Well, this popped up in the tips box late yesterday afternoon and piqued our curiosity. According to spies in the ether, the $20 million direct/CRM portion of the Nissan/Infiniti account, which has been handled by TBWA\Chiat\Day like basically all other components of the automaker’s ad business, is up for review. When reached, the TBWA camp referred all inquiries to Nissan, and a spokesperson would only go so far as to tell us (and reiterate it on second inquiry) that “as a matter of policy we do not discuss matters involving our Purchasing operations.” So…you’re saying there’s a chance?

Despite the ambiguity surrounding the direct/CRM business, the Nissan rep did assure us that TBWA\Chiat\Day is the brand’s agency of record (as well as for Infiniti, of course). In fact, both agency and client’s relationship has expanded as Nissan recently selected TBWA to resurrect its long-lost Datsun brand. The agency’s \London and \HAKUHODO offices will steer the ship for Datsun. As for the direct/CRM, we’ll keep you posted if and when we hear more.

Hmm, where have we heard this tune before? Since Tuesday, we’ve received multiple tips from various sources about, once again, layoffs at Critical Mass, with the numbers increasing with each passing day. On the tips timeline, it started on Feb. 5 with “More layoffs at Critical Mass Chicago” including “higher ups and ADs” then became more concrete yesterday morning with “Critical Mass – Chicago laid off 7 people yesterday.  Their GM and President both resigned last week” and finally culminated last night into, “Critical Mass let 19 people go from their Chicago, Los Angeles and London offices.”

Unfortunately, just like on previous attempts, we’ve hit a wall in terms of getting any sort of comment or clarification on the matter from the folks at the Omnicom-owned digital agency (a spokesperson did tell us once last year that CM “cannot comment on employment specifics in any office”). As far as Critical Mass Chicago GM Joe Scartz, we’ve been told he left as of last week, though we’re double-checking on this. Since the agency’s keeping quiet for now, we’ll let the tipsters and/or comment thread serve as CM’s voice until we hear further.

Suddenly, Zimmerman’s been all up in our radar as we’ve now received a handful of tips that the Omnicom-owned, Fort Lauderdale-based agency cut some staff last week. When we inquired, Zimmerman offer the ol’ “no comment” on the matter, though spies are saying that approximately 25 staffers were let go. If true, the news comes just days after we reported that the agency’s EVP/chief growth officer Ryan Linder was out (and joined Doner this month). We’re hearing some fellow EVPs have been affected by last week’s alleged cuts, and if we’re able to extract any further info from the Zimmerman camp, we’ll let you know.

So, when we reached out to Jeff Goodby himself, we were greeted with the succinct answer of “call them and ask.” So we did, and in lieu of actual human feedback, we were fed with the monotonous outgoing messages. Anyhow, multiple sources have been telling us over the past 24 hours that executive creative directors Hunter Hindman and Rick Condos are leaving to form their own shop.

The pair, who were elevated from creative directors to ECDs nearly three years ago, have worked on several notable efforts for GS&P, most recently the “Tomorrow Starts Here” campaign for Cisco as well as fair amount of work for Chevy and Cheetos. From what spies are telling us, Condos and Hindman (pictured) have also lured Goodby group strategy director Max Heilbron to their new venture. We’ll check in the with any or all of the trio and see what’s doing. Stay tuned.

Well, this is always a pain in the ass, but alas, we’ve been hit with one of our usual PR-driven foes, the comment that is, “We don’t comment on personnel matters.” That’s the word we got from indie digital marketing agency Resource Interactive, the Columbus, OH-based former  AdAge “Agency A-List” honoree that now maintains office space from Ohio to California. But let’s turn our focus back to the Columbus HQ, which tipsters say has let go of approximately 12-15 staffers this week.

While the “no comment” from the agency has given us the usual headache, our spies are saying that the cuts could be a result of the agency possibly losing the biz for Victoria’s Secret’s beauty/accessory line, PINK (here’s one example of the agency’s work for client), which also entails Facebook page management. We’ve reached out to the lingerie chain but have yet to hear back on the matter and as you can gather, Resource has now hit the mute button when it comes to our follow-up inquiries. We’ll update if and when we hear more.

It’s been a month to the day since we reported that an agency pitch for Kia, which specifically involved the automaker’s website/web development assignment, was whittled down to two shops: Santa Monica-based Blitz and Chicago-based, VivaKi-owned new media unit, Denuo. Well, over the last 24 hours, we’ve received word from a couple of spies that Blitz, which we’ve also heard is a finalist in the digital agency review for Cosmopolitan Las Vegas, has lost the Kia battle. The web biz review has also involved the likes of L.A.-based Meredith Xcelerated Marketing, which was knocked out of contention towards the end of last year. Kia and the aforementioned finalists have yet to respond to our inquiries. We’ll let you know if and when.

Meanwhile, David&Goliath’s longtime, general market creative relationship with Kia remains intact.

The Spy line was buzzing over the weekend with word that Team Detroit, which of course handles Ford North America ad duties, cut a bunch of staffers last week. Last we heard from the WPP-owned unit was when it hired former Allstate/GM senior exec Mark LaNeve as chief operating officer. We’ve yet to receive a response from the folks at Team Detroit, but tipsters are, as usual, floating some pretty big numbers in terms of staff affected (numbers we haven’t seen since the 2009 downturn).

One of those we’re hearing was affected by the agency’s move was EVP/chief media officer Andrew Prakken, who has spent the last eight years at Team Detroit and spent 14 prior on the communications/media side at JWT. Calls to Prakken were deferred to an assistant. Anyhow, we’ve put in some more inquiries to the agency this morning and will keep you posted if and when we hear more, As always, though, feel free to chime into the tips box or just email us.

Well, we most likely won’t get more clarification on this until next week or so, but we’ll let the rumor mill churn, slow as it may, during this last week of the year. Last Friday, we received a few tips that two-year-old luxury resort Cosmopolitan of Las Vegas is somewhat close to selecting a new digital agency. The tipsters are telling us that the list has been whittled down to Zaaz, iCrossing, Blitz and Razorfish, the last of which has had a pretty decent end to the year, first being named digital AOR for Samsung in November and most recently taking over responsibilities on Target’s beleaguered ecommerce business. We’ve reached out to the Cosmopolitan, and we’ll let you know if and when we get more clarification on the matter.

Lordy, we hate the suspense and we really would like to do less of these come new year (though most of them have been proven to be true). Anyhow, we’ve received several tips regarding the status of one Sharon Krinsky, who has pretty much spent the majority of her advertising career (20+ years) at San Francisco agency, Hoffman/Lewis, led by the “Ad Contrarian” himself, Bob Hoffman. We’ve been led to nothing but voicemails and dead ends when it comes to emails to the agency’s higher-ups, but tipsters allege that the indie shop parted ways with Krinsky last week.

The exec joined the agency as a junior copywriter in 1991, moving up the charts to creative director to ECD/EVP and eventually president/chief creative officer in 2007. Hopefully all is well in Hoffman/Lewis land as we head into the holidays, but either way, we’ll keep you posted. Give us a shout if you know more.

Over the last few days, we’ve received a few tips that George Gallate, who most recently served as CEO of Euro RSCG 4D-turned-Havas Worldwide Digital, is leaving the global network to “lead a privately held agency” from what we’re hearing. We’ve put in inquiries to the Havas team, but have yet to hear back. Gallate has been with what was formerly known as the Euro RSCG network since 1986, eventually moving up the ranks to client services director in ’89,  helping form Euro RSCG 4D in ’04 and serving as EVP at Euro RSCG Worldwide proper. We’ll let you know if and when we hear more for the matter. In the meantime, check out his enthusiastic, brief message in the clip above.