Hasta La Creative!

Holding company MDC Partners (CP+B, 72andSunny, Doner, etc.) hired Randy Duax as senior vice president of talent and recruiting, effective immediately.

In the newly-created position, Duax will be tasked with leading MDC Partners’ recruiting practice, as well as retaining its talent worldwide. Based in New York, he will report directly to MDC Partners chairman and CEO Scott Kauffman.

“No industry is more dependent on talent than ours, and we are highly proactive in ensuring that MDC and its agencies attract the very best, most entrepreneurial and most creative talent in the world,” Kauffman said in a statement.  “With the addition of Randy to our team, we are further enhancing our talent expertise to meet the expanding needs of our agency partners and their clients, ensuring that MDC remains ‘The Place Where Great Talent Lives.’”

Duax joins MDC Partners from WPP, where he spent the past two years as talent director, Asia-Pacific, responsible for senior executive recruitment across the region and overseeing teams in Singapore, Tokyo, Shanghai and Sydney. Prior to that position he spent two years as vice president, executive recruitment out of New York, overseeing senior executive recruitment in North America. Before joining WPP he spent eight years with Howard Sloan Keller, including a year as managing director.

Duax’s hire follows the arrival of Khartoon Weiss as senior vice president, business development last September and the holding company’s acquisition of Swedish agency Forsman & Bodenfors this June. 

“I’ve always been drawn to the most fast-paced and high-demand areas for transformative talent acquisition, which is why my career has revolved around digital innovation and executive leadership in the States and in Asia,” Duax said.  “As a network enjoying significant global momentum, MDC is unique for its partnership model and its collection of entrepreneurial, diverse and creative talent.  MDC is doing something very different and I’m thrilled by the incredible opportunity to contribute to its rapid ascent.”

According an internal memo from Grey chairman and CEO Jim Heekin, WPP has appointed Alina Kessel as president and CEO of Team P&G, leading WPP’s relationship with Procter & Gamble across its agencies while continuing to be based in London.

For the past two and a half years, Kessel has led WPP’s Team GSK, presiding over the holding company’s relationship with pharmaceutical giant GlaxoSmithKline (GSK), which recently consolidated its global roster with most of its business split between WPP and Publicis. Prior to that, she served as executive vice president, managing director, global client services for Grey, beginning in 2012. Her relationship with Grey stretches back to 1994. After serving as CEO of Grey Germany, she became executive vice president, global director out of London in 2008. She left two years later to become CEO of DDB Tribal Group Berlin, but returned again in 2012 to accept the executive vice president, managing director, global client services position. She also has previous experience as brand agency leader for P&G.

In the aforementioned internal memo/email, Heekin said “Alina has led Team GSK for WPP with distinction for the past two and a half years” and “I know Alina will bring the same passion, dynamism and skill to her new role.”

We’ve included the message in its entirety below.

I am delighted to announce that Alina Kessel has been promoted to a key post at WPP, our parent company.  Alina will become President and CEO of Team P&G, leading this important global relationship across WPP companies, based in London.

Alina has led Team GSK for WPP with distinction for the past two and a half years.  Before that she spent more than a year as Grey’s Executive Vice President, Managing Director, Global Client Services for GSK.

Alina has deepened our longstanding partnership with GlaxoSmithKline building a culture of collaboration and innovation, championing outstanding global creative work across all disciplines and winning significant new assignments.  Her team has received more than 50 creative and effectiveness awards in the past two years alone.

Along the way, Alina has served as CEO of Grey Germany and was Brand Agency Leader for P&G Brands, creating a new model combining global strategy and integrated communications across disciplines and regions.  She was named one of the Top Women Executives in Germany and cited in the U.K. as one of the 100 Women to Watch for FTSE roles.

I know Alina will bring the same passion, dynamism and skill to her new role.  Please give her your congratulations and full support as she begins this exciting new chapter in her accomplished career.

Regards,

GREYgroup | Famously effective since 1917
Jim Heekin, Chairman & CEO

At WPP’s Annual General Meeting last week, chairman Roberto Quarta faced increasing pressure from shareholders to provide more clarity and disclosure in the holding company’s succession plan for CEO Martin Sorrell, Campaign reports. That meeting, of course, also saw 33.5% of investors vote against Sorrell’s colossal pay package for 2015, approximately equivalent to the New York Mets’ payroll for its 25-man roster. 

As you may recall, back in April WPP announced that it had begun an internal and external search for Sorrell’s successor, with Quarta stating that WPP has “already begun to identify internal and external candidates who should be considered” for the position after Sorrell’s eventual departure, “Whether…that happens tomorrow, in one, two, three, four or five years, or even over a longer period.”

That nebulous statement was apparently not satisfactory to some WPP investors.

Hans-Christoph Hirt, executive director of Hermes EOS and a top shareholder, said he appreciated how “succession risk has risen up the company’s agenda” over the past year and a half but requested that Quarta “enhance” disclosure.

Standard Life head of stewardship Euan Stirling, meanwhile, suggested that clearer succession planning would “improve the risk profile” of the holding company and that if WPP wasn’t so reliant on Sorrell they could afford to pay its CEO less. 

Quarta responded by promising “further dialogue over the coming months” and assuring investors that WPP carries out “a continuous and constant assessment of individuals both internally and externally” for over 100 senior positions, including CEO.

Sorrell himself said “The fact that it’s not played out in the pages of Campaign doesn’t mean that something doesn’t happen.” Ouch.

As to when we can expect Sorrell to step down, Quarta said, “There is no set timeframe for CEO succession.”

“I’ve said I’ll carry on until they cart me out to the glue factory,” Sorrell added.

Several weeks ago, the legal teams of JWT, WPP and former CEO/chairman Gustavo Martinez each filed a motion to dismiss Erin Johnson‘s lawsuit against Martinez. Unsurprisingly, Johnson’s lawyers responded today by filing a memorandum in opposition to Martinez’s motion to dismiss the complaint, contending that JWT and WPP’s response to Johnson’s complaints show that “if you complain of discrimination, you will be attacked publicly, be branded as a liar and ostracized.”

The 23-page memorandum attempts to refute the various arguments made in the aforementioned motion to dismiss the case. Among the arguments in that motion for dismissal, Martinez’s lawyers contended that a text sent by Johnson to Martinez ten days before her legal team let WPP and JWT know that they would be filing a suit was evidence that Martinez’s behavior did not create a hostile work environment. In the message, Johnson told Martinez she had turned down a job offer, choosing instead to stay loyal to him and JWT. Johnson’s lawyers reject the “snippets of a text” as invalidating her argument that Martinez created a hostile work environment.

“There is no question that “going along to get along” is common in these cases,” they wrote in the memorandum. “Plaintiffs decision not to quit in reaction to a dispute with a more than decade-long employer is neither unusual, nor relevant to this motion.”

Regarding the text in question, the memorandum adds, “Discovery will show the full texts, emails, and the like among many relevant individuals and a jury can decide the significance of this text at that time, with a full record.”

The document also objects to the notion that there weren’t enough instances of offending behavior on Martinez’s part to constitute a case against him. “Corporate defendants list six such incidents [of offensive comments by Martinez],” the document states. “That behavior, without more, could state a claim for a hostile environment. In addition, however, defendants ignore that those allegations are far from describing isolated incidents, but instead are examples of sexist, humiliating and threatening behavior that was typical of Martinez.”

Johnson’s legal team also alleges, contrary to Martinez’s claims, that “despite Johnson’s repeatedly following ‘her employer’s well-established discrimination prevention policies,’ the discrimination continued, escalated and provoked retaliation and defendants’ ridicule.” (In the motion for dismissal, Martinez’s team claimed to find it “‘fascinating’ that Johnson did not use “her employer’s well-established discrimination prevention policies.”)

The memorandum also addresses the claims made by Martinez’s legal team that Martinez’s behavior didn’t amount to sexual harassment which created a hostile work environment by stating his comments, including retaliatory remarks made when Johnson objected to his previous behavior by stating “The sex-based nature of Martinez’s offensive comments and conduct frequently was explicit.”

“For example, when Johnson told Martinez that his comments about rape were not acceptable in the workplace, he responded by telling her that ‘American women are too sensitive,’” the document goes on. “Shortly thereafter, he grabbed Johnson around the neck with his arm, telling her to come to him so that he could rape her in the bathroom.” 

Additionally, Johnson’s lawyers address the claim that “all of the ‘complained of adverse actions occurred in 2015’ before plaintiffs first protected activity in February 2016.”

“Of course, just because Martinez says something does not make it so,” the document states, alleging that there were “multiple instances of protected activity in both 2015 and 2016, and many examples of adverse actions thereafter.”

For more on the most recent filing in the case, see Adweek’s coverage, which includes the document in full.

With Daniel Morel stepping down after leading the agency for 14 years, Wunderman has appointed Mark Read as its global CEO, effective next week. Read, who arrives from WPP, will retain his role as CEO of WPP Digital. Morel, meanwhile, will move into a non-executive chairman role with Wunderman.

Morel has served as chairman and global CEO since 2000, when the agency was known as Impiric. He was responsible for restoring the Wunderman name the following year.

Read has served as a chairman and CEO for WPP Digital for over eight years, following over ten years as director of strategy. Prior to that role, he was a founder and joint CEO of WebRewards, but his time at WPP dates back to a stint as corporate development manager that began in 1989.

WPP CEO Martin Sorrell said in a statement that Read “brings a wealth of knowledge in digital technology and its application to marketing services, as well as strong links to our new media partners.”

At the end of last month we brought news of Lincoln’s partnership with Oscar-winning actor Matthew McConaughey for a new campaign promoting the Lincoln MKC, to be handled by a shop within WPP’s Team Detroit division.

Now, Team Detroit and Lincoln are rolling out the new campaign with a series of (purportedly unscripted) spots that take a somewhat unorthodox approach. In the 60-second introductory spot (featured above), McConaughey drives around pontificating on what it means to “go back” and how some people say you can’t do it but really you just have to look in the right places. What is he talking about exactly? How does it relate to the MKC? Your guess is as good as ours.

In the similarly strange “Bull,” the actor admires the majesty of a large bull blocking the road, before deciding to turn around and take the long route. The 30-second “I Just Liked It” is a little more straightforward, with McConaughey explaining that he drove a Lincoln long before he was paid to, not to look cool or make a statement, but because he “just liked it.” (more…)

New Career Opportunities Daily: The best jobs in media.

Thanks to this report from MediaPost, we now know that Maxus (part of the WPP’s GroupM) has been awarded NBC Universal’s domestic digital media duties after a review. The annual ad spend is reported to be near $175 million.

It was only a couple of months ago when Maxus made headlines by poaching its new North American CEO Steve Williams from his former home at PHD. Ironically, the celebratory quote in the story as become more prophetic today:

“We are confident that Steve will help us take Maxus to a new level,” said [GroupM North America CEO Kelly] Clark. “I know from competing against Steve that he can be a very potent force, so I’m delighted he’s now on our team.”

The account will be handled out of Los Angeles and New York. Maxus and GroupM officials could not be immediately reached for comment. Welcome to that new level.

New Career Opportunities Daily: The best jobs in media.

New Ad Strategy: Swap Sexy for Creepy?

For a couple of years, GoDaddy made headlines for all the wrong reasons. During the Super Bowl, scantily clad B-list women and “athletes” would offer themselves up for innuendo, double entendre, and a few other Latin words.

Since June 2012, GoDaddy has attempted to stray from that image with a different advertising campaign featuring the acuity of Deutsch New York. According to The New York Times, the URL storehouse will announce its plans to hire Barton F Graf 9000 as its U.S. creative AOR today. 

Here’s why… (more…)

New Career Opportunities Daily: The best jobs in media.

Yesterday, we brought you the story of a well-off British gent discussing how WPP’s GroupM will double its Twitter advertising budget to $100 million for 2014.

Today in what may seem like an attempt to show him up, Gallup released its latest study into the wild. It tells the world something the rest of us have known for years: Social media advertising is as good as flushing $100 bills down the toilet.

Here’s why those Benjamins are swirling down the drain.

(more…)

New Career Opportunities Daily: The best jobs in media.

In another headline from Cannes-Lions, WPP Grand Poobah Sir Martin Sorrell told the world that he will double ad spending on “The Twitter” (as he may have called it) from $50 million to $100 million.

The news was announced when Sorrell moderated a discussion between Twitter’s Dick Costolo and Viacom’s Philippe Dauman. Of course he took a jab at rivals Omnicom and Publicis for their recent ill-fated “merger of equals,” but he focused mainly on the differences and commonalities between digital-first and the legacy media giants.

After citing the impressive market valuations and financial stats associated with Twitter’s recent IPO, Sorrell noted that WPP’s GroupM will double its spending with the microblogging platform, boosting its ad spending from $50 million last year to $100 million this year. Based on Sorrell’s figures, that means GroupM contributes nearly a fifth of all of Twitter’s advertising revenues.

Now what would you do with that kind of budget? Maybe not spend it all on Twitter?

New Career Opportunities Daily: The best jobs in media.