Young & Rubicam

The above new spot for Argentina’s Olympic team from Y&R New York Buenos Aires is being called by some “beneath contempt,” “tasteless,” “feral and disgusting behavior” and “designed to offer maximum offence and contrary to both the Olympic spirit and all sense of human decency.” Harsh words, yes, but perhaps a brief history lesson will offer justification for those who have been deeply disturbed by the images shown in this ad, which was commissioned by the Argentine government.

See, while the text in the spot suggests that the athlete is training on Argentine soil, he’s in fact doing so on the Falkland Islands. This is quite significant when you consider that the 2012 Olympics’ host county, England, fought and won a war for the Islands in 1982 after Argentina attempted to invade them. Although England and Argentina resumed diplomatic relationship in the early 90s, the Falklands are still under dispute, and Argentina continues to lay claim to the land despite islanders voicing their plea to remain British citizens.

To add insult to injury, the athlete in the spot uses a World War I memorial dedicated to fallen British soliders to bolster his training efforts. In response to the public outcry, Y&R has issued an apology today, saying they were “disturbed” by it. Meanwhile, WPP chief Sir Martin Sorrell issued a statement saying, “The ad is totally, and I mean totally, unacceptable. The agency has formally apologized for any offense or pain caused. We are appalled and embarrassed by it.”

Taking into account the fact that last month marked the 30th anniversary of the Falklands War, this probably couldn’t have been timed worse. The government of Argentina has not issued an apology. See more, including a harsh criticism from Falkland National Sports Council chair, Mike Summers, here.

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In case you didn’t hear, Y&R global CCO Tony Granger and his crew got some love from the 12-year award outfit that is YoungGuns International (not to be confused with ADC Young Guns), which has bestowed the “2011 Digital Agency of the Year” honors upon the WPP operation. The agency says that its New York office’s “Airwalk Popup Store” collaboration with GoldRun (watch Venice Beach, CA version above) played a major part in helping the YoungGuns crew come to its decision.

From what we’ve been told, YoungGuns will be coming to New York later this month/early February to throw a party and celebrate the honor. So, how do we get on the guest list? FYI, here’s a link to 2011 YG winners and finalists here (be warned: PDF files abound).

After what had to be a tough month to endure, the Y&R network could use some uplift and since the beginning of December, we’ve been hearing that agency’s Chicago office has locked yet another account, which happens to be BMO Harris Bank. We haven’t received confirmation from the agency yet, but since Dec. 6, we’ve received pretty straightforward tips like these: “Y&R chicago awarded AOR for BMO Harris” or “BMO Harris won by Y&R Chicago. Announcement coming soon.”

If true, this marks yet another win for Y&R Chicago CCO Bob Winter, who in just 15 months on the job, has led a team that’s picked up several accounts including Dave & Buster’s, Famous Footwear and the YMCA. Nearly five months ago, Chicago-based Harris Bank, as it was known pre-merger, launched a review for its creative account, which was handled by Element79 since 2005. As the tipsters hinted, we hear that some sort of announce is expected within the next few days. We’ll keep you posted.

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After spending 85 years at 285 Madison Avenue, Y&R New York is ready to make a move as the agency’s signed a deal to shift staff to 3 Columbus Circle, where they will occupy 10 floors (more than Grey NY?). The move won’t officially take place until 2013, but once completed, the new digs will house not only Y&R, but several of its WPP siblings including Wunderman, VML, Blast Radius, BrandBuzz, Bravo, Kang & Lee, KBM Group and ZAAZ. We’ve been told that Y&R’s been looking for space that “makes it much easier to collaborate.”

In a statement, Y&R global CEO David Sable says, “It’s exciting, and totally relevant to what we do, to be thrust into one of the most vibrant neighborhoods in the city, with great art, music, theater, shopping and food within walking distance, not to mention all of Central Park at our disposal.  As thrilling is starting with clean space–we are designing space that is optimal for absolutely every aspect of what we do and who we are.”

Update: Well, figured it’s more fitting to post the actual image of the 3 Columbus Circle office.

Only by client design, not the agency’s from what we’ve been told, those demanding, uppity folks at AdAge had to have first dibs on the news that Famous Footwear tapped Y&R Chicago as its AOR. Is this agency turning into the new McGarryBowen? Anyhow, CCO Bob Winter and his crew pick up the FF biz from Campbell Mithun, which apparently declined to participate in the brand’s review that was launched over the summer. From what spies are saying, it was a neck-and-neck race between Y&R and South Carolina/NYC-based Erwin Penland, though the latter seems like an afterthought at this moment as only Euro RSCG, Colle+McVoy and Richards Group have been mentioned in the AdAge write-up.

Speaking of, here’s one quote from Famous Footwear’s SVP, retail marketing Will Smith that catches our eye: “We are so appreciative of the incredible talent that came to us looking to help drive our business. While several agencies from the Ad Age Family Tree made impressive presentations, ultimately the team at Y&R Chicago was selected because of their level of retail and brand-building expertise, strategic vision and superior campaign ideation.”

“Ad Age Family Tree?” Oy, we give up, and we thought the Miami Heat had collusion issues. Check out an old Campbell Mithun ad for the Famous Footwear brand above if you feel like waxing nostalgic.

We’ve been bugging the Y&R camp all week about this, but our spies have been telling us as as far back as Monday that “Y&R Chicago and Bob Winter won the national YMCA pitch and were awarded the business,” adding, “Couldn’t happen to a better guy.” Well, that’s all in the eye of the beholder, but we’ve been told by sources familiar with the matter that the agency’s Chi-town office is indeed “poised” to win the business and that things are being finalized. It would be a rather auspicious victory considering we’re just about at the year anniversary of CCO Winter’s arrival at Y&R Chicago. Since then, his agency’s picked up notable accounts including Dave & Buster’s.

Update: Well, what do you know, they did win the $8 million YMCA biz (well, it’s technically known as the “Y” now) and guess who got the official word.

We’ve received confirmation that Y&R made “selective cuts across departments” in its New York office. From what we’ve been told, a dozen people were let go by the agency, but as far as we know, there were no “realignment” or account loss issues to blame.

But what really caught our eye this morning was a friend’s note on the Spy line that tells us that Y&R NY has won the Hampton Inn business. It seems like a peculiar move considering that Y&R lost the account for Hampton’s parent company Hilton Hotels to Cramer-Krasselt at the beginning of the year. Anyhow, the Hampton Inn review launched two months ago and incumbent Draftfcb Chicago chose not to defend because it apparently had “philosophical differences” with the hotel chain. Our spies tell us that Y&R NY beat out Publicis for the Hampton account. Y&R, though, has yet to confirm this win, but we’ll keep you posted when things pan out.

The dapper, smiling man you see to your left is one Carter Murray, who, at the and of October, will take on the dual role of president and CEO of Y&R’s North American operations, which entitles him to oversee all advertising and pursue new business in said region.

Murray arrives in the States from Publicis Worldwide’s Paris branch, where he spent the last four years as CMO, worldwide account director and was a global lead on the Nestle business. Prior to Publicis, Murray spent nine years at Leo Burnett, first starting out in Frankfurt as regional account director for Philip Morris across Europe, then spending the last three years of his time at Leo as regional new business director, EMEA. In a statement, Murray says, “I’m delighted to join the Y&R family.  Y&R Advertising’s North America network has made great progress this past year.  All the ingredients are there — Great people and a lot of fantastic new talent that came on board this year, a great roster of clients, and some really fine and innovative work. It’s an exciting time to join.” Alright David Sable, there’s a little less weight on your shoulders.

Perhaps best known for jumping off the Sears…er, Willis Tower during the filming of Transformers 3 in Chicago, skydiver JT Holmes may very well be the first person ever to book a hotel room during freefall.

In this video from Y&R Chicago and shot by humble.tv, Holmes uses Hotels.com’s mobile app to book himself a room after jumping out of an airplane soaring over Lake Tahoe. Despite a somewhat rough landing (comic relief, derpity derp), a call to the hotel in question confirms the dusty skydiver’s mobile efforts were on target. More curious (with past airplane experiences in mind) is how the phone gets such good reception that high up. In any case, it’s a wonderful idea that emphasizes the ease with which the Hotels.com app operates. If the campaign continues, here are some suggestions for future situations where we’d like to see mobile users put the app to the test:

• During the running of the bulls.
• While in the midst of a bar fight.
• While in the midst of an MMA fight.
• While performing open heart surgery.
• During a speed metal guitar solo (perfect for the guys from Dragonforce).
• While in a mosh pit for said guitar solo.
• While rolling on E at Burning Man.

Any more suggestions?

We didn’t hear the phrases “talent upgrade” or “shot of energy” this time,  but the dreaded word “restructuring” came into play as sources familiar with the matter have confirmed that Y&R cut six staffers in its San Francisco office this week. The cuts affected both the creative and production departments.