Naked

Fine. Heron Preston is adorable. The twenty-nothing, who works at Naked Communication as a strategist, has hit the big time with a shout-out in New York Magazine for his book/gallery show/online project, The Young and the Banging, which he plans to develop into a talent and marketing agency. He's officially a downtown "It" boy - the rich kids, the late nights, the sneakers, the shows and yes, lots of press lines. From the article:

"The marketing term for people like me is "slash/slashers." Like, I'm doing the yearbook plus my blog and making videos and working at a communications firm called Naked. We don't want one path-we want to get involved in lots of creative projects. It's like, "Oh, you should holler at Harley to go D.J. your party!" or "Holler at so-and-so to shoot your short! He's also in a band!" I call us the New Pop Culture, which might sound bold, but I believe it. We're more influenced by what we're up to-our own creative outputs-than what Karl Lagerfeld is up to. We are more interested in reading our friends' blogs than Style.com. My friends and I don't care about Lindsay Lohan; when we see a picture of a celebrity like Kanye West, we want to know who's standing behind him. It's cooler to be a real person. It's our turn now."

Youthful enthusiasm. It's fucking precious.

More: Hot Ad (Wo)Man of the Day: Heron Preston

One would expect better of Naked Communications, then to set up a very faux viral using YouTube. A You-Tube clip was recently posted by a pretty young woman in Sydeney who was looking for a man who left his jacket at a cafe. Apparently, it was love at first sight. That video had generated 160,000 hits in two weeks, along with video responses male viewers begging for the blonde's attention. Still, YouTube users aren't idiots. It began to leak that this woman was a faker - LonelyGirl with a corporate paycheck. At first, the Surry Hills office of Naked Communications and their client, Witchery Man, denied the stunt. As of this past Wednesday, they gave in. Naked posted their own video of the blonde admitting the whole thing was an advertising gimmick (see below). And this is where they fucked up again. The actress should have come totally clean and said, "I did it for the money. I did it because I want to be famous. Naked it did it because that's there job and Witchery wanted you to see their new line." Instead, the actress claims she did it because she was a romantic. Comments on the admission videos page include:

"You killed romance!"

"You did it for the money. And that clothes shop sucks."

"GENIUS. So much PR... So little Dollars."

"I think what Delta was trying to say is "how sweet would it be if something like this really did happen?"
As opposed to the depressing truth that it was all a hoax/marketing campaign. (Boo! Never going to set foot in that store again!)"

continued...

Not too long ago, Photon bought Naked Communications aka the best looking agency in New York. The shop has done well by their new owners helping Photon to post record profits of $21.7 million. That's a lot of bread.

Somehow, Naked seems to have a bit of the magic touch, which of course, puts the Tom Cruise video the shop posted a few months go into perspective (see above). You know Tommy-boy. He loves that magic-spooky-Scientology-hocus-pocus-stuff.

Naked Communications being sold to Photon hasn't seem to change the pluck and verve of the kids in the New York office. Crushing on Naked is super easy. Come on... Take at look at their annual family photograph from 2007 (top) and 2008 (below). Easy to crush out on. So, easy.

Both photographs were taken by Akira Ruiz. Zero eight was snapped on location at Old Westbury Gardens, which was also used in the film Cruel Intentions. If you're dying for more of their pretty faces, there's a video of the photo shoot, as well as the Naked Flickr stream to amuse you. I'm sorry, but I gotta say it again... they're the best looking agency in town.

Naked Communications has been acquired by the Australian group Photon in a deal that includes an initial upfront cash payment of £16.5 million according to the Brand Republic with a pay out structure over four years dependent on achieving growth targets. Naked was founded in 2000 by Will Collin, John Harlow and Jon Wilkins. Advertising agency Mother is also a shareholder.

What we can say about Naked is that we adore the folks in its New York office and that they landed a coup when they scooped up Kimberly Clark. In early January, we also know that managing partner Niku Banaie quit (though LinkedIn still has him at the agency). He had joined the agency in 2003 and made managing partner two years ago. Naked made noise about "restructuring" back in December. Apparently, he was a position overseeing Naked and its brand activation arm Lunch, but declined the opportunity. Is that because he knew the shop was getting sold? Betcha. Betcha cash money. Hope he had some shares still.

Earlier today, The Tribble Agency reported that Kimberly Clark hired Naked Communications New York. The brand is turning away from the :30 spot in the hopes of

"developing media-neutral marketing ideas, communications plans and channel strategies for K-C's consumer brands, including Huggies, Kleenex, Scott, Pull-Ups, Cottonelle, Viva, Depend and GoodNites." [Brandweek]

Naked will work with JWT, MindShare and Ogilvy & Mather and Kanter, Clark's WPP partners. It's a trifecta, if you know what we mean. It's a big win for Naked and so we asked, Kacy Erdelyi, a senior stragetist with a great reputation at the shop, why they got the gig:

"Kimberly Clark selected Naked because we f-ing rock! But seriously it's because we are the only company that actually delivers integrated marketing solutions. More and more clients are after truly integrated marketing solutions, and honestly we're the only ones that can do it. And the biggest. And the best."