-Here’s what we’ve got on Y&R Cali: Mike Reese, managing partner at Y&R NYC who’s been with the agency since we were doing “Hammertime,” has been promoted to president of what is now Y&R California. Meanwhile, Apple/Goodby/Mekanism alum Mimi Cook will join Reese in San Francisco to lead Y&R’s West Coast agency as chief creative officer. Thus ends the reign of  Doug Sweeny and Joe Kayser, the latter of whom joined Y&R West Coast as CCO two years ago.

-Arnold picked up ad duties for Del Monte Foods’s Milk-Bone brand. As AOR, ArnoldNYC will lead the way for the Havas-owned agency, handling advertising and marketing duties covering digital, print, and TV. Says now-Arnold CEO  Robert LaPlae–who initally assumed the role of global president eight months ago–in the most grandiose statement regarding dog food, “Our new partnership mission is to generate brand velocity, growth, and to reclaim Milk Bone’s iconic status. Milk Bone is a true passion brand and a category leader for Del Monte in the dog treats category.

-JWT-owned Digitaria has welcomed former Pereira & O’Dell biz dev director Robyn Freye as VP, marketing.

-Seattle/L.A.-based WDCD decided to  play a part in “Free Speech For People” in an effort to make the Supreme Court aware of its Citizens United ruling (above). link

-Who knew advertisers must also be inventors. link

-Yeah, #FirstWorldProblems. link

-According to some (or most), the Twitter ads API was inevitable. link

-TBWA’s Rob Schwartz says “brand programming is the new advertising.” link

-ZenithOptimedia Group has appointed Tim Collison to the newly created position of global communications director.

New Career Opportunities Daily: The best jobs in media.

-SapientNitro alum Doug Ruhl has moved over to JWT agency Digitaria to serve as VP of business development. Ruhl will work out of JWT’s Chicago office.

-Ah, Element 79, we hardly knew ye. link

-Definition 6 hired Luciano Tapia and John Gill as art director and senior editor, respectively, for its New York office.

-The beer enthusiasts/homebrewers at Richmond, VA-based shop WORK Labs have finally launched the site for The Fermentation Society. Exhibition event pics from Sept. 1 here.

-Seeking to optimize ad targeting for its brand clients on social networks, Buzzfeed has bought up New York startup Kingfish Labs. link

-NFL players continue to flaunt their acting chops, this time in a new campaign from RT+P for Arctic Ease (above), which appointed said agency as its AOR a month ago.

-So, we guess Joe Kayser and the gang at Y&R SF are getting some company. link

New Career Opportunities Daily: The best jobs in media.

-McCann Worldgroup alum TH Peng is taking on the role of chairman/CEO of Grey Greater China.

-The newly rebranded Y&R California along with Mediacom West, which includes president Doug Sweeny, CCO Joe Kayser, global planning director Sandy Thompson and MW managing director Steve Abraham, won the Crystal Cruises biz.

-Carmichael Lynch appointed Fallon alum Niki Dobratz as group director of consumer engagement.

-Leo Burnett and Particle Chicago give us a new Pop-Tarts ad. Anyone else hungry?

-This is how NOT to get an agency job. link

-Google has unveiled its Nexus line, complete with redesigned Android. link

-Los Angeles-based prodco Boxer Films signed Italian director Igor Borghi for U.S. commercial representation.

- Jason Ortenberg joined the roster of NoHo NYC-based shop Manic as senior VFX artist. link

-A former ad person writes her debut novel. link

-VML/Y&R New York alum Ilene Joel joined Campfire as an art director.

New Career Opportunities Daily: The best jobs in media.

Doug Sweeny

Before his move to the client side, Sweeny was MD at Chiat SF and ran the global business for Adidas during its “Impossible is Nothing” phase (here’s to you, KG). Prior to Chiat, Sweeny was VP, account director at Hal Riney & Partners, where he led the Saturn business.

New Career Opportunities Daily: The best jobs in media.

Sources familiar with the matter confirm that Y&R San Francisco has cut approximately 15 employees, seven of them being full-time staffers and the rest freelancers. The layoffs, which affected all departments, weren’t due to business loss, but a need for a “talent upgrade” and to give the SF office a “shot of energy” according to our sources. As you know, both Y&R SF and L.A. are now under the creative leadership of Cutwater alum Joe Kayser, who joined as West Coast CCO earlier this month. Here’s the statement below:

“In our continual efforts to run our North American operations as efficiently as possible and to align our talent with our clients’ needs, we have parted ways with a small group of both free-lance and full-time employees from our San Francisco office.”

And while they’re at it with the talent upgrade, Y&R SF might want to do the same for their site, which is rather barebones to say the least.

New Career Opportunities Daily: The best jobs in media.

While at the now-defunct Cutwater (ed- it closed in January), Kayser (pictured) handled day-to-day creative work for the likes of Jeep, Adidas, LensCrafters, Persol and Google among others. As Kayser joins the Y&R fold, the agency’s West Coast president John Berg is stepping down and its North American president/CEO Tom Sebok will assume his responsibilities for the time being until a permanent successor is found.

According to the Y&R camp, Kayser’s hire is just one of “many” changes under the watch of newly installed global CEO David Sable. We’ve been told the agency will be hiring more staff in the days ahead. As for Kayser’s background, prior to Y&R, he held creative posts at TBWA\Chiat\Day SF, Hill Holliday, Hal Riney & Partners and Saatchi & Saatchi.

New Career Opportunities Daily: The best jobs in media.