Publicis Makes Key Promotions

Publicis Communications CEO Arthur Sadoun announced a series of key promotions within the holding company’s network today, Adweek reports

Among the promotions, Carla Serrano and Bill Kanarick were appointed as co-chief strategy officers of Publicis Communications. Serrano will also continue to lead Publicis New York as CEO, while Kanarick will retain his role as CSO of Publicis digital hub Publicis.Sapient. 

“Our ambition is to be our clients’ indispensable creative partner in their transformation,” Sadoun told Adweek. “With these appointments, we are creating closer ties with Publicis.Sapient to deliver the interdependent model of the future to all of our clients. We are strengthening our leadership teams to continue to raise the bar for creative excellence.” 

Sadoun added in an internal memo that part of the strategy involves leveraging SapientNitro’s digital capabilities across Publicis’ agency network.

Kate Stanners was also appointed global chairwoman of Saatchi & Saatchi, while continuing to serve as global chief creative officer. She takes over for Kevin Roberts in the role, following  Roberts’ resignation at the start of the month in the wake of his controversial remarks about gender diversity issues in a Business Insider interview that “The fucking debate is over” and he doesn’t spend “any time” worrying about diversity issues at his agencies. 

Leo Burnett Canada CEO and CCO Judy John will now also serve as Leo Burnett chief creative officer, North America, while Brent Nelson will take on the role of chief strategic officer for Leo Burnett, North America. John and Nelson will join global CEO Rich Stoddart and global CCO Mark Tutssel to complete Leo Burnett’s leadership team, and will be responsible for uniting the agency’s operations in the U.S. and Canada. 

Rounding out the series of promotions, Publicis Conseil CEO Valérie Henaff will take on the additional role of Publicis Worldwide global president, while Loris Nold will now serve as Publics Communications chief operating officer, Asia and the Middle East and Justin Billingsley will serve as COO for Latin America and Europe. 

“We are reinforcing the spirit of Power of One by simplifying our structures at local levels to foster greater collaboration and seamless access to resources,” Sadoun said. “In just nine months, our approach has delivered some fantastic results, and I know that with these latest moves the best is yet to come,” he added, referring to the restructuring moves last December which also led to Sadoun’s appointment as Publicis Communications CEO.

 

MillerCoors Sends Miller High Life to Quaker City Mercantile, Keystone Light to Mekanism

MillerCoors named Philadelphia-based agency Quaker City Mercantile (formerly known as Gyro Worldwide) as lead creative and digital strategy agency for its Miller High Life brand. The creative account had formerly been with Leo Burnett, whose shopper marketing agency Arc will continue to work with the brand, with DigitasLBi handling digital work.

MillerCoors also tapped roster agency Mekanism to handle its Keystone Light brand. Both changes were made months ago, but just confirmed to AdAge by brand representatives yesterday. We reached out to MillerCoors as well but have yet to receive a response. 

Other alcohol brands on Quaker City Mercantile’s roster include Hendrick’s Gin, Milagro Tequila and Rhode Island’s Narragansett Brewing Company.

Ashley Selman, MillerCoors vice president, marketing for emerging and economy brands, told AdAge that the brand did not assign AOR status on its economy brands but that Quaker City Mercantile’s assignment could include broadcast advertising, digital and packaging. “We are exploring all of that with them right now,” she said. “We wanted to take a slightly different approach, and we felt like getting to know the Quaker City guys and gals they had a really good finger on the pulse of where we wanted to go with Miller High Life.”

She added that the agency’s work with other alcohol brands was not a concern, stating, “One of the reasons we like them is their understanding of alcohol and consumers. We are not concerned about them working on other alcohols. We have a really clear agreement with them.”

The news follows Leo Burnett losing the McDonald’s account to Omnicom in August following a review launched back in April. Leo Burnett is currently defending in a review for General Motors’ GMC brand, launched earlier this month.

Leo Burnett, Citizen Relations Want You Try Out to Be the Next Mr. Clean

After sixty years, P&G is ready to find a new face for its Mr. Clean brand. Leo Burnett and Citizen Relations launched a new spot for Mr. Clean starring actor Kellan Lutz of the Twilight series and The Legend of Hercules. Don’t worry, we had to Google him too.

The spot, which arrives on the heels of Leo Burnett reviving the Mr. Clean jingle for the brand, features Lutz in a mock audition for the Mr. Clean role. A casting director comments that it’s a big departure from “the whole teen hearthrob thing” and he explains that he’s been looking for something different. His qualifications for the role? He washes his car after every use, polishes his Teen Choice Awards every single day and has “never had a dirty thought” in his entire life. After initially struggling to adapt to the new character, he impresses the casting director…until she finds out something “too dirty for Mr. Clean.”

After the spot’s attempts at meta humor fall flat, it ends with Lutz inviting viewers to try out for the role themselves, directing them to TheNextMrClean.com. In addition to the full-length version online, which stretches the premise well past its breaking point, there’s also a 60-second broadcast version.

“This is the second in our series of efforts to go back to our roots,” Kevin Wenzel, associate brand director for Procter and Gamble North America, explained to Adweek. “The first was the new modern version of our jingle television spot, which we launched July 1. It was a well-known jingle that was used to launch the brand. We used it for decades, and it was brought into a more modern context.” 

“We will still have our iconic Mr. Clean, but this will be a chance to let a consumer have a little bit of fun and let us have a little bit of fun as well,” Wenzel clarified. “That next Mr. Clean will be helping us generate content, including appearing in a calendar which we’ll be showing online.”

The brand will be poring over audition tapes submitted online from today through October 7, as well as hosting a pair of casting sessions in New York and Los Angles, before announcing the contest’s $20,000 winner in mid-October. We know someone who would be perfect for the role.

GMC Brand Up for Grabs as General Motors Issues Creative RFP

Following speculation this spring that General Motors was launching a review for its GMC and Buick brands, a spokesperson confirmed today that the company has issued a creative RFP to “multiple agencies”. The review is exclusively concerned with GMC, however, and the Buick brand will not be impacted.

Both accounts currently reside with Publicis agencies Leo Burnett and DigitasLBi, which will defend in the review. According to Kantar Media, the parent company spent $269 million on measured media for the brand last year.

Leo Burnett was appointed as lead creative agency for Buick and GMC in 2007 without a review and has worked with General Motors in some capacity for over 45 years.

“Expanding the relevance of GMC brand and positioning it for continued success are key priorities,” the spokesperson said. “To support this effort, GMC is inviting multiple agencies to participate in a RFP to develop advertising strategies for the brand. Our current agencies of record, Leo Burnett and Digitas, will participate in this process. This RFP is specific to GMC and does not impact in any way the relationship between Buick, Leo Burnett and Digitas.”

GMC declined to disclose specifics about the review and the new agencies involved aside from the fact that an RFP will be issued within 30-45 days and the review is expected to conclude by the end of the year. Two to incumbent agencies deferred to the client for comment.

Sources told Adweek that Leo Burnett and Digitas were informed of the RFP last week, following the announcement by McDonald’s that it had concluded its own creative/media review by sending its creative account to DDB, thereby ending its 35-year relationship with Leo Burnett and consolidating its account with Omnicom.

Back in June, the Detroit offices of Leo Burnett and Digitas LBi merged to form a new unit called Engage M-1, dedicated to serving General Motors, while retaining separate office spaces and agency brands. 

General Motors has made a few changes to its agency roster in the recent past. In February, General Motors sent creative duties for Chevrolet certified service and Chevrolet commercial vehicles to Commonwealth//McCann nearly a year after sending creative for Silverado to McCann. This year General Motors also sent PR duties on its Cadillac and Chevrolet brands to Kovert Creative and Weber Shandwick, respectively — and the Detroit News reports that the company will issue RFPs for public relations work on Buick and GMC by the end of this year.

'Don't Catch and Drive,' Says Esurance and Its Fun Cast of Car-Crash Pokemon

For all you Pokemon Go players out there, there’s a bunch of new Pokemon wandering the busy streets. But they’re not ones you’ll want to catch. 

Esurance and agency Leo Burnett imagined some new Pokemon characters for its “Don’t Catch and Drive” campaign, reminding motorists not to play the distracting smartphone game between the wheel.

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Leo Burnett Detroit, DigitasLBi and GMC Explain the Difference Between Conductors and Maestros

The Detroit offices of Leo Burnett and DigitasLBi (which joined forces to form Engage M-1 earlier this summer) launched a campaign for GMC introducing “The Next Generation of SUV” with a 30-second spot promoting the 2017 GMC Acadia.

The spot opens on a orchestra playing the intro to “Eminence Front,” The Who’s “classic” song from well-past-their-prime 1982 album “It’s Hard.” A voiceover says, “There are conductors and then there are maestros” as the scene shifts back and forth between the orchestra and a GMC Acadia driving into the city. A maestro, it continues, “leads with confidence, exactness, inspiration” — unlike a mere conductor.

At GMC, the voiceover adds, they are “in tune with that degree of precision.”

Apart from the poor song selection — beyond overlooking any number of actual classic songs they could have used, “Eminence Front” has been described by Pete Townshend as being “about what happens when you take too much white powder,” probably not the best choice for a car commercial — the spot is somewhat obvious in its messaging.

The 73 musicians in the spot were led by Kazem Abdullah, “an American-born conductor who serves as General Music Director of the city of Aachen, Germany.” Music house Mophonics were behind the special orchestration of the song, which was performed and recorded live. 

“None of the musicians had met before, but after a couple practice sessions, they sounded like they had been playing together for years,” said Bully Pictures director Sebastian Weiland, who directed the spot. “It was an amazing experience.”

“We use very clean shots throughout,” Weiland added. “It was important to me that we built the story. Near the end, we transition from inside the cabin of the car to a wide shot of the audience giving the orchestra a standing ovation. That leads to our hero moment, as we reveal the car in all its beauty and glory.”

Credits:

Agencies: Leo Burnett, Detroit: Steve Chavez, Chief Creative Officer; Erik Zaar, Executive Producer.
Digitas: Patrick McHugh, Group Creative Director; Bill Woodard, Senior Copywriter; Jason Talbot, Senior Art Director.
Production: Bully Pictures: Sebastian Weiland, Director/Director of Photography; Jason Forest, Executive Producer; Gianfilippo Pedrotti, Executive Producer.
Edit: Butcher Editorial: David Henegar, Editor; Rob Van, Executive Producer.
Music: Mophonics, Kris Roggemann, Executive Producer.

Leo Burnett Chicago Helps McDonald’s Introduce ‘A Better Chicken McNugget’

With the review of McDonald’s creative account reportedly stretching out to the end of the summer, Leo Burnett Chicago launched a campaign promoting the fast food giant’s decision to remove all artificial preservatives from its Chicken McNuggets.

In the 60-second spot “A Better Chicken McNugget,” set to a cover of Cyndi Lauper‘s “Time After Time,” two fans of the popular menu item interact across a split screen. The boy on the left side of the screen appears to be growing up at some point in the 80s, the girl on the right the present day. Over the course of the ad, the boy shares some of his favorite things with the girl, and as he passes each item to her side of the screen, it evolves, including a bike, a video game controller and, at the spot’s conclusion, a Chicken McNugget. The spot ends with the tagline “The simpler the better.”

The spot also ends with the touching revelation that the boy is the girl’s father, passing on his love of basketball, video games, bicycling and chicken nuggets to his daughter. “A Better Chicken McNugget” utilizes nostalgia to remind its viewers of their own positive childhood memories of the brand while attempting to convince parents who may have shied away from the chain due to concerns over its ingredients that it’s something they can feel good about sharing with their children.

That’s a pretty good formula to try to win back such customers, and it might just help Leo Burnett Chicago convince McDonald’s to stay with the agency as well.

In addition to the broadcast spot, the campaign also includes a full-page print ad which ran in The New York Times and the Washington Post yesterday. That ad addressed some of the changes the chain has made to its menu (its pork sausage patties are now free of artificial preservatives).

Surfers Are Audacious Snails in Samsung's Latest Paean to the Waves

Why did the snail cross the road? To go shoot the curl, of course.

This new ad for Samsung frames the enterprising spirit (or, skeptics might say, the biological hardwiring) of a slug in a shell as as a source of great inspiration—namely, for surfers.

That may sound a little stupid, but the the marketers at the consumer electronics company know it—the minute-plus commercial, by Leo Burnett Chicago, somehow manages to be existential and lighthearted at the same time, musing on the inner life of a mollusk as a metaphor for a young boy who loves the sport of surfing.

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Leo Burnett Canada Rocks Out with Mr. Clean

Leo Burnett Canada launched a campaign for Mr. Clean featuring a reboot of the P&G brand’s iconic jingle (you know the one).

While the Mr. Clean mascot has been an advertising mainstay since his introduction in 1958, the brand’s jingle has faded to the background in recent years. Here Leo Burnett Canada gives the jingle a proper reintroduction, changing a few words but mostly staying true to the original. The bald mascot appears, guitar in hand, including a proper metal axe at one point, to strumg along with the tune while his product is used to clean a variety of surfaces.

“We…discovered that there is something magical in the jingle,” P&G associate brand director Kevin Wenzel explained to Adweek. “We recognized that there was a uniquely ownable and relatable campaign in the jingle that could span generations.”

“We wanted to renew the jingle for today’s millennial households,” added Leo Burnett Canada creative director Heather Chambers, with an emphasis on how the product is “helping to make the cleaning process easier with people from all walks of life.” 

And the jingle is just as catchy in Spanish:

Credits:

Advertiser/Client: Mr. Clean
Product/Service: CPG
Type of Ads: TV
Where they ran: North America
Date of Appearance: July 1, 2016
City/Country of Appearance: US and CA
Media Company: Hearts and Science
Agency: Leo Burnett Canada
Chief Creative Officer: Judy John
Creative Director: Heather Chambers
Group Creative Directors
Copywriter: Mike Cook
Art Director: Mike Sheehan
Agency Producer: Tina Muratovic
Group Account Dir: Anchie Contractor
Account Executive: Aryana Hassan
Account Supervisor: Samantha Sabatini & Spring Morris
Planner: Dan Koutoulakis
Production Company: Skin and Bones & The Big Picture
Director: David Hicks
Producer: Andrew Sullivan & Dan Ford
Editing Company: School
Editor: Jon Devries

Leo Burnett and Always Encourage Girls to ‘Keep Playing’

Leo Burnett launched the latest in its ongoing “Like A Girl” campaign for Always with the sports-themed “Keep Playing,” released ahead of the 2016 Rio Olympics.

Based on the insight that, according to the brand’s research, half of girls quit sports during adolescence, the 60-second spot follows several girls who are determined to stick with the games they love.

“A lot of boys have told me I can’t play rugby, because I’m a girl,” says one such athlete at the opening of the spot, as she’s pictured tackling an opponent. “Keep Playing” goes on to depict a young female weightlifter, shot-putter, boxer and more. “Girls could actually play rugby and they could also be the team captain…” adds the young rugby enthusiast. The spot concludes by inviting viewers to “Show the world how you keep playing #LikeAGirl.”

The timely ad benefits from taking its subjects out of the controlled “social experiment” environment of “Unstoppable,” allowing the girls to tell their own stories in their own environments. Its message is something of an evolution of “Stronger Together,” which celebrated girls’ accomplishments in sports, without dealing as explicitly in the negative attitudes such young female athletes have to overcome. For an example of such attitudes at the their most noxious, one need look no further than the video’s comments on YouTube (or, for your own sake, just take our word for it).

“The Olympic Games are a time when, all around the world, female sports participation is elevated in the public eye. And for that reason, we could not think of a better moment to drive awareness of the critical role sports play in building girls’ confidence,” Always associate director Michele Baeten told Adweek

The brand partnered with American soccer star Alex Morgan to promote the spot. She tweeted it out with a message regarding her own story of discouragement, saying, “At age 13, one of my coaches told me that I wasn’t good enough. As a young girl just wanting to play and do my best, that was difficult to hear. It would have been easy for me to quit, but I wouldn’t be the confident person I am today if I had.” 

Credits:

Client: P&G Always
Agency: Leo Burnett Worldwide

Creative
Mark Tutssel – Global Chief Creative Officer, Leo Burnett Worldwide and Creative Chairman, Publicis Communications
Judy John – Chief Creative Officer, Leo Burnett Toronto
Nancy Hannon – EVP Executive Creative Director, Leo Burnett Chicago
Isabela Ferreira – VP Creative Director
Natalie Taylor – VP Creative Director
Amanda Mearsheimer – Associate Creative Director
Gloria Dusenberry – Associate Creative Director
Anthony Brooks – Senior Copywriter
Jillian Lamb – Senior Art Director
Garrett Vernon – Copywriter
Pete Kellen – Copywriter
Luis Marques – Senior Art Director
Darlene White – Creative Resource Manager

Production
Vincent Geraghty – EVP Executive Director of Production
Mary Cheney – SVP Group Executive Producer
Tony Wallace – VP Executive Producer
Adine Becker – Senior Producer
Chris Clark – Director of Music
Alex Stern – Assistant Music Producer
Linda Yuen – Senior Talent Manager
Julie Lewandowski – Production Manager
Nanette Burnstein – Hungryman/Director
Kevin Byrne – Hungryman/EP Head of Production
Julianne Maloney – Hungryman/Producer
Tami Rieker – Director of Photography
Nikki Vapenski – Whitehouse Post/Editor
Luke Morrison – Mill/Colorist
John Binder/ David Gerbosi/ Peter Erazmus – Another Country/Audio Mix

Planning
Kristin Hayward – VP Participation Strategy Director

Account
Annette Sally – EVP Account Director
Katie Nikolaus – Account Director
Sarah Kaminsky – Account Director
Ashley Sawatzke – Account Supervisor
Suz Sward – Assistant Account Executive
Raleigh Ward – Assistant Account Executive

Legal
Michael Sirota – SVP Associate General Counsel
Tracy Scimeca – Commercial Clearance Manager

 

Always Urges Girls to 'Keep Playing' and Not Quit Sports in Olympic 'Like a Girl' Spot

When it comes to sports, girls are often discouraged from continuing to play because of their gender. That’s a message that’s not worth listening to, says this new Olympic-themed spot from Procter & Gamble’s Always. 

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Leo Burnett Chicago, Samsung Chant for South Sudan’s First Olympian

Leo Burnett Chicago launched a spot for Samsung celebrating Margret Rumat Rumar Hassan, the 19-year-old 400-meter runner from South Sudan who represents that country’s first-ever Olympic athlete, entitled “The Chant.” 

“The Chant” promotes the Samsung Gear IconX cord-free earbuds, which Hassan puts on in the beginning of the ad. This sparks a switch to scenes of locals chanting for her across her home country, interspersed with her preparing to enter the Olympic stadium. The concludes with Hassan’s name announced over the stadium loudspeaker as she removes the earbuds. 

As far as Olympic stories go, Hassan’s is especially inspiring, and an excellent match for the campaign’s message, as the spot concludes with the “Proud sponsor of those who defy barriers” line, followed by the unfortunate “#DoWhatYouCant” hashtag. While the connection to the product is a bit of a stretch, there’s at least a tenuous connection to the wireless earbuds allowing increased mobility for its users, especially athletes using them during a workout.

“We wanted to find an athlete that represented progress and defied the barriers and overcame something, to be an embodiment of what the brand is and the mentality of the brand. You can’t move forward without overcoming obstacles,” Leo Burnett Chicago senior vice president, creative director Gordy Sang told Adweek

“The fact that South Sudan wasn’t a country five years ago and now it’s a country and has athletes representing them in the Olympics is ‘Do What You Can’t,’” added fellow senior vice president, creative director Brian Siedband

Credits:

Client: Samsung
Agency: Leo Burnett Chicago
Campaign: “The Chant”
Chief Creative Officer: Britt Nolan
SVP Creative Director: Brian Siedband/Gordy Sang
VP, Executive Producer: Matt Blitz
Senior Producer: Brian Behling
SVP Global Account Director: Radim Svoboda
Account Director: Ashley Beam
Global Account Supervisor: Huy Ngo
Account Executive: Emily Smith
SVP Global Strategy Director: Kara Yang
Strategy Director: Christopher Bridgland
VP, Director of Celebrity Services: Peggy Walter

Production Company: EPOCH
Director: Martin de Thurah
Director of Photography:  Mátyás Erdély
Executive Producer: Melissa Culligan
Line Producer: Anura Idupuganti

Editorial House: Work Editorial
Editor: Stewart Reeves
Executive Producer: Marlo Baird

Post Production: The Mill – NY
Executive Producer: Sean Costelloe
Producers: Eliana Carranza-Pitcher/Nick Strange Thye
Colorist: Fergus McCall

ECD Steve Silver Leaves Doner Detroit to Go Freelance

Doner Detroit executive creative director Steve Silver is leaving his position with the agency to go freelance, a move he says will allow him to spend more time with his family after spending over three years commuting to Detroit from Chicago.

Silver joined Doner in June of 2015 following a little over two years as an executive creative director with Leo Burnett Detroit, where he focused on Chevy Silverado. His arrival at Doner came after Leo Burnett Detroit lost the Chevy Silverado business to Commonwealth//McCann that March. While with Leo Burnett Detroit, he worked on the Silverado relaunch campaign in 2013, Chevy’s cancer-themed 2014 Super Bowl ad “Purple Roads” and a campaign promoting the Detroit Institute of the Arts.

A 30-year industry veteran, Silver began his career as a copywriter with Y&R Chicago in 1984. After stints as a copywriter with Y&R and other agencies, he made the jump to associate creative director with Team One in early 1989 and remained in the position for five years, leaving in 1994 to become group creative director with Hal Riney & Partners in San Francisco. Two years later he became an executive creative director with Saatchi & Saatchi San Francisco, working on brands including HP and Sony. He left that position five years later to become group creative director with Ogilvy & Mather Chicago, focusing on the agency’s UPS account. 

For Doner, Silver’s departure follows a series of staffing cuts last November after former client JCPenney chose mcgarrybowen as its new creative agency of record.

An agency spokesperson has not yet commented on his departure.

The Woman in This PSA Is Free but Still Trapped in a Prison and Can't Just Leave

Lori, an abused wife and mom in Michigan, spent two years squirreling away money—hiding bills in a tampon box—until she had the means to escape her violent partner. 

Her story is the basis of a new campaign, #FreeToWalk, from the Allstate Foundation and ad agency Leo Burnett, with a stark and chilling video as its centerpiece. 

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How Samsung Saved the Day (Well, Night) for This Little Girl Who's Afraid of the Dark

From smart motorcycle windshields to surfboards that keep you connected, Samsung’s gotten damn good at applying abstract technical features to the real world.

“Sister,” though, is lower-key and closer to home. Made by Leo Burnett to promote the low-light capabilities of its Galaxy S7 and S7 Edge mobile handsets, the ad opens on a familiar (and for us, still quite palpable) scenario: One little girl who can’t get to sleep, because she’s terrified of the dark.

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Leo Burnett Hires Deutsch L.A. Vets to Work on McDonald’s

Catherine Davis Returns to Leo Burnett Chicago as EVP

Samsung Adds Deutsch to Agency Roster

Leo Burnett Melbourne Tames Pink Horse for Honda

Leo Burnett Change Holds its Breath for Royal National Lifeboat Institution