Agency Spy

Richard Kirshenbaum invites you to lunch to chat about “creativity, and personal style, and art, and weird inspiring things” during his new TV show, ‘Creative Lunch.’ Check out the video above of Richard on Deutsch’s Big Idea if you’ve never seen the man in action. Hey… Holy shit! Is Richard going to be the new Tim Gunn, but with feathered hair! Wait… the press release goes on to read:

“-its about those stories that usually aren’t told but should be - like mistakes that are blessings in disguise, or inspired moments that change the course of a project, or life. its candid, witty, insightful, and entertaining.”

Shiiit. He’s the new Oprah! Well, actually no, since the show airs on Plum, the television station for rich, white folks in places like Aspen and Nantucket. Why is Richie qualified to speak on such a wide array of topics to other rich white folks like Matt Lauer and heiress Dylan Lauren? According to the press release:

“Richard’s diverse interests include penning plays, and writing, and his latest book “Closing the Deal” a relationship help book for women has been published in nine languages.”

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Oh, sorry. You know when you feel like you’re going to barf in your mouth, like it creeps up the back of your throat and burns a little? That’s what happened. Right then. I’m sure many of the (very cool) KBP employees can relate.

Avenue A/Razorfish is looking for a few good superheros. Erm… no sorry. I misread. They’re looking for interns. Interns, right. The email ad is below. I’m sure you’ll see exactly how I managed to get confused.

_______

“Hi all,

We’re searching for Design & Copy Interns for our Summer program - the kind of talent you will be proud to mentor. Please feel free to send
referrals directly to me or pass on the ad attached (thank you, Josh
Fischer). Our Internship is paid, full-time, and 3 months long. There
is no referral bonus, however, many other rewards pertain (i.e
production help, fresh ideas, proofreading)!

Thanks,
Jennifer

“We aren’t looking for a Photoshop Chimp for our NYC internship program. We’re looking for a creative innovator. A designer whose work bleeds perfection. A writer of copy you remember the next week. An architect of the next generation of websites. A rethinker of same-old same-old advertising. A visual storyteller. A user of user generated content. A generator of user generated content. A music, film, design, art, and fashion hound who doesn’t care about trends for the sake of trends.

A Gawkering, Flickring, Facebooking, Googling, MySpacing, YouTubing Adcritic.

If some of this rings a bell, please come to Manhattan for a summer of
the East Village, Times Square, and Central Park.

And L’Oreal, Ford, Polo, Conde Nast, Universal Music Group, and a
dozen other clients most creatives would kill to work for.

Oh, and some Photoshop work.

Send your portfolio and CV to: xxx.xxxxx@avenuea-razorfish.com”

Something big is about to come out of MindShare sometime next week. The leaves are twittering and we can’t get a straight answer. Not sure what it is, but apparently, the company is looking to deal with the fragmentation in media and evolve the overall business. Currently, the agency performs strategic media planning, negotiation and execution with specialist services including modelling, research and a sports and entertainment sponsorship consultancy. So, what’s the next step for MindShare?

Our guess…. an agency of their very, very own? Well, that’s one the record already. The WPP-owned media agency is currently interviewing creative candidates for a digital creative arm to be based in the UK.

Hmm… here’s another hint - the internal lexicon at MindShare has nixed the words “creative agencies.” The term has been reduced down to just plain ol’ “advertising agencies,” as to MindShare (and they’re right) media can be creative, too.

We’re going crazy. Help!

You are bigger than advertising people. Don’t let anyone tell you otherwise. Proof in the pudding? Greg Eliot of Poke has created SynchStep - a handy little application for your iPhone or iPod that matches the beat in your stride to the beat of your tunes. SynchStep is currently in private beta, but I’m sure if you shoot them an email over there, they’ll set you up proper.

Go forth and create outside the box. You’re in advertising. You’ve got creativity to spare considering your client is properly turning down all your best ones.

Nielsen Business Media is laying off between 40-50 staffers, reports PaidContent and Folio. The layoffs hit the editorial departments of Adweek, Brandweek, Mediaweek, Editor & Publisher and the Hollywood Reporter. Nielsen reported overall revenues of $4.7 billion in 2007, an increase of about seven percent over the previous year. The company’s total debt, however, was $8.25 billion on December 31, with cash balances of $399 million. This also comes after Adweek has scaled back on issues.

The UK’s telegraph has released a list to end all political lists or close to it anyway. The newspaper has complied a roster of the 50 most influential men people of Margaret Thatcher’s era. The Iron Lady’s eleven years in office came with many players on both sides including list makers: Francois Mitterrand, Mikhail Gorbachev, Ian Gow and Ronald Reagan. The advertising industry has also been included due to the mandatory inclusion of Maurice Saatchi who developed the campaigns for Thatcher’s election victories in 1979, 1983 and 1987 elections. He was made a Conservative Peer in 1996 and became Chairman of the Conservative Party in 2005.

The Saatchi poster debuting the iconic slogan “Labour Isn’t Working” was judged by the staff at Campaign to be the best of the century. It changed the tenor of political advertising in the UK forever more. After that, the Saatchi shop was set in gold to blaze its way across the 80s with flashy owners, Maurice and Charles, at the wheel. The agency became an incubator of hot talent that included Martin Sorell, which allowed them to pick up new clients and dole out hot creative. They rolled on. They were untouchable, made acquisitions and felt so much like money that the brothers Saatchi even tried to buy a bank at one point. From The Times:

“Last weekend, it was reported that Saatchi had earlier this month discussed merging with Midland Bank P.L.C., Britain’s fourth-largest commercial bank. Midland spurned the overture, saying the notion lacked ”commercial or strategic logic.”

Totally, yeah. In a coup the boys were ousted in 1995 and M&C Saatchi was born. You know this story. You know it’s a bit more complicated from the beginning and the middle to the finale, but it’s like legend. You gotta tell it again and again, even if you already know how the story ends.

Saatchi S is the new sustainable arm of the agency. They bought it. They bought a sustainable second arm via the agency Act Now. Adam Werbach, who was the youngest head of the Sieraa Club and CEO of Act Now, is still CEO over at the death star. So, Saatchi is actually trying to offer some truly green programs for clients. Sweet.

Currently, we hear they are looking for someone to be the Director of the New York office. The distilled version of the agency’s mission:

“Effective immediately, Act Now will be part of the new Saatchi & Saatchi S network, a revolutionary market offering designed to activate corporate and consumer action on a mass scale to address environmental and economic sustainability.”

Any takers? The description above comes from Da Man, Kevin Roberts, over at Saatchikevin.com. Seriously… No, seriously? His own URL? If that little bit of folie de grandeur turns you off from applying, check out the video of the charming Werbach above. It might just change your mind.

What about those press people for P.J. Pereira and Andrew O’Dell, right? Landing them a Wall Street Journal piece and whatnot about the launch of their new namesake agency. The pair told the WSJ that:

“The problem with most existing ad agencies is that they either have a traditional focus or a digital orientation — and either way, marketers aren’t as well-served as they could be.”

P.J. Pereira and Andrew O’Dell, both formerly of the so-called “Cult of Ajaz”, have launched their own agency in advertising history rich San Francisco. The shop has already assembled a multidisciplinary team of 15 that will be complemented by specialists on a per project basis. Pereira & O’Dell have landed $30 million investment from ABC International, a Brazilian fund, and have also snagged contracts from their first clients: Lego, Pony and the University of Phoenix. None of which they won in a review, but apparently, the boys are ready to compete on all levels. Give ‘em a call?

Pereira told Nick Parish of Creativity that:

“We’re doing multidisciplinary campaigns that go from product design to content, sometimes going through digital, sometimes going through traditional advertising; we don’t really care about where it’s going, we just feel like when the idea is right we just know it’s right, we talk to the client and they buy into it.”

We wish ‘em luck. Just one thing fellas… that music you have blazing on your website? Squash hasta pronto. You guys are digital natives. You know better than to have some noise thrashing at a visitor to your website the second the page loads. Naughty. Hope on of those freelance specialists is a consumer insights geek.

Thank gawd! It’s taken me forever to find a copy of this ad by Ogilvy for Cisco and their Human Network campaign. I could only find the Italian dub, but here’s the gist: a skateboard executive sends around a prototype of a new board to a bunch of skate rats. The skaters send back pictures of alterations like shortening the board, adding better wheels and then, large design elements. The executive goes to his board and presents this totally different prototype. Everyone is excited, thrilled even. Why? Because they got a board completely designed for them, for free using the human network! They’ve saved themselves hundreds of thousands of dollars by not releasing their original prototype. Plus, they don’t have to pay a dime to the actual creatives - the skaters themselves. Sweet!

Yes, I understand the ad is about the power of the Cisco Human Network, collaboration and how it transforms your business. Some of the other spots aren’t bad, but this one - it’s a bit of a shit, ain’t it? Call me sensitive, but way to alienate every creative who has ever had some massive corporation steal their idea, but could also use the brand’s human network to connect with their collective, pitch concepts and manage their freelance career. These people are everywhere; creative class and all that. Check out the website You Thought We Wouldn’t Notice as a primer.

Creativity is a good trade journal, but the magazine is “evolving” by upping its profile to full on proper ass magazine. Key changes will include more content sans more advertising; heavier quality paper stock complete with perfect binding that will help the journo transition from a folded up monthly that ends up in the recycling bin to a beautiful print product you keep on the shelf. The first issue, to be released in May, will feature the winners of this year’s Creativity Awards. Judges are currently judging on the 2008 crop of entrants. You can see last year’s winners here. You can also reserve your complimentary issue, here.