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Wednesday Morning Stir

-Publicis Healthcare Communications Group acquired Chinese healthcare network UBS. The new operation has been been christened UBS Saatchi & Saatchi Health. link

-While we’re on the acquisitions tip, should also let you know that Aegis acquired digital agency Roundarch and has integrated the latter into the Isobar network.

-Chrysler is now capitalizing on the “Imported from Detroit” tagline with a little merchandising (above). link

-Digital marketing agency Zeta Interactive launched Zeta Mail 6. link

-Are Sprint and T-Mobile in trouble? link

 

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Tuesday Odds and Ends

-BBDO’s David Lubars, Droga5′s Ted Royer, Ogilvy NA’s Steve Simpson, R/GA’s Nick Law and others are among the seven new names joining the One Club’s Board of Directors. link

-Deutsch LA has more than just Star Wars homages in its tank for Volkswagen (above).

-Chicago-based indie agency Tris3ct hired Lapiz alum Javier Osorio as creative director on Kimberly-Clark.

-Digital shop Fluid raised $24 million in funding via Goldman Sachs. link

-Matthew Lydecker joined Airship Post, sister company of Arcade Edit, in its L.A. HQ as creative director/lead artist.

-W+K Asia’s regional head of planning talks about “how to outrun the inevitable.” link

-FADER and MSN launched the Sound Discovery festival guide. link

-Director Sasha Levinson joined Toronto’s Holiday Films for Canadian commercial representation.

 

Tuesday Morning Stir

-McCann London has entered phase two of its “Priceless Duets” competition for the 2012 BRIT Awards. link

-Twitter inked its first search deal in Russia. link

-Unilever appointed R/GA to handle global digital campaigns for Sure, aka Degree here in North America and Rexona in most other markets. link

-Cannes Lions tapped Bruce Duckworth, Stink director Ivan Zacharias and Net#work BBDO South Africa ECD Rob McLennan to serve as jury presidents for the Design, Film Craft and Radio categories, respectively.

-Here’s one guy’s “Ultimate Guide to Pinterest.” link

-Ads for tech schools don’t come better than the one above that comes to us from an Aussie comedy duo.

Friday Odds and Ends

-Campaign Brief reports that Commonwealth Bank has ended its five-year relationship with GS&P and is taking its advertising business back to its native Australia to work with M&C Saatchi Sydney. link

-Let’s indulge our zombie fetish to end the day and show this nifty in-theater stunt in South Africa that promotes the resumption of season two of The Walking Dead (above). link

-Cirque du Soleil bought a “significant minority equity stake” in Sid Lee. link

-In case you missed it, W+K Amsterdam alum Lee Newman joined Ogilvy Chicago as president.

-The North American Effie Awards released its shortlist of finalists. link (PDF); link

-Joe Warren, former MediaVest SVP/group planning director on Kraft, has joined Havas-owned media unit MPG as EVP, director of client services for the U.S.

-Did you know Jeremy Lin was on Nike’s roster? Unfortunately (but as expected), the brand is keeping quiet about future marketing plans for the Knicks point guard. link

 

Note: We will be off on Monday for President’s Day. See you Tuesday kids, enjoy the weekend!

 

 

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Friday Morning Stir

-The 10-year Publicis Groupe/Dentsu strategic alliance has come to an end, with the former buying back 18 million of its own shares from the latter.

-Cleveland-based agency Marcus Thomas has sorted its staff by personality type on its newly redesigned website. link

-BBDO San Francisco launched a campaign for Heavenly Mountain Resort (Facebook login required). link

-Coca-Cola launched its “Move to the Beat” 2012 Olympics campaign starring DJ/producer Mark Ronson (above). link

-Will “Pinning” become bigger than “Liking?” link

-A Brussels agency called Mortierbrigade came up with quite the interesting motivational tool for interns. link

Thursday Odds and Ends

-Publicis Modem London offers some perspective on Facebook’s IPO. link

-If you don’t remember Y&R Chicago’s “Screw*d” work for Craftsman, here’s a case study on the effort (above).

-There are some executive shifts afoot at McCann. link

-A freelance copywriter from San Francisco conjures up memories of Warren Berger‘s CP+P related tome, Hoopla. link

-Philly’s Red Tettemer + Partners has teamed up with Under Armour to help the brand find five college students to join its 2012 “Ultimate Intern” team. link

-Teleflora’s Super Bowl ad starring Adriana Lima might have backfired on Valentine’s Day. link

-A European court has ruled that Facebook and Twitter do not need anti-piracy software. link

-New York post-production boutique Northern Lights launched a sister audio house called SuperExploder.

In Case You Missed It, StrawberryFrog Has Indeed Been Acquired

Looks like the price was finally right for StrawberryFrog founder/CEO Scott Goodson, who has denied rumors in recent months that his New York-based agency was for sale. Anyhow, the buyer is a company called APCO, which according to the Wall Street Journal, is a PR firm that is “known for public affairs and crisis communications. Terms of the deal were not disclosed, but speaking to WSJ, Goodson says that the acquisition “will give [StrawberryFrog] the ability to work with clients in more markets around the world.”

As one would expect, U.K marketing writer Stuart Smith, who of course caught Goodson’s ire last fall when he penned a piece suggesting a potential Frogpond sale, has plenty to say about APCO’s purchase of the agency. You can read all about it here.

Thursday Morning Stir

-Bacardi has launched a global creative review for Grey Goose. link

-According to a VentureBeat report, Pinterest engages and keeps members better than Twitter. link

-Yes kids, there is now a brew specifically made for playing beer pong. link

-Grey Paris alums Giovanni Settesoldi and Luissandro Del Gobbo joined Energy BBDO as SVP/creative directors and will across the agency’s client roster that includes SC Johnson and Bayer. link

-Peter Arnell has settled with Omnicom over his library. link

-How about a heartwarming ad with dogs created by Leo Burnett for Purina to start the day off right? link

Wednesday Odds and Ends

-Caviar launched a London office as part of a joint venture with U.K.-based Pulse Films.

-According to one analyst, conditions at Apple’s Foxconn facilities in China are “first-class.” link

-Speaking of Apple, the company has slashed iAd pricing yet again. link

-Omnicom’s full-year revenue in 2011 shot up. link

-Ogilvy Cape Town was behind the campaign above for the Wild Foundation. link

-Beastie Boy Mike D is taking on AT&T in the name of net neutrality. link

-Are these the worst buzzwords that one can hear in a business meeting? link

-Cisco wants Euro regulators to reconsider their approval of Microsoft’s Skype acquisition. link

 

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