EuroRSCG

Lewis Lazare recently took a look at the ever-evolving EuroRSCG Chicago and it's fascinating if not a little screwy, too. It appears that the agency has created a new tenant, the Palm/Chicago, which will operate out of EuroRSCG's office. For a second, we were confused. We thought - EuroRSCG has taken over the Palm Restaurant? Okay no. This new agency is just an expansion of the Palm + Havas agency in Montreal, which, was previously known as the Palm Arnold agency until a month ago. Havas decided that the Palm brand was strong enough to roll out down into the States. The agency will not only join the troubled and overcrowded ranks of the Chicago ad scene, but will enter the Toronto market as well.

Does this sound like a good decision to you? Don't worry. It gets better. EuroRSCG has handed some of their accounts over to the new agency including the Anheuser-Busch Michelob business. That's right. They've set up the Palm/Chicago with one of its biggest slices of business. Head creative Steffan Postaer seems to have no problem with it. He told The Sun Times that "We're booming." You can almost see the shrug of his shoulder on that one. Maybe he's thinking of that new work he got from Sprint Nextel who has tapped the agency to handle their digital marketing. Still... that's a big helping hand Palm/Chicago just received.

Also in EuroRSCG news, Vincent Legg, who was the SVP, director of operations at the agency, has been named chief operating officer at Dentsu America.

More: Jamie King Leaves Riney Heads To EuroRSCG Chicago

The latest round of musical chairs is taking place at EuroRSCG. From the Chairman and CCO Steffan Postaer's personal blog:

"I am thrilled to report that my good friend and former colleague, Jamie King is now part of our operation in Chicago. He will be Co-President with Joy Schwartz. Both are highly capable and well-matched. The move raises the standard and the bar at Euro RSCG Chicago. I look forward to seeing what they (and we) can do together.

Jamie and I go back almost 10 years, where along with Jeff Jones, we built and ran an agency called LBWorks at Leo Burnett.

King was most recently Senior vice president and managing director at Publicis & Hal Riney.

More: No Wukkas: Niche Agencies Are Looking For You

Where the hell were you when this guy was handing out money on a rainy day? Euro RSCG Chicago is responsible for this execution. Please send cash to matt@mediabistro dot com.

More: "Raise a glass to Euro RSCG"

Seriously... what the? Can we have some good news please? No? Okay, fine then. EuroRSCG's North American CCO Jose Cabaco has been fired from the shop and his position eliminated.

As Creativity noted, while it may not be surprising that he was let go (Cabaco was named by ex-CEO Esther Lee), what is fairly shocking is that his position is just gone. Poof.

Meanwhile, the "Man Expert" Rose Cameron has joined the Chicago office as Chief Strategy Officer. Yes, that one was a new position for the shop.

Just what in the hell is going on over there? Is it that EuroRSCG is just going to let shops wing their own creative? Hmm... we're always for less process. Let's see how this one plays out, shall we?

More: EuroRSCG Will Makes Us All Slaves To The Robots

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The Atlantic is no longer a wolf in sheep's clothing. In the words of Editor James Bennet, when the magazine was created in 1857, the writers behind it "wanted to entertain readers on the one hand and, on the other, to advance the radical cause of abolition." The weeks-old redesign seeks to encapsulate that mission, while simultaneously re-outfitting the look and revamping its Web component.

The new design, guided by EuroRSCG and Pentagram (and designer Michael Bierut) aims to get people to think. again. A microsite hosts vignettes in which random folks are asked deep questions — on the kinds of issues you'd likely see in the mag. It's an intelligent melding of engagement and advertising; two subjects that aren't easily mixed (though every agency and their motha will tell you they're old pros at it...to you, we call bullshit).

Publisher Jay Lauf, who came to the mag from Wired in April, said part of the redesign was meant to align the look with the envelope-pushing content — provided by a muy edgy group of writers. Andrew Sullivan, Christopher Hitchens, James Fallows and a host of others are a Twainian dream-team of sorts; each has an unmistakable sense of "right" about the world, which TA's audience responds to.

Practically speaking, the redesign aims give the magazine a relevant presence in the digital space — a much needed element in light of the print world's current...how do I put this...situation.

And though TA is challenging its readers to think, the same was its dilemma; to think about how to enter the digital space without losing the critical part of what it does (and has historically done) best; longform.

More after the jump.

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Beverage brand Yakult gave Wieden and Kennedy London $5M pounds in June 2006 to rebrand the brand as their AOR. Eighteen months later, the brand dropped the agency. Wieden was obviously upset posting on their blog that:

"But, to be honest, it's not an opportunity, it's a blow. It's a bummer. It does not represent the dawning of a bold new era for W+K London." And that, "It just shows how precarious this business is and that you can never get complacent."

Isn't that the truth? The brand is a bit of a liar. At first, they told W+K that they were putting the rest of Europe into review. Then, they put the UK business up. They also then said that they would be "creating a small roster of pan-European agencies, delivering an overarching European creative strategy." They followed that statement up with let big dawgs JWT, Lowe and EuroRSCG slugging it out for the win with the latter taking it home.

The recent print ads for Yakult have given some of the kids at W+K London pause on the Welcome to Optimism blog. Why? Because they look exactly like the work the shop was turning out while the brand was under its auspice. Take a look above. Take a look below. Hmmm....

Andrew Bennett, CEO Euro RSCG New York, Mary Perhach, Chief Communications Officer and Bruce Haynes of NMPA, National Media have decided to say a few words about the bailout in the form of a press release. Read it here. It's one of those things that at first, makes you chuckle, then makes leaves you slack jawed, eyes wide.

The threesome have decided to comment on the decision to stop calling the financial a bailout and rebranding it as rescue instead. It isn't working, by the way. Reporters are getting in their digs and are now using "bailout/rescue."

Weird that this release comes now. The name change has already taken place, so why are they talking about it posthumously? If they had released this little diatribe before the switch, everyone would be clapping then on the back saying, "Good job Andy and Mar-Mar! Jolly oh, Bruce!"

But, now? Dudes. You're too late. Every major newspaper from Kansas to Los Angeles has covered the rebranding with experts, politicians, weighing in. This was just a little navel gazing exercise for you guys, huh? A little press push perhaps?

It gets a little more complicated later on in the 600 word "open letter." Exhibit A: "What if this had been called a "rescue" from the beginning? Or the "Save our Homes Act"? Supporting a "rescue"

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Who's still standing in the InBev global review? Mother UK and Publicis. EuroRSCG has been knocked from the shortlist.

In other news from across the pond, M&C Saatchi isn't feeling the pinch of the anemic economy. The agency has reported that "pre-tax profits surged 107 per cent in the first half of the year." One-hundred-and-seven percent! The agency won the government's anti-obesity and Hyundai accounts, which surely helped to boost their bottom line. Nice work.

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More: W+K London's Tony Davidson Has A One Track Mind (Har-Har)

New advertisements from fast acting Oppenheimer Funds, their agency EuroRSCG and digital shop, BLIND of Santa Monica are debuting shortly. The campaign is called, "Numbers," and the strategy is to focus on the overwhelming amount of data available to investors and financial professions. Choose Oppenheimer and the brand can make sense of all those numbers. Get it?

This is the first creative coming from a financial firm after the shock of the mortgage crisis on Wall Street. The first spot will highlight the importance of "long-term investing." The second round in will be about the ease of retirement planning with tools available through Oppenheimer. The company's tagline is conveniently, "The Right Way to Invest." Not a bad tag to have considering the current market.

The ads are an attempt to drum up business from the Joe Normal investor who is feeling considerably jaded. Oppenheimer has also lowered their requirements to buy into some of their funds while giving current customers constant updates on their standing in the marketplace.

Transparency is a good move. Wondering about the "we'll make sense of the numbers" bit considering that the false data that was being fed to the computers by financial firms is a small part of what kicked off this whole mortgage crisis thing. Perhaps, a better move would have just been transparency all by itself. Add in a touch of clarity about how much the top dogs are invested in Oppenheimer. How about more on how the fund managers plan on being accountable in the future? What about the tools the fund will be using to assess data and inform investors of market changes? Transparency. Say it three times really fast. It's the new law.

P.S. If you want a thorough explanation of the mortgage crisis straight from the mouths of the players involved (from the top dawg to the middleman and below), check out the This American Life episode called, The Giant Pool Of Money. It's just excellent.

Esther Lee has been the CEO, North America of EuroRSCG for about a year. She spent longer at her previous gig as CCO of Coca-Cola. Maybe she just likes the client side better? It's a different world on the other side of the line. Adweek nicely wrapped up Lee's achievements:

- The New York operations of Euro RSCG and its digital/direct marketing division, Euro RSCG 4D, were integrated.

- Wieden + Kennedy CD Jose Cabaco filled the newly created chief creative officer for North America.

- The shop won LendingTree and Chivas Regal and failed to close on Kraft Foods' Philadelphia Cream Cheese and Carnival Cruise Lines.

Oh! They also launched that new website. Bleh.

More: Global Hyatt Corp. and EuroRSCG Part Ways