Layoffs have begun at Tribal DDB Chicago, we’ve confirmed. So far just a few have been let go. The agency is playing host to Tribal’s U.S. president, operations, Rich Guest who is in town to handle the restructuring personally. Normally, CEOs/presidents are conveniently out of town when these things happen.

There’s no info regarding numbers, but one tip indicated five employees have been let go today. That figure is unconfirmed.

Update: We hear many, many more employees have been laid off. No counts yet.

More: “Tribal DDB Dallas Changes, Et Cetera”

Sources familiar with the matter confirm to AgencySpy that Tribal DDB Chicago has laid off its VP/COO Cass Covell and a handful of others in various departments. We’re being told that the agency’s clients are intact but this move is just a “realignment” due to them “spending in different capacities.”

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Keeping on the international hire theme today, Tribal DDB announced that Patrick Rona will be joining the agency in February as president of European operations. In his role he will be “responsible for reinforcing and expanding the company’s position, as well as driving growth and innovation in digital marketing services across the DDB Group” according to the announce.

Rona most recently served as global digital partner at OgilvyOne in the UK, where he ran Unilever global digital marketing accounts for Dove, Persil, Flora/Becel, Hellman’s and Vaseline. Prior to joining OgilvyOne in July 2008, Rona served as head of digital at Craik Jones for two years, was an SVP, marketing at both Digitas London and Modem Media and also worked at Agency.com in New York.

More: “Rob Rasmussen Takes CCO Spot at Tribal DDB, ECD Nesle Departs”

We’ve just gotten word that Tribal DDB has made a significant creative change, adding former BBH ECD Rob Rasmussen, who lands at the agency following a few months of freelancing after being laid off from BBH NY. Rasmussen joins as CCO, the first for the agency.

The biggest ripple caused by Rasmussen’s hire: the resignation of Steve Nesle, who’s been ECD for the last four or so years. Word on the street is he heard about Rasmussen taking the gig and that was that. Some of his more recent work includes the Norelco ‘Shave Everywhere’ work.

This is the third agency in two years for Rasmussen. Before BBH he was with R/GA. He began his career at Weiden before heading out west for an in-house gig in Breckenridge and then to JWT where he helped land JetBlue.

The agency made the announcement at noon EST today during an all company meeting.

(note: Rasmussen, we’ve learned, was recruited to BBH from R/GA)

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More: “Tribal DDB Dallas Changes, Et Cetera”

Tribal DDB Worldwide CEO Paul Gunning announced the appointment of Betawave and Goodby alum Mike Parker as co-president of the agency’s U.S. network, which consists of full-service offices in Chicago, Dallas, New York, San Francisco and Seattle as well as two satellite offices in L.A. and Miami. Parker will share the prez post with Richard Guest, who most recently held the MD position at Tribal NY. Guest will remain in New York while Parker will be based out of San Fran.

More: “Tribal DDB Dallas Eliminates ‘Some Positions’”

When R/GA lost the Digital AOR Amp business, the next question on everyone’s mind was, naturally, where will the work land. We’ve got an inside line on the pitch, and our sources tell us Tribal DDB has taken Digital AOR status for this Pepsi brand.

The last work anyone saw from the brand was the iPhone app “Amp Up Before You Score” &#151 a contentious piece of technology from R/GA that despite getting client approval cost the agency lots of brownie points. It’s not surprise then that given that PR fiasco the brand was quick to choose a new agency of record.

Other contenders included Proximity BBDO, Evolution Bureau and possibly RED Interactive Agency, though we’ve yet to confirm that.

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A handful of tips streamed into the ‘Spy line this week claiming that Tribal DDB Dallas was cutting staff (again), with rumors ranging from Tribal “axing a ton of people” to “laying off about 50% of the office.” While the agency called the latter comment “quite an exaggeration,” they nevertheless confirmed to us that there were indeed cuts and offered this statement:

“Given the economic conditions and the general softening in marketing budgets, today Tribal DDB Dallas had to make the difficult decision to eliminate some positions in the agency. We are now better aligned with client needs but regret this necessary step. Meanwhile, Tribal DDB is expanding into new geographies such as Argentina and Turkey and is committed to being one of the world’s largest and most powerful digital networks.”

While sources are telling us that the number is anywhere from less than 30 all the way to 40, the news comes just two months after the Dallas office let a few folks go and reorganized the creative department in the process.

As a sad footnote, here’s a Facebook update from one of those that got the boot:

More: “We Hear: Mike Follett/Others Depart from Tribal NY”

Sources tell us Tribal NY’s Director of Strategic Planning Mike Follett has resigned.

Apparently, Follett was supposed to go on vacation this week but then he packed up his office last Friday. He came to the agency in August, 2007, as part of Tribal Worldwide’s Global Exchange Program.

The agency did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Three other employees have left the New York agency recently as well. An account supervisor and a management superviser for Neutrogena and a project manager.

More: “Tribal DDB Dallas Changes, Et Cetera”

Proximity BBDO has, following an RFP from State Farm, won their business for the $50 Million Lb. Challenge &#151 a contest that aims to reduce obesity in the US.

The “Challenge” is sponsored by State Farm, a client that calls Tribal DDB Chicago home. We reached out to the agency to ask if the State Farm, which is not represented on their Web site (unless we just suck at looking), is moving on. Patently untrue, we’re told, SF is still with TDDB.

Fine fine. A State Farm representative was unable to track down the info we needed ie a “yes” or “no” as to whether or not they’re looking for another agency. More on that tomorrow.

An interesting note though, is that AdAge wrote a story that begins like this (we don’t have a subscription, so who knows what else is there), “State Farm is reassessing how it compensates its advertising and marketing-services agencies. It wasn’t immediately clear whether the insurer is looking to slash fees; adopt the sort of value-based model lately championed by Coke; or simply to bring its practices closer in line with contemporary norms. …” That was published July 1, 2009.

And then back in October 2007 we wrote, “Speculation is rampant that State Farm is about to go into review. Meanwhile, DDB said that the insurance company knew all about the personnel changes and that the account is safe. Hmm…” That was in response to the departures of Rick Korzeniowski Dave Kessler, the top execs on the account at the time.

It’s all confusing for now but we will have more for you on this tomorrow.

CORRECTION: The headline earlier read, “Proximity BBDO Nabs $50 Million Pound Challenge”. We’re talking lbs. not British currency and a misplaced dollar sign. If your comment disappeared, it’s due to the headline correction.

More: “Tribal DDB Dallas, San Francisco, Cut Jobs”

Watch the clip above, for Philips’ new 21:9 cinematic TV screen. The spot was made by Tribal DDB Amsterdam, which commissioned Stink Digital for the coolness. The project was directed by Adam Berg and well, you should just click play. It’s freakin’ sweet.

From Stink Digital:

“Created entirely by Stink Digital, this new interactive campaign promotes Philips latest entrant into the television market, the CINEMA 21:9. Since the televisions 21:9 frame lends itself so readily to film, our friends at Tribal DDB, Amsterdam commissioned us to create a piece of filmed content that could hold its own with Hollywoods best. Director Adam Berg responded with an idea for an epic frozen moment cops and robbers shootout sequence that included clowns, explosions, a decimated hospital, and plenty of broken glass and bullet casings.

This epic film is the centrepiece of the project. On its own, it clocks in at a (totally coincidental) two minutes and 19 seconds, but Berg conceived it to work as an endless loop. Visitors to the microsite therefore have the option to spin through the films single take shot repeatedly, to stop on a specific frame, or to watch it at the preordained speed. The film also contains embedded hotspots, which, when triggered, transport the viewer seamlessly from the heavily posted film to a behind-the-scenes version of the same shot. This constant moving between two layers of reality proved one of the projects biggest and most ambitious production challenges. Other details of the online execution play off the cinematic theme; the microsites loader doubles as a credit sequence, while rich media takeover banners drive traffic to the site by teasing viewers with an original Carousel trailer. All aspects of the production, from the film shoot to web design and development, were conducted by Stink Digital.”

Via

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