We Hear…

Sources familiar with the matter confirm that after a year or so of service, Bob Wiesner is no longer regional talent director at Saatchi & Saatchi Americas. Wiesner, who was based out of the agency’s New York office, kicked off his career at Hanes Corp, working with agencies such as DDB and BBDO along the way. Wiesner also launched his own consultancy called Executive Persuasion Group along the way. We’ve been told by sources that a search for his successor at Saatchi is underway.

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.

We’ve been getting a few tips this afternoon about John Norman, CCO at the Martin Agency who sent the note below to staff letting then know that he’s taking leave for a few weeks, though we’re still not sure what the circumstances are regarding his brief departure. Here’s what we were forwarded:

“Hello my friends,

These past few months have been challenging to say the least, and we have all worked our asses off on current clients and a number of crazy pitches. I have found myself burning the candle at both ends for longer than I would have liked.

I have decided to take a sabbatical and regroup for a few weeks and spend some time with my family and myself, getting recharged for the remainder of 2012.

I look forward to seeing you all in June.

Word,

Jno.”

Prior to joining Martin at the end of 2009, Norman served as a creative at W+K Amsterdam and was one of the minds behind Coca-Cola’s award-winning “Happiness Factory while at the latter agency. We’ll see you back in June, sir.

Word on the street from multiple sources is that Josh Tavlin, who has spent just over a year as SVP/ECD at Momentum’s NY headquarters, is no longer with the agency. Tavlin, who also serves as an adjunct professor at Pratt, dubbed his alleged ex-employer one of “planet earth’s most eclectic experiential agencies.” Anyhow, you might remember Tavlin as a former SVP/group creative director at Ogilvy, where he spent nearly two decades but departed said agency along with fellow creatives Chris Mitton and Bruce Henderson at the beginning of last year. When reached for comment, we were transferred to Tavlin’s assistant at Momentum though direct contact was futile. We’ll keep you posted on the goings on once we get the official word, but we’re hearing that Tavlin was let go by Momentum yesterday.

Update: Momentum confirms that it has parted ways with Tavlin, and while not getting into specifics, the agency says, “We truly wish Josh the best in his next chapter.”

We’ve reached out several times to Chicago’s Element 79 but have no word, though from what we hear, the agency is still suffering from the loss of Harris Bank last year. One tipster paints a rather dire portrait, alleging that “layoffs at element 79 due to harris. 6 people let go and probably more to come with other client losses looks like element is in dire straits. Brian Williams the CEO to blame for all the loses. Once [former partner/CCO Dennis Ryan] left the agency to go to Olson the place has never been able to bounce back. Canice Neary the head creative has not helped the agency at all and he  stays under the radar.  They only have 4-5 accounts left. An agency that have 270 people three years ago is now down to 35 people left.”

Within the last 15 minutes, we’ve received scores of anonymous tips from different IPs telling us that the Barbarian Group is closing its office on South Street in Boston, which was opened way back when in 2001. Here’s a statement from a spokesperson at the digital shop, which is offering paid relocation for everyone left in Boston who wants to move to either TBG’s New York or San Francisco office (the majority of staffers including senior leadership all migrated to the NYC branch a few years back).

“We’re sad to say we’re closing TBG’s 10-person Boston office. Put simply, there’s no strategic reason for us to keep it open.

A generous tipster, or so we think, sent us a verbatim note that seems to outline a $500 million global media review for Luxottica, the Italian monolith that is home to eyewear lines including Ray-Ban, Oakley and Patrick Bateman’s personal fave, Oliver Peoples. We’ve contacted the brand to get some clarification on the matter, but see for yourself below and after the jump. Strap on your guns, kids.

Global Media Review Considerations

Scope of the review and desirable outcome
ï       Re-asses and challenge our current media agencies
ï       Consolidate our media services, possibly into one agency
ï       Reconsider the media agency services, notably in the light of an exponential growth in media-generated content and analytics
ï       Aim for best partner for Luxotticaís brands in terms of:
1.      Strategy and new media services
2.      Engaged and pro-active client service
3.      Global coordination and local implementation
4.      Excellent capabilities across all digital platforms
5.      Cost-effective media buying (or the right media quality for our brands at the best price)

Read more

Multiple tips have poured into the Spy line saying that Sid Lee, the Montreal-based shop which of course works with Adidas, has aligned with Cirque du Soleil and set up shop in Austin to service its piece of the Dell biz, is plotting an opening of a Big Apple branch. We’ve reached out to the agency on all the usual channels but have yet to hear back. As always, we’ll let you know when we know.

Over the last few hours, we’ve received several tips that AKQA’s director of search marketing Scott Linzer, who is based out of the digital agency’s San Francisco office, is no longer there. Linzer has been with AKQA for over four years and has worked overseen the global search practice across the agency’s client portfolio including Clorox, Coca-Cola, Ticketmaster, HSBC, and PetSmart. Spies are telling us that Linzer’s departure could be due to AKQA losing a portion of the Coca-Cola biz–specifically paid search/SEM in January. which wound up at iCrossing.

Prior to AKQA, Linzer worked in a similar role at McCann for a year on the Microsoft business and had a two-plus year stint at, you guessed it iCrossing. Calls to Linzer are being met with voicemail, but we’ll verify and let you know.

Update: AKQA has confirmed that Linzer is leaving at month’s end as part of agency “restructuring.” AKQA adds that it’s ramping up staff in San Francisco.

Update 2: Here’s another note from AKQA that clarifies Linzer’s departure:

“Scott Linzer has left AKQA after a number of years of employment. To clarify initial speculation, Scott’s departure is in no way related to our relationship with Coca-Cola.  He has been a valued member of our team, helping to grow AKQA’s Media, Search & Analytics practice more than 50% year-over-year. We appreciate all his contributions and wish him luck as he enters the next phase of his career.”

Multiple sources are telling us that after just 18 months, Arnold creative director Steve Caputo is no longer with the agency. Caputo joined Arnold from R/GA, where he worked for seven years and last held the title of creative director on accounts including Nike+, Nike Basketball, Intel and Chanel. The Arnold camp, thus far, is keeping schtum on Caputo’s status, but tipsters are saying that the creative was let go due to “financial reasons.” All calls to Caputo have been met with automated voicemail (that seems to be a recurring theme this week, and from what we’ve learned, it’s not because that they’re just out to lunch). Anyhow, we’re digging in so stay tuned if you’d like.