasts Styx (weird), 80s rockers Night Ranger (wait, really?), and Grammy and Academy Award-winning composer A.R. Rahman. We’ll assume that Christmas-destroyers Train prefer a different set of speakers.

The campaign featuring the lineup of artists is intended for a multiyear run on TV, in print, on the radio and through social media channels.

Well, here’s a tale of a Creative Circus grad made good, we suppose. Mike Brooks, who went to the school from 2000-2004, has joined the roster of Doner as creative director. We’re still awaiting word on what accounts he’s working on, but prior to Doner, Brooks (dressed here like one of Tony Soprano’s goons) worked at McCann Erickson’s Birmingham, MI office as an ACD across all media and spent three years as an art director at Organic before that.

Update: Brooks started this week and will be working on various agency accounts in Doner’s HQ.

Six months after Campbell Ewald vet Craig Conrad left for Doner to serve as EVP, brand leader, another C-E exec, Tena Hermance, has followed suit and made the move from Warren to Southfield, MI. By joining Doner as SVP, brand leader, Hermance actually marks her second tour of duty at the agency, having first signed on in 1991 as an account executive.

During her first stint at Doner, Hermance played a role in helping the agency win Mazda and was part of the team that launched the initial campaigns for the automaker. While at Campbell-Ewald, meanwhile, Hermance held the title of VP, management supervisor on the General Motors CRM business as well as the U.S. Navy and National Flight Academy accounts. Now, in her new role at Doner, Hermance will be responsible for direct response brand positioning and strategic planning across several agency accounts and will also have a hand in new biz dev.

 

Tim Blett, who has served as senior partner, president at Doner and helped establish its Newport Beach, CA office, has parted ways with the agency. Blett has been a Doner staffer since 1986, originally joining in a new business development role.  We have the official memo sent from Rob Strasberg and David DeMuth regarding Blett’s departure, which you can read after the jump.

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First off, we’d like to apologize for the janky sound on this clip. If you positively cannot watch this clip solely due to the audio lag, you can watch a better version of the spot here.

Anyways, “Anthem” marks Southfield, MI’s own Doner’s first work for Choice Hotels after being named lead creative agency for the brand last December. Aside from encouraging you to stand on your luggage (which can actually be a ton of fun if you’ve haven’t tried it and don’t travel with wine glasses in your bag), the spot also debuts the new tagline, “Your Voice. Your ChoiceHotels.com.” What’s up with that? As Doner CCO Rob Strasberg says, ““The creative executions for this campaign use the voice of the traveler to position Choice Hotels as the brand with ears.” Watching this spot really only makes me ask one question: “Does anyone know where that dinosaur theme park is?” Credits after the jump.

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Six months after we reported that everyone from Arnold to DDB Chicago to McCann dropped out of the AutoZone pitch due in large part to the brand’s lofty demands during the pitch, it looks like the auto parts chain has finally found its ideal agency partner in Doner.

AutoZone VP, marketing Lisa Kranc made the announce today, saying, “Doner brought us an expansive POV for the brand, one that honors where we’ve been and blazes a trail for the future. Their unique take on how to support our retail and commercial businesses was smart, innovative and will help take us to the next level.”

According to camp Doner, it can serve as a better creative AOR for clients like AutoZone because of its three “Eco” structure which “is populated by creative staff capable of generating and producing ideas on all levels of modern communication and social activity.” We’ll take their word for it for now.

 

 

Great Wolf Resorts is off our radar, but we’ve received confirmation from Doner that the agency is no longer working with the brand, thus ending a nearly five-year relationship. From what the company’s explanation says, it’s “North America’s largest family of indoor waterpark resorts and owns and operates its family resorts” and it operates in the Poconos, Niagara Falls, Sandusky, OH (here’s to you, Tommy Boy) and Kansas City among other locales. The statement from Doner: “Our relationship is ending.  We’ll be done in about 30 days.  We wish them well.”

Update: Great Wolf confirms the split as well, telling us, “Great Wolf Resorts is parting ways with Doner.  After they were informed of our decision to put the account into review at the beginning of February, they decided not to defend the business.  We thank them for their many years as a partner, and we’re excited to be making an announcement regarding our new agency within the next few days.”

We had a feeling when emails were bounced back and calls weren’t returned, but yes, Doner has confirmed that the agency’s office located at 90 Eglinton Ave. in Toronto, ON has closed down. It took some pulling teeth to get the yes on that, but we’re still trying to determine who was affected and reasons why. In memoriam, here’s an old overview: “Doner Canada, Inc. operates as an advertising agency. The company was formerly known as Doner Schur Peppler and changed its name to Doner Canada, Inc. in December, 1997. The company was founded in 1986 and is based in Toronto, Canada. Doner Canada, Inc. operates as a subsidiary of W.B. Doner and Company.”

The agency might want to update its site as it still has Toronto listed.

Two weeks after we reported that longtime Campbell-Ewald exec Craig Conrad split for Motor City rival Doner, the latter agency has finally made it official. As we mentioned, Doner’s Chrysler retail/dealer account comes into play and as EVP, brand leader, Conrad will be responsible for directing the strategy development and daily operations on the automaker’s business. During his tenure at C-E, Michigan native Conrad participated in account reviews for categories including government, QSR, packaged goods, financial services, home goods, retail, healthcare, travel and gaming, and education.

David DeMuth, Doner’s co-CEO/president sings Conrad’s praises in a statement, saying, “His wealth of knowledge in new business development will also be an asset to us as we look to deepen client relationships.”