DraftFCB

Considering the concept of the clip and sensitivity of things at present, we’re relieved this was not actually entered into Draftfcb Chicago’s all-agency “ideas” competition that, as some of you may know, has included a pony in the past. But this knockoff of Cash Cab, which was actually shot last fall and was shown at the agency’s recent Town Hall meeting, features staffers who rode DFCB Chi’s right elevator one Friday morning being confronted by a game-show host who looks like the stand-in for Gabe Kaplan on Welcome Back, Kotter. Like the aforementioned Discovery Channel show, questions were asked, money was at stake and as you can see, figuring out what AOR stands for isn’t easy.

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If you’ll recall, in an effort to keep morale high and the employees’ creative juices flowing, the powers that be at Draftfcb decided to have an all-agency competition that encouraged employees “to submit ideas that drive agency culture.” Most notable out of the 323 ideas submitted to the competition? A 550 lb. white pony named “Patti Cakes” to star as the agency’s new mascot. Invigorating, no?

Of course, we couldn’t leave our dear readers with a cliffhanger. We’re sorry to announce that, no, “Patti Cakes” is not DraftFCB’s new official equine mascot. But, at least the agency did give us the above video tribute to “Patti Cakes,” featuring Elton John‘s “Live Like Horses” and Laid Back’s coked-up ’80s electro track, “White Horse.”

One of the other ideas, “creating an interactive billboard on the side of the agency,” was announced as the winner during Thursday night’s agency town hall-style meeting. The five idea runners-up included “developing an app to easily track time while working on multiple projects,” “seeking out small, local clients to work for on a pro-bono-like basis (they’d serve as creative incubators),” “turning our coffee bar into a happy hour bar every day” and “transforming the agency’s spiral staircase into a slide.” Really? The slide idea didn’t win?

In case you needed a fill of Friday filler, look no further than this: Draftfcb’s Chicago office (which is celebrating the weekend by picking up some new biz, we imagine) is holding an all-agency competition that “encourages employees to submit ideas that drive agency culture.” One employee, whose name is yet to be determined, came up with the idea of a pony (we would go with bull, bronco, Tebow, etc. maybe) and as you can see above, a 55o lb. little one named “Patti Cakes” was wheeled into the branch. From what we’ve been told, this particular mascot idea is “short-lived.” Damn, we were really rooting for you, Patti, but once her time comes to an end, the top five idea generators are going to each nab $1,000 during an announce at an all-agency meeting later this month. What ideas do you suggest for a Draftfcb mascot?

Beginning today, Draftfcb global chief of staff Peter Drakoulias (right), who took on that peculiar title two months ago, will now also handle business development efforts for the global network. As a result, Drakoulias will take over for now-former chief growth officer Nick Paul, who you may remember took over the responsibilities of Adam Levine a year ago when the latter “parted ways” with the agency. As for Paul, Draftfcb tells us that his exit was voluntary and he left to “focus on another opportunity.”

While Drakoulias adds oversight of M&A activity, biz dev, etc., within the Draft global network to his job list, the agency’s global CEO/president Laurence Boschetto has taken a moment to sing Paul’s praises in a statement, saying, “Those who have worked closely with Nick know that he has been passionately committed to the ongoing success of our organization, most recently working hard to establish an aggressive new business function first in Chicago, then in North America and later around the network.  He also played a major role in uniting and leading our 361 experiential marketing offering across the USA before taking on his business development job.”

 

 

 

We’ve received a memo that was sent to staff this morning confirming that Draftfcb New York CCO Darren Moran (pictured), who joined the agency from Y&R in September 2010, is “parting ways” with the camp (we’ve been told by an agency insider that “he did not quit” and that it was a “mutual decision”). DFCB NY director of integrated production Anthony Nelson will take over in the meantime as a search for a successor, according to the note sent by Dana Maiman, gets underway. Peep the memo after the jump.

 

 

 

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Due to a shoddy economy, the extravagant holiday party is no longer a staple in many industries. But, it remains an important part of the advertising calendar. Agency one-upmanship tends to carry over from the office to the office party, where “classy” gives way to “fun” before it gives way to “debauchery.” Sure, those bastards across the street might have beaten you on that pitch. And, yeah, maybe they do have more attractive employees and nicer couches than your agency. But, did they get as tanked as your CCO did at the holiday party? Well, now you have proof.

From DraftFCB SF comes “Agency Peephole,” a kind of creepy new site that is agencies a inside look at competitors’ holiday parties. As DraftFCB puts it in the announce, “Why party alone when we can party together?” Agencies wishing to participate can do so by following a simply 3-step process:

1. Get Instragram  (only available for iPhone until next year).

2. Shoot “bad ass” party photos.

3. Tag your photos with the hashtag #agencypeephole in the comments section.

Already had your holiday party? No worries, as you can still upload a photo album to Agency Peephole’s site. Thus far, eight agencies are participating, and we expect to see a lot more join by the end of the week. So, get ready to celebrate with (or against) other agencies around the world, and, as always, party on.

In case you didn’t hear, Draftfcb Chicago scored Discover Card’s digital business. While Chicago Business reports that Draft beat out Tribal DDB and SapientNitro for the account, sources familiar with the matter confirm that Possible was also involved in the review, which was managed by SRI. The incumbent on the Discover digital biz was MDC Advertising (not to be confused with MDC Partners, of course).

You can always come home, as they say. After five years spent leading the creative editorial department at Draftfcb Chicago, Steve Morrison is heading back to fellow Windy City operation Foundation, which started out as an editorial facility in 2004 but has now evolved into a digital/creative studio. Morrison was one of the OG’s at Foundation, which he will now lead in his new role as general manager.

During his time at DFCB, Morrison led the agency’s in-house editorial division, Inside Job. Regarding Morrison’s return to Foundation, the editorial shop’s CCO/president Samantha Hart says in a statement, “When it became obvious to partner James Lipetzky and I that in order to grow our business we would need to be back on the ground in Los Angeles, we had a very short list of people we trusted to step in on our behalf.  Actually, just one guy and that guy was Steve.  With Steve working alongside the talented staff we have in place, we now feel we have the Dream Team heading up Chicago.”

And we all know how dreamy editors in Chicago can be.

According to sources familiar with the matter, Draftfcb’s San Francisco office has made what we’re being told is an “adjustment.” What that means in this case exactly is that the agency cut a “few” staffers yesterday as a result of decreased client spending.

To give you some context, just a few weeks ago, Engage 360, the brand that was launched last year by the California Public Utilities Commission to convey clean energy messaging, suspended its statewide Marketing, Education and Outreach program that Draftfcb was tasked with implementing from 2010-2012. So, if you’re playing at home, this move may have had something to do with the Draft layoffs, which we’ve been told affected multiple departments. We still don’t have exact numbers at this point.

 

Draftfcb Chicago has promoted long-term staffers Nat Jones and Seth Goldberg to VP, creative director and SVP, group strategic planning director, respectively. Jones (right) is an 11-year DFCB vet, starting out as an art director at what was then FCBi before moving up the ladder to his current post, which calls for him to work on accounts including Sharpie and Boeing among others. During his career, Jones has worked primarily on the interactive side for clients ranging from Kraft to AT&T to Motorola. Goldberg, meanwhile, kicked of his Draft career in 2004 as VP, management director on HP and now works with the likes of Kmart and VW.

While two of its mainstays got the bump-up, DFCB Chicago is about to lose another as sources familiar with the matter confirm that the SVP/GCD Eduardo Dehesa-Conde, who’s led the agency’s multicultural practice for the last five years, will soon be leaving. No word on where he’s headed but we’ve been told that Dehesa-Conde is departing on “good terms.”

Update: We’ve been told just now that Ron D’Innocenzo has also been promoted to VP, creative director at Draft Chi.