Publicis

Meanwhile, Detroit starves.

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More: 'WPP: Q3 'Less Worse' Than Q2'

Tim Hanlon used to be a journalist, and then he morphed into a strategist, and then he became the EVP of Publicis' VivaKi Ventures — the year old "initiative designed to significantly improve the performance of advertisers'marketing investments as well as boost Publicis Groupe's growth in the context of rapidly expanding digital markets."

MediaPost's Online Media Daily reports that it's not yet known where Hanlon will head to next, or who will replace him. He will reportedly remain with the company through the end of the month and "had his fingers in a wide range of promising digital media and marketing start-ups."

More: "Publicis Closes Razorfish Deal"

Well, it's finally official. Publicis Groupe SA announced that it's closed its $530 million acquisition of Razorfish, which in return guarantees Microsoft 6.5 million Publicis Groupe ordinary shares held as treasury shares and $286.8 million in cash paid out of Publicis Groupe's cash reserves. This effectively gives the Redmond, WA giant a 3.3% stake in the holding company according to the release.

With the deal closed, Razorfish will now be added to the roster of VivaKi, Publicis' media and digital umbrella that also includes Starcom MediaVest Group, Digitas and Denuo among others. David Kenny, Managing Partner of VivaKi and member of the Publicis Groupe Management Board, will be responsible for the integrating Razorfish to the fold.

More: "Publicis Snags Razorfish for $530 Million"

Campaign Brief broke the news that Goodby GCD/associate partner Franklin Tipton is leaving San Fran for Melbourne in a couple of weeks to join Publicis Mojo as ECD. Tipton, who has been working on the Sprint account at Goodby, will replace Mojo CD Leo Wilson, who is headed to Fallon.

Prior to Goodby, Tipton worked at CP+B Miami, picking up two Cyber Grand Prix prizes at Cannes in '05 and '06 for Come Clean and the Volkswagen GTi campaign, respectively.

More: "Goodby Alum Will Hammond Joins Chiat LA as CD"

UK pub Campaign reports that Publicis Worldwide has created a new branded content division with the first unit to be called Publicis Entertainment.

Marcus Vinton--a former Ogilvy London ECD who subsequently co-founded Leo Burnett's interactive TV venture Spring London--will head the unit, which will create branded entertainment solutions for TV content, gaming and motion pictures integration.

Vinton tells Campaign, "The aim of Publicis Entertainment is to make content which gives wins to all parties--as stand-out TV, as a successful commercial campaign and, through the Internet Protocol, as a revenue generator to all stakeholders."

According to the article, Publicis Entertainment is currently hatching branded content projects for clients and collaborating with prodcos like RDF, Freemantle and Endemol.

More: "Publicis Snags Razorfish for $530 Million"

Thank you, Publicis Modem, for adding a touch of levity to this breast cancer awareness spot you made for Yoplait.

"If you don't believe young women get breast cancer, you're probably a young woman. And you'd be wrong. In fact, breast cancer is the number one cause of cancer death in young American women ages 15-54. Early detection can change that fact. So Yoplait wants every girl to pledge to get to know her girls. Know your girls. Lower your risk. Take the pledge. For every pledge, Yoplait will donate money to fund new breast cancer research benefiting young women."

Client: General Mills
Brand: Yoplait
Agency: Publicis Modem New York
Executive Creative Director: Patrick Clarke
Creative Director: Roald Van Wyk
Art Director: Katherine Kuni
Copywriter: Kate Lummus
Agency Producer: Megan Kelly
Project Manager: Erick Machado
Technical Lead: Drew Ziegler
Production Company: Blacklist
Executive Producer: Adina Sales
Producer: Karen Lawler
Director: Pistachios
DOP: Mans Swanberg
Editor: Mans Swanberg
Colorist: Mans Swanberg
Music and Sound Design: Antfood
Facebook Developer: Vitrue

Thanks source. More info here.

More: "Duct Tape + Breasts + Housewife = NOH8 Campaign"

After stoking the rumor mill for the past couple of months, Publicis finally closed on a deal to acquire Razorfish from Microsoft for a cool $530 million in cash and stock.

In a statement, the agency umbrella firm's chairman/CEO Maurice Levy said the deal is "another step forward in realizing our strategic vision of building a world leader in digital communications, a critically important space for our clients".

The deal, which the New York Times reports is being made for 1.4 to 1.5 times the annual revenue of Razorfish, calls for Publicis to buy display and search advertising on MSN.com and Bing.

More: "Publicis Q2 Numbers to Reflect GM's Impact"

With its second quarter numbers set to be released tomorrow, Publicis Groupe is now quantifying the impact of GM's bankruptcy on its agencies with projected losses shrinking from 55 million Euros to 9 million. According to the umbrella company, its various agencies will continue to work with GM 2.0, stating:

"Old GM has signed agreements with some of our agencies and assumed and assigned contracts with other of our agencies to New GM. As a result, we have received payment of the bulk of our fee receivables as of the date of the bankruptcy, and GM has committed to pay us our remaining pre-petition fee receivables over the next few months."

Interestingly enough, as our sister blog PRNewser has reported, GM's new marketing head Bob Lutz, who hasn't had the most flattering opinion about the brand's advertising in recent years, sounds somewhat optimistic in a chat with NPR saying, "[W]here we really messed it up and took our eye off the ball in terms of product was in '70s, '80s and early '90s. And I think we've - in the last five or six years - we've had a radical transformation in the way we approach the product and our goals for products and look at the awards we've gotten. We got car of the year."

Update: As promised, Publicis Groupe did reveal its Q2 earnings report today. Among the more notable bits of info are the agency's continuing interest in Razorfish (and possible battle with WPP to obtain it), the Latin American market's surprising growth and a 2.2% year on year revenue drop in Q2.

More: "Peter DeLorenzo Thinks Bob Lutz is the Bull's Nuts"

Reports from inside Publicis in the West, where Strawberry Frog man David Bryant recently took over a new, yet-to-be-publicly-defined role and created his own team, say the shuffling left at least one well qualified PWester on the sidelines.

A Sr. level creative on the interactive team, whose name we won't share here, was recently put back into the development pool after being told the agency "simply cannot afford his senior salary in the creative department".

Shortly thereafter, Bryant and crew are brought on.

It's not right, it's not wrong, it's business. And in this business, getting passed over for that promotion comes with the territory, especially when names like T-Mobile are involved.

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More: "Called It: David Bryant, Others, Land at Publicis West; Form Digital Strategy Voltron"

The story on Adweek regarding the hiring of former Strawberry Frog ECD David Bryant and other digiterati is scant on details about what this new team will be doing. But if you recall, we'd heard the agency is putting together a new unit whose sole mission is to create branded content for T-Mobile.

At the time we told you, "[Bryant has] been off the radar for awhile. Maybe he was building that team of branded content folks."

And that seems to be exactly what he was doing. The crew includes Kevin Drew Davis, an svp strategist from Publicis Dallas; Drew Meyers, a group account director from McCann SF; Lindsay Daniels a cd, from Favorite Color; Hart Rusen, a cd from Goodby SF.

Click here for Adweek's full report.

More: "Publicis in the West Loses a Head of Strategic Planning"