Well, this was news to us, but after spending the last three years at GlobalHue, Michael Jacobs has moved on, joining up as chief creative officer at New York-based marketing technology studio, iRGONOMIC, which seems to be focused on the CMO/CIO set according to its description.

As for Jacobs, the senior creative initially joined GlobalHue as digital ECD after spending several years at MRM, where he last served as executive creative director exclusively on the agency’s GM business. Just months after joining GlobalHue, Jacobs was bumped up to EVP/ECD and oversaw all creative out of the agency’s New York office as it was undergoing “realignment.” In subsequent years, the exec was elevated to chief digital officer and led the charge on Voyr, a concept spawned from the agency’s incubator, GHV, that essentially served as a content vehicle for Kanye West and hyped the artist’s “Watch the Throne” tour with Jay-Z.

From what we’ve been told, Jacobs left GlobalHue of his own volition.

In his 2007 song “The Good Life,” Kanye West spends a verse giving shout-outs to all of his favorite cities that, for Yeezy, are representative of a life that is in fact “good.” However, when he mentions his own hometown, West qualifies it by saying, “Summertime Chi.”

Now, many outside of the Windy City assume West’s seasonal mention is due to the fact that, outside of summer, Chicago is a depressing wasteland of frozen streets and city buses that travel in packs at 45-minute intervals. In actuality, West is commenting on Chicago’s wonderful midyear tradition of 16-inch softball. A local institution, 16-inch is played with an extra-large ball that allows fielders to play the game sans-gloves, a convenient attribute for those of us who don’t own athletic equipment and can’t be bothered to visit a sporting goods store during happy hour. There’s even a 16-inch Hall of Fame, because I am totally not making this shit up.

Unfortunately, many of those in the local advertising industry are burdened by long hours in the office, preventing us from journeying into the outdoors to imbibe Old Style and camaraderie in equal servings. So, the Chicago outlet of agency Two by Four is turning to the much more indoor-friendly game of Wiffle Ball instead, challenging DraftFCB to a Home Run Derby to happen on Thursday at 4pm CST.

The contest will take place at Two by Four’s 2-story domed offices, where the agency is known to throw a pretty awesome annual Christmas party. At stake is the above trophy, designed by Two by Four president and CCO David Stevenson, the title of “Best Mother (expletive deleted) Wiffle Ballers in the City So Suck It Chicago.com/booya!” and a $500 tab at a local hotel bar. Two by Four employees will compete in a pre-derby target competition, with prizes listed after the jump.

May the best agency win.

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Anything backed by the opening thumps of Kanye West/Jay-Z‘s “No Church in the Wild” is bound to be epic. W+K’s latest spot for Dodge is no exception.

This 90-second instructional ad makes car creators look like Mad Men, minus the booze. Instead, they’re drinking coffee, kicking out committees that make compromises, and redefining the modern vehicle. The showcased car is the 2013 Dodge Dart, a compact chariot that can be started via smart phone and gets 41 miles to the gallon.

The copywriters did a fantastic job giving this ad’s narrator a mixture of humorous and informational lines, rhythmically recited over Watch the Throne’s music and a collage of video scenarios. The ad introduces Dodge’s tagline, “New Rules” (wait, does Bill Maher have a case?). If car manufacturing is really about to become this fast-paced and fun, we’re willing to follow Dodge’s guidelines.

Credits after the jump.

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The state of New York and Governor Andrew Cuomo tapped BBDO NY for the above TV spot, “The New New York, a Whole New Approach to Business.” And, before you pushed play, you could probably guess what celeb they got to narrate the spot, who they got to direct it, and what pop song they selected for its soundtrack.

Yes, Robert DeNiro, Spike Lee and Jay-Z are definitely the most New Yorkiest New Yorkers in all of New York-dom. Now, I’m not criticizing BBDO for going with the most obvious choices here. In fact, the spot would probably feel incomplete without DeNiro’s gruff voice and “Empire State of Mind” playing against shots of the New York City skyline. Not including DeNiro and Jay would be like the city of  Chicago shooting a similar spot and not asking Vince Vaughn and Kanye West to take part. Sorry, Chicagoans, but you know that’s what would inevitably happen.

The spot is part of a state-driven $50 million business marketing campaign that, among other things, includes a $5 million contest to redesign the iconic “I ❤ NY” logo. Needless to say, some people in the media aren’t too fond of this initiative. Regardless, it’s a big win for BBDO, whose president and CEO John Osborn says in a statement, “We are a New York state business and have been here for over 100 years. We know what New York has to offer. So we wanted to create a campaign with a pace and energy that captures, celebrates and reinforces the State’s renewed focus on the business community. At the same time we wanted to demonstrate the depth and breadth of business services that New York State offers.”

Visit the campaign’s new website here and view credits for the spot after the jump.
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-Havas-owned digital agency Archibald Ingall Stretton hired David Shavrick and Joshua Sacks as executive creative director and general manager, respectively.

-Let’s take a look at the new Digiday. link

-So, what music does Cheil USA’s staff listen to (above)? link

-LinkedIn damages a man’s job situation. link

-If you want to see an infographic about “Facebook Depression,” well look no further. link

-ICANN appears not to give a damn about its critics. link

-Best Buy bites back when it comes to its alleged demise. link

-Yahoo and Sundance have formed an online partnership. link

-Who’s ready for Kanye West‘s new tech company, DONDA? link

-Gordon Ramsay plugs his new cookware line in a new Kmart spot from PMH (above).

-Netflix drops its Qwikster model. Phew. link

-Who fell victim to the Blackberry service collapse? link

-Facebook wants a bigger role in our daily media consumption. link

-Kanye West has now joined the Occupy Wall St. movement. link

-There will be an Apple employee celebration of Steve Jobs next week. link

There’s perhaps nothing more grating at the workplace than having someone constantly stand over your shoulder and monitor your work. Thankfully, a Tumblr photo blog aptly titled “Hovering Art Directors” captures these annoying moments forever. According to the homepage, the HAD site is the product of one Jacqueline Law, who works out of BBH New York. The submission above from AgencyNet in Fort Lauderdale is just one of several that have been posted from around the world (hey look, even Kanye West likes to hover!) in recent days. We can imagine that there are many of you in the industry who feel these folks’ pain.

(h/t JM)

Sure, this may not send people to the hospital like Kanye West‘s video for “All of the Lights.” But, if you’re hanging out on your office desktop, we recommend watching this new spot from Goodby, Silverstein & Partners on full-screen mode.

It seems that Sprint’s “Now Network” nickname is being dropped (at least in these spots) for “All. Together. Now.” A look at the campaign’s website reveals that Sprint’s Unlimited plan means a sad, blinking pug or a senior citizen smiling with floating balloons behind her. You can even call or text Veatrice to wish her a happy 100th birthday! While the site leans more toward the unlimited calling and texting aspects of the plan, TV spots like “Anthem” are more about viral video capabilities. Isn’t it time you used your HTC EVO to watch more people falling off of tables? Credits and the second spot, “Birthday,” after the jump.

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Online music chart website We Are Hunted has released their research for the last half of 2010, showing which artists won the year’s social media battle. Their findings, which measure artists’ “buzzworthiness” over their sales, produced some surprising results.

Oddly enough, British apocalyptic rockers Muse are the most popular band on the internet, which sounds wrong considering Lady Gaga and Kanye West never seemed to leave the public eye last year, and considering Twitter actually had to change its algorithms to stop Justin Bieber from being the top trending subject all day every day. If We Are Hunted’s charts are in any way accurate, how could a band like Muse be the biggest thing online? Well, ReadWriteWeb posed the same question to WAH’s co-founder and CTO Stephen Phillips, who replied, “Because we focus on what people are listening to and talking about, and ignore mainstream press, maybe we are getting a measure of dedicated music fans than the general populace.”

Even so, Phillips agrees that mainstream press does have a lot to do with a new artist gaining buzz. “Pitchfork, Prefix Magazine, NME, Hipster Runoff, Clash Music and Spin can blow up a new artist,” he said in the ReadWriteWeb interview. “If they give coverage, the blogosphere follows.” True, it’s not like those writers at Prefix Magazine ever give that Justin Bieber fellow any coverage.

It looks like Kobe Bryant‘s getting the all-star treatment when it comes to hyping his Nike Zoom Kobe VI shoe. Now that R/GA’s supplied the Twitter-based component for the Black Mamba campaign, W+K is rolling out teasers for a “Black Mamba” film, directed by Robert Rodriguez (who also plays sound designer here),  that’s set to debut in the U.S. and China during NBA All-Star weekend in February.

The Rodriguez imprint is all over the teasers, which seem inspired by the filmmaker’s recent flick, Machete, what with the overdramatic VO, action, explosions and fonts.  Hell, they even star Machete himself, Danny Trejo, along with Bruce Willis and Kanye West for some reason. While we draw comparisons to Dwyane Wade’s nightmarish Nike spot from early last year, check out the initial Mamba trailer, credits and rather awesome promo poster after the jump.

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