DraftFCB

Today marks the 100-year anniversary of Oreo, which was first founded in Chelsea, Manhattan on March 6, 1912. To honor the occasion, Draftfcb’s New York and Paris offices are rolling out a print and TV campaign to honor “Milk’s Favorite Cookie.”

The above spot, “Commute” debuted this morning on ABC’s Good Morning America. In it, a cabal of children seek to disrupt an otherwise mellow, depressing morning train ride to work. Eventually, the buttoned-up working professionals partake in stacks of Oreos, learning to “celebrate the kid inside” with a feverish snacking session. Recently, I had a similar experience with some Girl Scout Thin Mints, and while I was smiling early on during my one-man cookie assault, I can say that the second half of the box didn’t go down quite as pleasantly as the first. A second TV spot, “School Board,” is set to debut tonight during The Bachelor.

Also included in the campaign is a series of 17 print ads. Each is a minimalistic interpretation of a events in Oreo’s history using only cookie, milk and a glass. See the full campaign, which includes nods to everything for Prohibition to Y2K, here.

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Three months after last hearing from Draftfcb’s San Francisco office, the agency has some positive news to report as it’s brought on GS&P alum Jon Drawbaugh and former CP+B senior interactive producer/AmEx account lead Donald Tench IV, aka “IV Tench” (pictured). Drawbaugh joins up with DFCB SF as SVP, director of integrated production while IV as he’s known has signed on as VP, director of interactive at the agency.

Drawbaugh spent seven years in all at Goodby prior to joining the Draft camp, last serving as senior content producer for past and present clients ranging from Chevrolet and Sprint to Dickies (example here), AIDES, Comcast and Tostitos. IV Tench (kinda rolls off the tongue, no?), meanwhile, spent two-and-a-half years at CP+B. Prior to toiling in Boulder, the producer spent three years at Digitas on the tech side.

During last night’s broadcast of AMC’s The Walking Dead, Electronic Arts debuted the above spot from DraftFCB SF for the new title coming to stores March 6, Mass Effect 3. Before you fret, realize that the spot aired after the Academy Awards ended, and many who felt like remaining on the couch (me included) flipped over just in time to see it.

Since debuting yesterday, the emotional spot depicting the end of the world, an alien invasion, and the battle for humanity’s survival has already chalked up more than 75,000 views on YouTube. Filmed over six days in Prague, “Fight for Everything” is, in a word, cinematic, so much so that it’s initially quite difficult to tell what exactly the spot is advertising. But it succeeds where it aims to, making ME:3 look enticing to gamers and non-gamers alike. Sure, it’s a little bit Halo and a little bit Star Wars, but that doesn’t make images of people running for their lives any less moving.

Also, since the Vancouver hockey riots of 2011, it’s hard to imagine a scene of mass chaos that doesn’t include two young people making out. Maybe that’s the “better with Kinect” feature Electronic Arts is hinting at. Credits after the jump.

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After spending three decades at Draftfcb (32 years, to be specific), Mark Pacchini is calling it quits at the agency. Pacchini more recently served as president of the agency’s Asia-Pacific operations. You can check out his bio here and below, we give you a the statement from the agency:

“After nearly 32 years at the agency and following lengthy discussions with his family, Mark Pacchini has decided to retire to spend more time with them. During his time at FCB and later Draftfcb, Mark has had a tremendous impact on our organization, literally helping to plant the seeds of our global network, tending to it, and helping it thrive.  Along the way he has inspired and mentored a few thousand people – both on the client and agency side.  We owe him a huge round of thanks and wish him all the best as he starts this next chapter in his life.

We have strong leadership teams in place in our many APAC markets especially India, Greater China and Australia/New Zealand.  We have also asked Jonathan Allard, our regional CFO based in Singapore, to take on additional operational duties in the region going forward.  We do not plan to name a successor to Mark Pacchini as regional president of APAC at this time.”

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.

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.