Saatchi & Saatchi

Saatchi & Saatchi’s shopper marketing division is on our radar yet again as Julie Quick has made a return trip to S&S X, this time to serve as planning & insights lead for North America. The Dallas/Fort Worth-based Quick originally spent six years at X as VP, account planning before taking on the role of SVP, client services at fellow Dallas operation, Symphony IRI Group. However, that role lasted just a few months. We guess there’s no place like home.

We’ve received confirmation that after a 15-year career that saw her veer from creative director at Saatchi & Saatchi to VP/ECD at the agency’s shopper marketing division, Saatchi & Saatchi X, Marilyn Lewis is no longer at the agency. Lewis spent the last four-plus years as VP/ECD at X’s Chicago office, but now we’ve been told that she’s no longer with the agency. Tipsters are alleging that Lewis was forced to retire.

From Saatchi & Saatchi LA comes a new campaign for Toyota’s 2012 Camry. Although the Camry is a thought of as a pretty bland-looking vehicle, Saatchi & Saatchi LA ECD Chris Adams asserts in the announce that for the new model, “Toyota has made a serious upgrade in technology, safety, elegance, performance and flat out beauty.” If you’re reading your email while driving, we would hope that safety improvements were considered when the car was in development.

In addition to the above TV spot (and a one that tips a Stetson to y’all, NASCAR fans), Saatchi created an online community that depicts, in their words, the “Camry Effect.” Here, Camry drivers are asked a series of questions that create their own “effect,” with individuals’ stories published on a site that looks like a Facebook/Twitter hybrid. It also allows Toyota to break down Camry drivers’ demographics. For example, did you know that 29 percent of Camry drivers know their NASCAR trivia? Did you know that 49 percent of Camry drivers prefer rock music while 24 percent prefer hip-hop? Now you know. Watch NASCAR driver Kyle Busch take his #18 Camry for a spin below.

Wow, it apparently didn’t take long at all for someone to break Mark Moll‘s record of arguably the shortest agency stint in recent memory as sources familiar with the matter tell us that Augusta Duffey has “resigned” from her GCD gig at Saatchi & Saatchi Wellness after just three-plus months. Duffey officially joined Wellness in mid-July with the goal being to focus on digital across all agency accounts including Plavix, Allegra and NuvaRing. We’re awaiting some sort of official confirm, but calls to Duffey went unanswered. Is an automated voice message a bad sign?

Update: Duffey has reached out and told us that she indeed left Wellness to take “a great position running the creative on the digital side of a large media company.” She won’t specify which one as of yet, but adds that it was “too good of an opportunity to pass up.”

We think it’s just sheer coincidence (on second thought, maybe not) but for those of you who want to avoid long-winded panels during Advertising Week, there are a couple of somewhat similar options thanks to CP+B and Saatchi & Saatchi New York. Depending on how bad your short-attention span is, the former is offering its “Six Minutes Each” event, which is a follow-up to the agency’s apparently popular “Five Minutes Each” panel at Cannes and lets you listen to Crispin’s top brass including Jeff Benjamin, Chuck Porter and Rob Reilly discuss hot industry topics.

Of course, if you can last an extra few minutes, there’s Saatchi’s event called “7X7,” where, you guessed it, you can hear seven people talk for seven minutes each. Saatchi’s offering has a more eclectic lineup than Crispin’s, though, as it features a range of guests from comedian Reggie Watts to Contagious director Jess Greenwood to this familiar face below. Hmm, which do you prefer, or would you rather just skip both?

Sources familiar with the matter tell us that Saatchi & Saatchi X New York ECD Peter Viento is no longer with the agency. Viento has spent the last three-and-a-half years at Saatchi X and prior to that, he served as SVP, creative director for three years. For the majority of his career, though, Viento worked at G2 as a creative director (12 years). Calls went unanswered at the ECD’s desk, but it should be noted that along with Viento, Saatchi X lost Gabe Wight, VP, account leadership, and VP, account leader Steve DeVore, who spent four and nine years at the agency, respectively.

Well, this seems to be our first non-Durex-related Saatchi & Saatchi Wellness post in recent memory, but anyhow, the agency has brought on a new group creative director on Augusta Duffey, whose focus at S&S is on digital across accounts. Duffy has previously served as an ACD at Euro RSCG (and was a freelance ACD at KBS+P on Capital One, Weight Watchers and HP), where she worked on accounts including Volvo and Lending Tree. Now, as GCD at Saatchi Wellness, Duffey’s client responsibilities include Allegra and NuvaRing.

After four years at Saatchi & Saatchi NY, during which time he served as integrated producer then VP, head of integrated/Sisomo production, Kwame Taylor-Hayford says that tomorrow will be his last day at the agency. Apparently his impact at Saatchi was felt by at least one tipster, who gushes, “He was probably the most important/essential producer there. HE produced the [agency's] best work, including [JCPenney's Beware of the ] “Doghouse”, Honeynut Cheerios augmented reality and a bunch of other cool stuff. The agency is sad to see him go.”

Taylor-Hayford, whose next move hasn’t been confirmed as of yet, actually started his ad career on the account side, working as an AE at Y&R/VML NY and TBWA\MAL before joining Saatchi as an account supervisor in 2007.

As part of its New Directors’ Showcase at Cannes, Saatchi & Saatchi has teamed up with the self-proclaimed “little idiot” we know as Moby to launch a music video contest. The brief is this: Visualize the concept of “Hello, Future” in the form of an original music video inspired by one of three downloadable tracks from the electronic artist’s upcoming album, Destroyed.

Considering Moby’s no stranger to the advertising world, having licensed every track from his 1999 breakthrough record Play for commercial use, his partnering up with an ad agency doesn’t seem like much of a stretch. Anyhow, the winner of the challenge will be announced at the Showcase in Cannes and have their video screened, plus they get a chance to work on a project in one of Saatchi & Saatchi’s global offices. Rules, regulations, other info and Destroyed track downloads can be found here.

Spies sent us what appears to be a recent memo from Saatchi & Saatchi New York CEO/Americas chairman & CEO Mary Baglivo regarding the status of James Orsini, the NY office’s EVP, director of finance and operations, who is apparently leaving the Lovemarks Company soon for a CEO gig at a “NASDAQ-traded…interactive firm.” There are some interesting, cryptic phrases including “Peak Performance” and the “Greatest Imaginable Challenge” nestled within Baglivo’s memo, which is dated April 8. Read on after the jump.

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