Publicis

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"

Sources familiar with Publicis in the West have confirmed that the agency's director of strategic planning, Kevin May, is no longer working at the shop. A reason for his departure was not provided, though we understand the agency is keeping the matter close to the vest.

Rumor has it that T-Mobile CEO Robert Dodson has trouble letting his CMOs do their job and in the last four years has had five different people in that position. Inside PWest, GM Randy Browning and CCO Bob Moore may be inadvertently making their account executives feel out of place because Dodson will only speak with them.

This isn't the first high-level exit at the west coast office, though we haven't been able to confirm much else than that. Our sources make it sound like people are running for the doors but in reality that seems unlikely. Who in this market would leave without somewhere to go or guaranteed severance? Furthermore we know T-Mobile just re-upped their contract with the agency and will be around for at least another couple years.

Not the point, really. But the perceived shakiness of the T-Mobile account, of which we've heard numerous whisperings, seems to have some folks looking elsewhere. Must be one of those hard-to-handle accounts. And of those leaving the agency, many over the last few years have been senior level executives on the T-Mobile account, so take it for what you will.

Updates to come.

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Hewlett-Packard has selected Publicis Groupe (Modem and Geneva) to handle its personal-computers division across Europe, the Middle East and Africa. Big win. They've stolen the account from McCann Erickson who did try to defend.

McCann is battling on all fronts these days, at least in the U.S. Zicam, the maker of cold remedies with an account $25M, is searching to replace McCann Erickson, Los Angeles. They are currently engaged in a battle for some Microsoft business despite being the "lead agency."

HP is already the biggest personal-computer maker worldwide, and now, has surpassed Dell in the US market Dell for the first time since 2001, according to research firm Gartner Inc. Dell is just slipping all over the place. Dell's research strategy clearly isn't helping the company, nor is its advertising.

More: McCann NY Did What?

In passing, we mentioned that Miller has shaken up its roster. Here are the details: Bartle Bogle Hegarty, Young & Rubicam and Upshot have all lost their seat at the Miller table.

- Miller Lite is now at Interpublic's DraftFCB Chicago. They lost Killian's Red to Jacobson Rost and Keystone, too.
- Miller Genuine Draft, Keystone and MG64 are now with the New York office of Saatchi & Saatchi, which also holds Miller High Life and Miller Chill.
- Upshot's, a retail agency, has seen their account distributed across Omincom including The Integer, Digitas in Chicago and Arc in Chicago.

Got it?

More: Publicis Gives Shares To Its Employees

Publicis Groupe announced today that it has acquired Nemos, a Swiss interactive agency that will be aligned with Publicis Modem, the digital branch of the Publicis Worldwide global network.

The shop consists of only 10 people and focuses on, eh hem, flash. Said Publicis of the little shop that could, "This acquisition once again illustrates Publicis Groupe's ongoing commitment to enriching its digital offer through targeted acquisitions."

Breathtaking stuff, in'it? Your chariot awaits, Nemos. Oh, the shop was founded in 2002.

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Ah-ha! A holding company is messing with the model! Publicis wants its employees to get incentivized and more invested in the company's future. The group has decided to allocate free shares in the first half of 2009 to its 4,500 employees located in France. These shares have nothing to do with performance, but will be offered to those who have been with the company for a minimum of three months. As well, 160 top level executives will receive an offer to join a co-investment program that rewards loyalty and success.

"The Management Board and Supervisory Board want to send a strong signal to all Groupe employees by offering them free shares at a time when the crisis is a challenge to all of us. The first stage of this program will be in France, but it will gradually be implemented worldwide," said Maurice Levy, Chairman and CEO of Publicis Groupe.

More: Carrefour Gets Its Own Enfatico

This short film above, from Publicis Mojo and Radical Media, had me depressed for the first few minutes. The protagonist is a beaten down man in the gray suit type. He goes into his office with its gray cubes, prints out massive reams of data and eats his lunch on the office deck while staring at a beautiful woman he doesn't have the time or chutzpah to ever get with. Seriously. I thought we were following an ad man until they make it clear that the guy is in finance.

Really though... the film is all about communication. It's a simple love story. It follows Freytag's pyramid to a "T". It's predictable, but cute. Thankfully, it's a more subtle promotion for the two agencies than all of us are used to seeing on YouTube.

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Carrefour has hired the group sans review to handle its advertising. According to Adweek: "...Publicis plans to form "an ad-hoc agency that will be totally dedicated to this account." It's Enfatico reborn with a $1 billion value. Really? One billion? Where do they get these figures?

In any case, everyone wants their own Enfatico even as the whole shebang crashes and burns. Still, Carrefour is basically like a Kmart. It doesn't need anything creative, so the odds of them messing up the brand and creating nasty, dysfunctional headlines are pretty small.

More: Dell Loses Another Top Level Enfatico Supporter

An email went out to staffers this morning letting them know that Crest will be parting ways with Saatchi New York for sister shop, Publicis Worldwide. This is all part of a larger move for P&G, which has been slowly making the shift from one to the other. In April, Procter & Gamble awarded "a new unnamed division of the Publicis Groupe all of the marcomms activity for its Oral-B product line" and shifted to one of the few "pay per performance" business models in the business.

A Crest spokesperson told us in an email that:

"This is about agency consolidation for our Oral Care category. You may be aware that Oral Care at P&G has moved to a Brand Agency Leader model with Publicis as the lead agency. We started with Oral-B/brushes and this is part of that on-going consolidation bringing in Crest and some of the other Oral Care brands. There is now some realignment within the holding company and, for the most part, the Saatchi advertising creatives will move to Publicis."

All this means that Publicis will be taking over the $200M creative for Crest in the US and Europe. Now that's a big move. Still, it's an in-network switch, so be sure that Levy aint sweatin' it one bit.

More: Bob Isherwood Departs From Saatchi