Agency Spy

Yoda Bob has pulled one of his own back into the fold — and the added bonus — it hurts one of his main competitors.

Mauro Cavalletti is returning to R/GA as executive creative director after three years at other shops, including Organic and most recently AKQA, where he was group creative director.

Cavalletti, 46, begins work at R/GA in mid-May, when it will open in San Francisco. The West Coast outpost is the New York-based agency’s third office, following its expansion to London about two years ago.

Adweek has more details:

“He’s extraordinary at creative, technology and user experience,” said Bob Greenberg, CEO of R/GA. “It’s all the things we need and want to get. He’s a real manager and can handle large clients.”

R/GA is looking at office space in San Francisco that could house as many as 80 employees, Greenberg said. By the end of 2008, the shop expects roughly 25-30 workers. R/GA has more than 600 employees in New York and 30 in London.

“We opened in San Francisco not based on business but based on talent,” he said. “Talent is the biggest issue facing agencies today. It’s the biggest open creative and technology talent pool other than New York.”

While Greenberg sees AKQA as R/GA’s main rival, he said the shop would not specifically target talent from there.

“It’s not so much the agencies but the Yahoo!s and Googles,” he said. “All the technology companies have many potential hires for us.”"

Now Bob is getting a little silly there — hiring from the Yahoos and Googles would just be fucking dumb for an agency — unless it was a straight tech job that is.  Having experience with those companies, it would be a clusterfuck if you tried to convert them to the agency lifestyle because the mentality is completely different and the client demands would cause the new people to lose their shit — quickly.

At AKQA, Cavalletti worked on several accounts, including Target, Method and Kraft. He led Organic’s user experience practice in both New York and San Francisco from 2005-06. In his past life at R/GA, Cavalletti rose from senior interaction designer to interaction design director to creative director from 1999 to 2005.

Cavalletti will initially work on Nike at R/GA, along with new clients the office acquires. He will report to Nick Law, R/GA’s chief creative officer for North America. R/GA has also landed two local clients that Greenberg declined to name — speculation has that one of them could be Levi’s.

Seems Ad Age has gone “digital” this week with the “Ad Age Digital Issue” (sorry if I’m late to the game on this — been a hectic one here.)

The usual load of crap is installed and it is a very quality attempt at garnering some good PR for all those agencies you love to hate (when most of them deserved to be ignored for the most part.)

Perhaps one of my favorites of the entire issue is the labeling of Draft as “an innovative place to work.”

Now, not to steal too much from George P. on this subject (him & Howard D. being best buds and all) — but are you serious? I think i’ll let George have his say in the comment section (if he gets around to it — but knowing his ever-expanding love for the company — and he probably has every mention of Draft on the web as a Google Alert — I’m sure he’ll chime in soon enough.)

Almost as bad is Digitas being #6 on “Digital A-List 2008″ — those who know it — generally know it as a shitty place to work — and everyone knows that they don’t have the first clue on how to service a client properly (feel free to quiz their GM or Amex clients some time…)

Of course, this thing has a payola feel to it all — Global Agency Network of the Year Tribal DDB didn’t even make the list (not that they necessarily deserved to, mind you), nor did R/GA (which is considered one of the best places to both ply the digital trade and turn out good work — i.e. Nike+, Verizon, Nokia, etc.)

You had to know that Howard sent Jonah a case of Effen-Effen to get on the innovative work place list, right?

*** EDIT:  The “payola” mention is a JOKE… ha-ha funny…ok maybe not that funny — but there was no intention for the term “payola” to ruffle the feathers of those mentioned in the article.  It is all my uninformed opinion anyway — libel is a tricky issue…. especially when opinion (of which this is not supposed to be a “news relevant mention”– remember “J-O-K-E”!)  Now I think I’ve killed that beyond recognition — have a great weekend!)

So, R/GA is opening an office in San Francisco! Hot. Hmmm… and why would they do that? WE HEAR THAT… R/GA has won a brand spanking new account. The name of the client is being withheld, because apparently, the incumbent has no idea that they are on the shit end of the stick. Possible scandal! Love it!

Shall we guess? Um, they’re stealing from Goodby and it’s HP? Anyone want to give a guess, too?

Don’t forget! Send us pictures from the holiday git down.

We were also thinking of sending one of our spies in training about to cover the events. Our spy will interview guests, take pictures, eat everything in sight, probably get drunk and out us, too. That’s a risk we’re willing to take. So, please… invite us! Email us at agencyspy at gmail com!

In the mean time, please enjoy some snaps of R/GA’s holiday party from 2006. We’re not sure, which office this is, but everyone looks reasonably glossy and lovely, no?

Thanks to everyone who voted in Agency Spy’s First Annual Sexiest Man In Advertising Competition. With 494 votes cast we do have a winner! But, first, we’d like to point out that the original posting received thousands of hits. Hmmm…. so we’re guessing that in this male dominated and mostly heterosexual business of ours, you fellows decided to skip out on the whole voting thing. Well, we got emails to that affect anyway. Whatevs. We had some fun, some laughs and we’re glad to see the we have a winner!

In ninth place is Selmat Datang Chen of W+K with 2% of the votes. In eighth place is Mauro Alencar of Publicis Modem (3%). Seventh is Juan Cabral of Fallon UK (4%) and sixth is Jose Molla, founder la comunidad in Miami, with 9%. Coming in at number five is Nick Law, CCO of R/GA, with 10% of the vote. Fourth is Feh Tarty, an AD at Goodby, (12%). Third place goes to David Droga of Drgoa5 (13%) and the runner-up is Ajaz Ahmed from AKQA (20%).

And with 28% of the vote, thewinner is…. Geoff Edwards SVP of the SF TAG Unit at McCann Erickson!!!

Everyone knows how much we dislike McCann Erickson. However, the agency’s one shining star is certainly their Tag units where Geoff is an SVP and a group creative director at the SF branch.

Geoff is 38 and a Detroit native. He started out as an intern at Chiat/Day in New York 14 years ago and helped Spike Lee launch Spike DDB in 1996 (sweet!). Edwards pulled stints at Element 79 Partners and, prior to that, Interpublic Group’s Foote, Cone & Belding, as well. He then went on to work at TBWA/C/D SF where he was paired with his longtime partner, Scott Duchon, who was once named GQ’s Man of the Month. Chuck McBride once said of the team that “I find them to be incredibly tenacious. A lot of people get worn down by negative process. They take the adversity and use it to their benefit. They come out heroes that way.”

Having worked on Playstation and Adidas might have helped Edwards co-create/manage that wonderful, award winning “Gears Of War” spot this past year. Check out his Clio stats here and his Cannes credits here. For Art Director’s club shout outs, see here. Creativity Online recently held a Q&A with our sexiest man where he had this response to the question, what’s the process like becoming leaders [rather than strict creatives]?

“Honestly, I think it’s an evolutionary process. You don’t learn to be a leader, it’s based on past experiences, on people who have influenced you and influenced your career. A huge influence on me is Bob Scarpelli. He’s the (film and press) jury chair this year and I can’t wait to see him. When I was at DDB/Chicago, I learned a lot from him. There’s this one quote that I carry around that he always said, and that’s “All good ideas find a home.” It’s so true because a lot of ideas aren’t bought, but you hold on to those thoughts and at some point there will be an opportunity. For instance, the song we put on the Gears of War spot, that’s a song Scott had always kind of kept with him, and then this spot came out and was a perfect opportunity. So I think leadership is about grabbing the positive experiences we’ve had in this industry and galvanizing them, and incorporating them into your personal style. It starts from the core. The core of it are talented teams. They’re the young people. They’re shaping the culture of the industry. They’re coming up with the ideas. They’re charged with that and it’s up to Scott and myself to recognize the good ones and direct them, not impose too much of your will.”

R/GA’s New York office is on Eighth Avenue. Senior Producer Carolyn Weiss and her sidekick DirtyPatrick have become novice food critics taking on what is arguably one of the trickiest areas in NYC to find some good grub. So far, the dynamic food duo have two videos under their belts. The above is our favorite. In this episode, Carolyn hates Village 38 (575 8th ave). DP admits it makes him ill, but not so oddly (see below) doesn’t seem to care. They’re both for Pick-A-Pita (247 West 38th St.) calling it “some of the best falafel in the neighborhood.” They move onto Guy & Gallard (245 West 38th St.) admitting that it’s expensive, but worth it.

Carolyn’s got a point about G&G. We’re fans. Interestingly, Weiss also spent some time at the Criterion Collection. We like her. We really do. She’s got a good vibe.

More of a mystery is DirtyPatrick who has his own little TV show going via YouTube. The guy has at least ten videos up there highlighting his aggressive/sarcastic personality. The one below is sort of mind boggling to us. If you want more, check out his vid titled “Coke and Beans” featuring another R/GA employee named Kim and her burping technique. In jest, she mentions that she is single. Honestly, she looks too cute and way too much fun to be running solo. Can’t you imagine taking her to like, a WWF match and having the time of your life? She’s the perfect Betty.

Anyway, who is this guy DirtyPatrick and just when does he do any actual work?

More: Helio + Deutsch LA… Tsk. Tsk. 

Rumors are flying about that R/GA is in the midst of a bit of turmoil. Our sources say that two warring factions are competing to rule the roost. It’s like the Jets and the Sharks all over again except without the knives and um… racial tensions. Is it because Barbara Hamilton, who was recently hired to run  J&J is busting heads? Is Nick Law causing some trouble?

Under the leadership of Bob Greenberg, the company’s Chairman, Chief Executive Officer and Chief Creative Officer, the company has managed to take on interactive and digital content full steam where other agencies have failed. Nice work guys.

If you know anything, anything at all, do tell… Create that fake Gmail account and email us at agencyspy at mediabistro dot com. Thanks!

We’re hearing a lot of whispers about going-ons at R/GA. And no… it’s not about Bob, whom we totally respect. We’re looking for someone to tell us if this HOT, juicy rumor is totally true or totally bullshit. Email us at agencyspy at mediabistro dot com or IM at agencyspy.

Thanks.

J. Walter Thompson creative director Robert Rasmussen has split for R/GA to be the lead creative on its Nike account. He is the archetype of the CD with that very Flock of Seagulls haircut, no? Rasmussen, who looks like he’s in his late 20s, but is really 38, spent two years at JWT, where he was creative director on the JetBlue account. This came after spending seven years at Wieden + Kennedy where he also worked on the Nike account. At Interpublic Group’s R/GA, Robert will lead the team on Nike+, Nike Running and Nike Women. Here’s why Rasmussen is considered a big deal - from Adweek:

“Rasmussen is credited with an interactive breakthrough when he worked on the Sega account at Wieden. In 2004, his team created a wide-ranging alternate reality game called Beta-7 to promote Sega’s ESPN NFL Football game. It used blogs, viral video and traditional media to pull in 2 million participants. The campaign won the Grand Clio that year.”
This guy has been a busy bee. Wonder how much R/GA had to shell out to poach him from JWT to go work on brand he’s already busted a nut on. Hmmm….

More: Inside R/GA

Or, Running Is For Pussies

Every agency and their grandmother seems to have a video tour of their office posted on YouTube. Judging from the wild success of our piece titled, “Sneak Peak: Agency Interiors,” it seems that ad industry staffers just really want to know what other agencies are really, really like. Remember kids - the grass is always greener!

As such, here’s a short video that takes you on a fast and oddly (but kind of cool) black and white tour of the R/GA New York Office. Blessedly, unlike the Wieden and Kennedy video we posted last week, the accompanying music is perfectly “sassy” agency rather than gay techno house party.