We rarely give love to the UX folks for whatever reason, so..what the hell. It looks like Peter Gallo has his own little PR machine going (or he’s a pretty decent self-promoter, either way) as we’ve received a handful tips from different IPs over the last week or so that the Brooklyn-based creative has joined up with Tribal DDB as director of UX. Truth be told, Gallo has indeed updated his job status to reflect the fact that he has joined Tribal as director of user experience strategy, to be exact. From what we’re hearing, Gallo started his new gig today. Most recently, he served as a a senior UX strategist at Grey New York–though we’ve been told that he was more “junior” at the agency.

Embellishment (or lack thereof) aside, prior to Grey, Gallo spent nearly five years at @radical.media, last serving as information architect, working on apps for the ONE campaign and Sting among other projects.

Update: Well, why leave well enough alone. Gallo succeeds Vincent Higgins at Tribal New York. Earlier this year, the latter was promoted to executive director of UX at DDB’s office in San Francisco. While we’re on the DDB tip, the agency has hired Y&R’s Andrew McKechnie, who last served as ECD out of the latter’s New York office, to serve as group creative director on its Reebok account. If you recall, DDB and Reebok reunited at the beginning of this year. Along with his three-plus years at Y&R, where he helped lead creative on LG, Land Rover, etc., McKechnie had stints at the likes of JWT, Modernista! and BBDO during his career.

Don’t worry, tipsters who seemed to be panicked and inquired through the box with multiple exclamation points, Tribal DDB is still very much aligned with DDB–though the DDB part has now been eliminated from the former’s name. Now, as you can see in the logo, it’s now Tribal Worldwide. We’ve been told by sources that the name was changed last Friday to “clarify Tribal’s role and positioning” within the DDB Worldwide network. We’ve been told that work for clients including McDonald’s and KLM will not be affected as a result.

Let’s kill two birds this morning with some news from up north, especially considering they’re both Omnicom agencies. First off, we’ve received confirmation that Gerald Kugler, who’s spent the last few years as an ACD at what was formerly known as CP+B Toronto and what is now Union, has left the agency and joined up with BBDO Toronto. Kugler, who can be seen talking shop here, officially joined BBDO last week and is working across various agency accounts.

Next up to bat is Tribal DDB Canada, which has now welcomed Dino Demopoulos as VP, strategy and innovation. While Demopoulos’s agency credits include the head of strategy title at MacLaren/MRM as well as planning/strategy stints at TBWA\MAL and BBDO/Proximity, perhaps more interesting to note is that the exec is a DJ/producer who also owns an indie label called Crash Records. How that plays into the Tribal mix, though, we have no idea, but Demopolous has worked with brands including Ford, General Motors, HP, Pepsi, Quaker, Sears and Tropicana during his career.

Phew, all is well in the world again now that we know that DDB San Francisco’s paper-mache owl which we mentioned a couple of days ago has safely returned to the agency. We’re not sure what the whole purpose of this was, but it sure as hell merits a “This is So Stupid” category ala Deadspin. Anyhow, there was another agency-wide email sent out yesterday. Read below.

“From: Front Desk <redacted>
Date: Wednesday, September 19, 2012 2:12 PM
To: “SF.DDB All” , “SF.TRIBAL All”
Subject: FW: Darius Found

After several days of heart wrenching anguish, it is my pleasure to report that Darius the Senior Papier-mâché Owl has been safely returned.

Thank you for your concern and support.”

That’s not all though, folks. Perhaps in an effort to crank up the absurdity factor to 11, DDB even put out a release announcing Darius the owl’s return and resumption of duties. If you really must, read in full after the jump and let’s move on.

Read more

Now, this is the breaking news we would really love to receive more often. Yes, a tipster alerted us to a crisis last week at Tribal DDB San Francisco’s office, which we really hope was averted. Anyhow, this was actually sent agency-wide. Read on:

“From: Front Desk <redacted>
Date: Fri, 14 Sep 2012 13:42:43 -0700
To: “SF.DDB All” <redacted>, “SF.TRIBAL All” <redacted>
Subject: Missing Paper Owl

There has been a report of a missing Paper-Mache Owl on the 6th floor.  If anyone knows of its whereabouts, please return the item to the front desk with no questions asked.

Thank you,

Front Desk”

It’s the “no questions asked” part that really reels us in. Anyhow, can anyone inform us if the pandemonium that likely occurred after this has ceased and the owl has been safely returned?

Update: Well, well, what have we here, our hooting friend named “Darius” even has his own Twitter page.

As promised during the time Rob Rasmussen split, Tribal DDB New York has found its second executive creative director in Chris Ferguson, who will co-manage said department in the agency’s Big Apple branch alongside fellow ECD Kinney Edwards (the lads are pictured above). Ferguson joins Tribal NY after spending four years at R/GA, where he led creative on Nike Running, Walmart and the Google Wallet launch. Ferguson kickstarted his ad career at Y&R, where he spent six years as a copywriter. During his career, Ferguson also had a lengthy stint as a creative director at TBWA\Chiat\Day and \Tequila.

Update: Ferguson officially assumes his ECD post today. Here’s a statement from Richard Guest, Tribal DDB’s president of U.S. operations: “Chris is one of the most creative, thoughtful and intelligent people that I have ever met.  I am confident that he will fit seamlessly into the Tribal DDB New York team. I have no doubt that Kinney and Chris will form a powerful team and that their collective leadership will help to evolve the agency’s business and product offering while realizing its mission of Bringing Humanity to the Digital Age.”

The Rob Rasmussen era at Tribal DDB  is now over as the agency’s chief creative officer has called it quits and is heading back to the West Coast. Rasmussen joined Tribal as its first CCO at the beginning of 2010 following senior-level creative gigs in New York at both BBH and R/GA. As a result of his departure, Rasmussen’s will be filled by two executive creative directors as the statement below from Tribal DDB attests. Read on:

“Rob Rasmussen has decided to leave his position as Chief Creative Officer of Tribal DDB US to move back to the West Coast with his family, and we wish him all the best in his next endeavor. While we are sad to see Rob leave, we are also excited to announce that we have elevated Kinney Edwards to the role of Executive Creative Director in New York. For the better part of six years, Kinney has led or directly contributed to some of the office’s best work, and we are thrilled he will continue to contribute to the culture and creative product of Tribal DDB. Additionally, a second Executive Creative Director will be announced in the near future.”

Kinney Edwards has been with Tribal DDB for five years and most recently served as group creative director at the agency.

Tipsters have been buzzing over the last few hours that Tribal DDB and Clorox’s relationship has come to an end. Tribal would not comment on the matter, but their relationship spans a few years, with the agency’s San Francisco office handling said client’s brands including Glad and Tilex. One tipster alleges that Tribal SF’s San Fran staff will now be absorbed by the DDB network, but once we find out more, we’ll let you know. We’ve also reached out to Clorox itself, so stay tuned if need be.

Another Tribal SF departure, you say? Well, after two tours of duty at Tribal DDB, the last one being a two-and-a-half year stint as both president of U.S. operations and managing director of the network’s Bay Area branch, Mike Parker is now leaving the agency. Sources familiar tell us that Parker is winding things down over the next few days at Tribal and eventually heading over to McCann Erickson’s San Francisco branch to take on the role of chief digital officer. No official date, though, has been set for Parker’s arrival at McCann.

The exec’s relationship with Tribal dates back to 2000 when he joined up with the agency’s Canadian operations, where he spent seven years and last served as managing director. In between his two stints at Tribal, Parker spent two years as director of digital strategy at Goodby.

A phone call has confirmed that Tribal DDB San Francisco ECD Keith Ciampa is no longer with the agency. Tipsters are saying that Tribal parted ways with the senior creative last week. Ciampa joined the network’s Bay Area branch just eight months ago from Goodby, taking over for Tony Cordero and leading creative for Tribal SF clients including Clorox, Intel and Microsoft as well as this nifty holiday-themed iPhone app.

During his two-year stint at GS&P, Ciampa served as interactive creative director on Sprint and Yahoo among other accounts. Prior to Goodby, he served as a creative director at McKinney. No word yet from the Tribal SF camp on replacement plans.