We’ve received confirmation that JWT New York has brought in Bajibot alum Jeffrey Castellano, who specializes in artificial intelligence and works on facial recognition technology, as its creative technology director. No word if this is a newly created position or if Castellano is replacing anyone as of yet, but we’ll let you know. Anyhow, Castellano’s new role at JWT NY calls for him to oversee emerging technology projects as well as digital studio output from its Big Apple hub.

Along with his 15 months as director of  creative technology at Bajibot Media, Castellano has worked with a variety of brands during his career including Pepsi, Tommy Hilfiger, Armani, Chanel, Gap, Banana Republic, J.Crew, GE, Exxon, Budweiser, Coach, Louis Vuitton, State Farm, Foot Locker, Kraft and Victoria’s Secret.

So, we’ll let the conversation roll in a regular series we dub, “Is it Racist,” which is essentially the brainchild of Gitamba Saila-Ngita, a multidisciplinary designer and innovation strategist, living, working, and playing between CT / NYC / SF. He is the founder and chief innovation strategist of DEFT COLLECTIVE, a creative innovation agency based in Hartford, Connecticut.

My name is Gitamba Saila-Ngita and I once helped an agency sell sugar water to children. I’ve also helped them sell new technologies, ideas, and other people’s culture. But what I’ve always found funniest is when I’ve been hired to make things more, “urban” and by “urban” they meant “black”. Race is a topic that in the United States at times feels like we’re trying to seriously look at it with a fine lens and other times completely turning a blind eye to avoid it because it might make for a lack of a better word a few folks, butt hurt.

Recently in the last few months I’ve found that for advertising folks and almost always on this blog we’re hashing over if something is, “racist or not”. Mainly under the pretense that a group of people were offended by the subject matter in the ad and have used the internet to voice their opinion. I reached out to Kiran because I wanted to hopefully start a casual dialogue about the matter from the perspective of ad folks who clearly make these communications for their respective clients.

First let’s define some things so we can look at this objectively.

Racism is defined by most dictionaries as “a belief that race is the primary determinant of human traits and capacities     and that racial differences produce an inherent superiority of a particular  race” and a racist as “a person who believes in racism, the doctrine that a certain human race is     superior to any or all others. For fun, let’s throw in offensive as “causing resentful displeasure; highly irritating, angering, or annoying”

With those thoughts in mind, I wanted  to find an ad each time I or anyone else writes for this series and put it through those quantifying factors with understanding that the third one is purely subjective to an individual or group.

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We’ve received confirmation that Joe Caruso, who’s spent nearly 20 years at Doner and has most recently served as the MDC-owned agency’s EVP/director of integrated production, is leaving. When asked for comment, the Doner camp has told us that details on when is last day is and/or the agency’s plans for his replacement are being kept “confidential” for now. Sorry, kids. Caruso was elevated to his most recent position three years ago and prior to that, spent well over a decade serving as SVP/director of Doner’s integrated studios unit. That’s what we got for now, but we’ll keep you posted if and when we hear more.

Well, we tried to put two and two together when we reported last week about DJ Pierce resigning from his position as executive creative director on the BMW account at KBS+. But alas, we unfortunately failed to mention what the status was with his partner-in-crime and fellow ECD on BMW, Michael Craven, who joined up with Pierce 15 months ago to work on the account. We’ve now received confirmation that Pierce and Craven actually resigned together, though no word yet on what either person’s next move is yet (we’re checking). Prior to KBS+, Craven served as a VP/creative director at CP+B and has also published a couple of novels along the way.

As has been reported, the pair was essentially replaced at KBS+ by Paul Renner, who has taken over as ECD on said automaker’s account.

Well, who knows where our relationship with Saatchi & Saatchi X fell apart as we went from being an industry mate to a Siberian exile in a matter of months. Whatever, rather than going all Blue Valentine on you, we’re just going first instinct on this one. According to multiple sources, Saatchi’s shopper marketing agency division is losing its Chicago SVP of business development/managing director Kevin Shelhamer, who we hear is leaving X for a gig at Ogilvy. When we inquired, we were met with the usual “he’s in a meeting” and the comms side, as mentioned, has been giving us the unusually cold shoulder thus far. Ogilvy has yet to respond to the matter as well.

Shelhamer has had two stints at Saatchi & Saatchi X, first joining 10 years ago to serve as SVP, client development and in his next turn, he assumed the role three years ago as SVP/MD of its Chicago branch.

There’s not too much to say about this video. A creative advertising student, who wishes to stay anonymous at the moment, has made this one-minute digital pitch aimed at senior-level industry folks (from CDs to CCOs to CEOs) who have yet to pick out an errand boy or girl for the upcoming 2013 Cannes Lions Festival. The animated video is cloaked in some 80′s synth beats, pastel colors, and dry narration humor, which may not be your thing, but if it is, the anonymous creator wants you to find more information at the “Personal Assistant de Cannes” Facebook page. In return, the student is hoping to receive a Cannes Young Lions pass and accommodations  We’ll leave it up to you to decide if this is clever or cheesy or irrelevant. At times like this, it’s better to just report the facts and see what happens next.

Details are vague and no timetable has been set, but sources in the know confirm that Huge founding partner Gene Liebel, who’s been with the Brooklyn-based, IPG-owned digital agency for well over a dozen years, is moving on. From what we’ve been told by sources, Huge, which would not comment on the matter, is currently in a “transition phase” with Liebel, who moved up to chief strategy officer at the agency in fall 2010 (at the same time that fellow founding partner Aaron Shapiro was promoted to CEO).

We’ve been told that Liebel’s impending departure, which will just leave Shapiro as the last remaining Huge founding partner, is an amicable one. We’re hoping to fill in the blanks on his next move within the next couple of weeks. We’ll keep you posted.

We’ve been hearing murmurs about this for a couple of weeks and now, sources familiar with the matter confirm that Toni Hess, who most recently served as partner/executive creative director at Rosetta, is no longer with the Publicis Groupe-owned agency. No word from those in the know if there are immediate plans to replace Hess, whose departure comes less than a month after Rosetta and CCO Gary Scheiner parted ways. Hess joined Rosetta nearly four years ago as partner/group creative director within the agency’s creative/customer experience group. Prior to her most recent gig, the New York-based Hess, who’s also taught at the Miami Ad School, spent several years as a GCD at both Draftfcb and JWT.

Yes, Carlos Ricque, VP/executive creative director at Moxie Interactive who worked out of the Zenith Media agency’s New York office, is indeed calling it quits. The agency elaborates, saying, “After three great years at Moxie in both Atlanta and New York, Carlos Ricque has decided to leave the Moxie New York office to pursue his video content creation dreams. He leaves on great terms with the agency.  The creative EVP has said that Carlos is one of the good guys in Creative.  Where Carlos goes, good work always follows.  He will be missed.”

It’s not such a stretch for Ricque to head into content creation as the creative has also moonlighted as a screenwriter over the years and won Best Picture back in 2005 at the roving 48 Hour Film Project. On the ad side, meanwhile, prior to Moxie, Ricque spent well over four years at Atlanta-based Fitzgerald+CO, where he last served as co-chief creative officer. During his career, Ricque has also served as a senior copywriter at BBDO and an ACD at what is now 22squared.

Details are still hazy on this one, but word from sources in the know is that Sarah Montague, who’s spent the last two years serving as SVP, marketing at Digitas, is assuming the role of managing director at Organic San Francisco. The latter, Omnicom-owned agency is keeping schtum on the matter for now, but Montague’s impending arrival ends a two-month search for Organic SF, which has been without an MD/GM since Alle Aufderhaar decided to go client-side.

As for Montague, during her two years at Digitas, first in Chicago, then in San Francisco, the exec headed up marketing efforts for the agency’s Kraft and Kaiser Permanente accounts. Prior to Digitas, she spent 15 months as SVP/group management director at Draftfcb on CRM and multi-channel efforts for Volkswagen. We’ll fill in the details when we get them.