New Career Opportunities Daily: The best jobs in media.

Tipsters, as usual though, are saying otherwise, alleging that there was an internal announcement made today at McGarryBowen Chicago regarding a phasing out of more than one account. We’re of course following up with the agency to try to get some clarification/verification on this particular matter. Update: The McGarryBowen camp assures us that there was no client loss announced today. Perhaps some are still shell-shocked by the Reebok loss last month.

New Career Opportunities Daily: The best jobs in media.

We’ve been told by those in the know that this new effort from McGarryBowen NY for Verizon called “Powerful Answers” actually marks the wireless carrier’s first ever corporate branding campaign. Set to the sounds of legendary composer Philip Glass, Verizon veers from the usual Wireless and/or FiOS promotion to, according to parties involved, “showcase tech solutions that no one knew they did.” As you can see in the spot directed by Park Pictures’ Lance Acord above as well as the anthem clip below, some Verizon folks are lab rats whose tech prowess translates into solutions for medical emergencies just as easily as they could the classroom. We didn’t know there was side to them, but hey, you learn something new every day. Exhaustive list of credits after the jump.

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New Career Opportunities Daily: The best jobs in media.

From Mcgarrybowen comes the above saccharine spot, a 3-minute long opus for Verizon that gets people from across the country the perform a lip-dub to “Jingle Bell Rock.”

Out of duty to AgencySpy readers, Mediabistro, and my fellow man, I eventually watched (almost) the entire thing. However, on my first try, I made it to the 41-second mark. Can you do better? Leave your time in the comments.

New Career Opportunities Daily: The best jobs in media.

Yes, romantic comedies are formulaic. Yes, everyone is aware of this. Yes, it is because everyone is a aware of this that romantic comedies are frequently the subject of parody and criticism from almost everyone. But, just because making fun of rom-coms isn’t exactly an original thought doesn’t mean Mcgarrybowen Chicago is going to shy away from resurrecting the everyone’s favorite “run-through-the-airport-for-your-true-love” trope in “Connecting Flights,” the agency’s new holiday spot for Sears.

Now, just because making fun of romantic comedies has become as formulaic as the genre itself doesn’t mean your mom isn’t going to laugh her ass off when she sees our handsome beau eat shit on a refrigerator. In fact, I would hypothesize that it’s the most ardent fans of rom-coms that are also the most ardent fans of rom-com parodies. And, admit it, you chuckled a little bit too, because people getting hurt is always comedy gold. Always.

I know many of you were hoping that Mcgarrybowen would reinvent the wheel when  it won Sears last spring, and judging by some of the comments here, you’ve been less than satisfied with the results. But, hey, this is a silly holiday ad targeting moms and the dads who love them. Can’t we all get together over a nice Christmas goose, peppermint-flavored hot chocolate, and each other’s company to watch pretty people slam into refrigerators face-first? Credits after the jump.

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New Career Opportunities Daily: The best jobs in media.

Well, here was the one line we received at precisely 12:11 pm today:  “Translation was just handed the bud light account from Paul Chibe.” Chibe, if you didn’t know, is CMO of Bud Light parent, Anheuser-Busch InBev. Seeing as we just interviewed Steve Stoute for an upcoming Media Beat (which will post in two weeks), we’ve reached out to get some sort of reaction from the Translation boss or someone at his agency regarding the reports that the Bud Light account is now solely in its hands. Considering that Stoute & Co. are also involved with a Budweiser festival called “Made in America in a few weeks that will include Jay-Z and Pearl Jam among a ton of other acts, we’re not taking it as a big shock that A-B InBev would  be expanding its relationship with the New York-based Translation.

If you recall, Translation and McGarryBowen were both handed the Bud Light business last December. We’re now hearing that another major account could be leaving McGB in the near future, but we’ll keep schtum until we learn more.

Update: Here’s a quick comment from Translation president Leeann Leahy regarding its AOR status: “We’re thrilled to have earned Bud Light’s trust since having been awarded a large portion  of the business in mid-December. We look forward to doing more great work for this  ambitious client.”

New Career Opportunities Daily: The best jobs in media.

Shuttleworth’s time with DFCB dates back to the days of Foote Cone & Belding, which he joined in 1997. According to a statement from a Draft spokesperson, since that time, “Jamie has had a tremendous impact on our agency. His greatest legacy is the best-in-class planning capabilities he has put in place and the many great people he has trained who will carry on in his absence.  We thank Jamie for his many contributions to our company, and wish him continued success.”

As a result of Shuttleworth’s departure, DFCB Chi has promoted John Kenny, who has spent the last six years at the agency and most recently served as SVP, group director of strategic planning, to head of the strategic planning practice. Vita Harris, meanwhile, continues in her role as Draftfcb worldwide chief strategy officer.

New Career Opportunities Daily: The best jobs in media.

“As we expand our global network with the opening of the London and Dusseldorf mcgarrybowen offices–with more to come–we are making an important change in how we approach New Business development. While each mcgarrybowen office will continue to have their own New Business lead, we are pleased to announce that Brandon Cooke will now be responsible for global new business development for prospective clients whose business requires multiple offices from the mcgarrybowen network working in concert. Effective today, I am proud to announce a new title for Brandon Cooke, which is Managing Director, Global Business Development. Brandon will report directly to me in this new position.

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New Career Opportunities Daily: The best jobs in media.

We’re rather enjoying this little back-and-forth between McGarryBowen and Droga5, the latter of which of course just “announced” this week that it lost its own holiday card business to the former. Well, as you can see from the Facebook pic above, the McGB camp is glad to welcome the Droga5 account to its ever-growing portfolio. Why don’t they just unite, call it McGarryDroga and get it over with.

New Career Opportunities Daily: The best jobs in media.

Read it verbatim after the jump.

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New Career Opportunities Daily: The best jobs in media.

If your agency wins an account like Sears, United Continental, Burger King or Bud Light, it’s been a pretty great year. But, if your agency wins all four accounts and Adweek‘s U.S. Agency of the Year crown, it’s probably been the best year ever.

As Kiran suggests, the holidays should be a year of champagne and celebration at Mcgarrybowen’s offices in New York and Chicago. For those of us not invited to the agency holiday parties (which I doubt they’ll be live-tweeting), we’ll have to make due with the festive sounds of “Mcgarrybowenoke” to tide us over as we bemoan our now comparably small billings.

Much like the magic of Jingle Cats before it, Mcgarrybowenoke employs a large library of individually recorded notes and tones to blend into a cohesive whole. In this case, the notes, supplemented by animated gifs of Mcgarrybowen’s employees, construct a holiday tune. Users can choose between such favorites as “Jingle Bells,” “Deck the Halls,” and, for the non-gentiles among us, “Dreidel Song.”

Now, as Adweek framed Mcgarrybowen’s creative in its Agency of the Year writeup, “It’s not exactly what Cannes gold Lions are made of,” but “Mcgarrybowenoke” certainly still gets the “Happy Holidays” message across, doesn’t it? For those among you looking to create “Cannes-worthy” holiday cards (LOL), continue looking to Saatchi and Saatchi LA’s “Nog Pong” stunt from last year. We’re still not ready to declare a 2011 holiday champion, so keep the submissions coming!

New Career Opportunities Daily: The best jobs in media.

It looks like our sources from a month back were right as Translation is indeed on the Bud Light agency roster. According to AdAge, Steve Stoute’s NY-based firm will be sharing the A-B InBev brand’s creative duties with none other than McGarryBowen, which caps off a pretty impressive year that includes the Burger King and United Continental account wins as well as Adweek‘s U.S. Agency of the Year nods. Don’t worry, we know how you feel already about McGB, which is probably uncorking quite a few champagne bottles at this point.

As we previously reported, CP+B and Droga5 were each also vying for Bud Light at one point or another and as for Translation, the agency will be working with the brew brand’s new Platinum line and on Super Bowl/NFL work.

New Career Opportunities Daily: The best jobs in media.

Though still technically in development, HTML5 has already provided a bevy of groundbreaking websites. And, with the recent announcement that Adobe is discontinuing works on its mobile Flash player (which many are blaming on Steve Jobs and the popularity of iOS devices), the eyes of web developers worldwide are now glued to HTML5 and its promise of a platform that’s only restricted by one’s imagination.

In the spirit of web pioneering, the minds at Mcgarrybowen Labs have decided to combine online gaming with HTML5. The finished product, “Galaxy Explorer,” is not unlike Arcade Fire’s breakthrough interactive music video “The Wilderness Downtown,” utilizing automatically generating multiple browser windows to give a player a fuller interactive experience. As Mcgarrybowen puts it, the game “transforms the way browsers communicate not just with users but with each other, as well.” It can be an awful lot for a laptop to handle, so should you give “Galaxy Explorer” a whirl, make sure to close all other browser windows and stop simultaneously running programs to avoid slowing it down.

And, for the developers out there wondering how they did it, Mcgarrybowen says, “We’ve created illusions of transparent browser windows, animated them with JQuery and Bezier Curves and woven a complex relationship between the browser parent and child windows that communicate with each other and all come together in a cohesive side-scrolling adventure.” It’s pretty nifty, and it’s (hopefully) only a sign of things to come as Mcgarrybowen continues experimenting and creating with HTML5. Credits after the jump.

New Career Opportunities Daily: The best jobs in media.

If you watched football yesterday (which, considering all of the close games that were decided by a final drive, you probably should have), you undoubtedly saw the above Verizon spot for the new Motorola RAZR. “Wait, ‘new’ Motorola RAZR?” you might have asked yourself with a mouth full of beer and nachos. “Wasn’t that the phone I gave to that teenage scenester in exchange for a cigarette when the iPhone debuted like four years ago?”

Yes, Motorola’s latest product is turning back the clock a few years. If you can remember the days when the original Motorola RAZR debuted in early 2004, you’ll recall it was a mighty simpler time for cellphones. “Back in those days,” you’ll fondly tell your children, “a phone’s merit was decided by its slim portability, not the quality of escort service it could find you at last call.” Hell, even ask AgencySpy editor Kiran Aditham, and he’ll probably relate the fond memories he had with his Motorola RAZR, before the bespectacled turtlenecked modern-day Edison at Apple HQ created a product that immediately rendered Kiran and his mobile device of choice uncool.

But, as Motorola made known last month, the company is debuting a new, sleek phone that they’re calling the RAZR in homage to the company’s successful old model, one capable of running the new Android “Ice Cream Sandwich” OS debuting at the beginning of next year. As the new “Android king” is debuting for Verizon, the wireless providers’ AOR Mcgarrybowen was charged with making the above ad, which we’re being told is a “teaser” to a launch spot that will be unveiled this Wednesday on prime-time TV. So, dear readers, what say you? Is a phone chopping everything in its path in half going to garner the necessary buzz to challenge the iPhone? Will it at least get current Android users to switch phones? Credits after the jump.

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New Career Opportunities Daily: The best jobs in media.

Five months after Japan experienced its worst earthquake ever (and the seventh largest in world history), the country is still reeling from the effects of the disaster. Of course, with the press giving less attention to Japan and more of a focus toward recent events, Japan’s struggles might be getting the cold shoulder from the public eye.

In an effort to continue supporting Japan, McGarryBowen Labs and Dentsu are teaming with GlobalGiving to give financial support and relief to the victims of the natural disaster. Calling their project “Kizuna Cranes,” supporters are asked to select an origami crane design from somewhere around the world, pledge to sponsor the crane with a donation, cut out the crane’s design and fold it accordingly, and watch it as it travels from sponsor to sport across the globe. Learn more about the cranes, what “kizuna” means and how you can participate in the project here. In the meantime, how do you think it compares to relief efforts from BBH, AKQA, TBWA, Grey and Google from earlier this year?

New Career Opportunities Daily: The best jobs in media.