Love, loss and litigation: Agency Brief
Wins of the week
Independent creative shop Interesting Development picked up two wins in 2020 so far: Babbel and Native. For global language learning app Babbel, Interesting Development will handles brand strategy, website redesign and advertising duties in the U.S., with plans to launch a campaign later this year. The agency also won creative responsibilities for Native, the direct-to-consumer natural deodorant brand.
London’s Quiet Storm has been named lead strategic and creative agency for Westland Horticulture, a provider of gardening products in the U.K., Ireland and Europe, following a review. Those duties were previously handled in-house. Quiet Storm is expected to debut its first work for the company in April that will support its peat-free compost brand, New Horizon.
Oxigen Beverages (better known as Oxigen water) selected The Many as its creative and media agency-of-record. The account was awarded without a review. The partnership kicked off with The Many releasing a strategic creative campaign educating and influencing people to purchase the company’s oxygenated water. The campaign includes digital and out-of-home media in New York. Additional work is expected to be rolled out later this month.
Ste. Michelle Wine Estates appointed Publicis Groupe’s Team One as its lead agency following a review. The agency will handle advertising and social campaigns, as well as media planning and buying for the Seattle, Washington-based wine maker. The decision follows a review that kicked off in the fourth quarter of 2019 and was led by Joanne Davis Consulting in New York.
Scott Credit Union named Denver-based independent shop Cactus as its agency-of-record. The agency says the client was seeking a partner to leverage sports sponsorships for marketing after it secured a sponsorship of the 2019 Stanley Cup winner St. Louis Blues. Cactus is expected to debut its first work for Scott Credit Union in April.
Crossmedia has been appointed media AOR for European Wax Center, a beauty-focused personal care brand and operator of 700 waxing centers in 40 states. The independent New York-based agency will be responsible for communications planning, analytics and cross-channel media planning and buying.
The hires, moves and promotions
Luis Gaitán has been appointed to president and chief creative officer of Grey Mexico. He previously was executive creative director for Latin America at Uber. Gaitán also held a stint at Google before that, as head of creative for Mexico.
Full-service media and marketing services company Engine named Scott Schiller as global chief commercial officer, a newly-created role. He will lead efforts to enhance and simplify media solutions for clients through capabilities like Engine’s programmatic arm, EMX. Schiller previously was executive VP of advertising and client partnerships at NBCUniversal.
Mike Davidson has joined Publicis Groupe’s Leo Burnett Chicago as executive VP, president and head of integrated production. In the role, he will oversee the agency’s production department. Davidson hails from Wieden & Kennedy Portland, where he was head of integrated production. He’s also helped produce music videos for rock bands Portugal. The Man and Real Estate.
Dentsu Aegis Network global lifestyle marketing agency MKTG appointed Victoria Azarian as U.S. chief creative officer. Azarian had previously served as the executive creative director for WPP’s Ogilvy New York for the last 15 years. MKTG’s U.S. chief creative officer role has been vacant since Ben Smith, who last held the position, left in November 2017 to become a strategist at consultancy Original Syndicate.
Deutsch L.A. hired Kelsey Karson as senior VP, group strategy director for its Taco Bell account. Karson joins from R/GA, where she led strategy for brands including Barbie and Amazon. Karson will oversee all of Taco Bell’s efforts including campaigns, the fast food chain’s loyalty program, new product launches and platform work.
Terri & Sandy promoted two people within its account service department: Drew Schwartz and Lauren Rubenstein. The duo were both elevated in the newly created role of group account director. Schwartz and Rubenstein are credited with helping Terri & Sandy triple its revenue throughout their tenures with the agency and land five out of five new business wins in 2019. Both were integrated account directors.
Wisconsin-based Planet Propaganda hired Tommy Cottam as director of business development to accelerate the creative and branding agency’s growth in new business and with existing clients. Planet Propaganda works with clients like Duluth Trading Co., Jersey Mike’s Subs, Ale Asylum, Pancheros Mexican Grill and Big Lots. Cottam was an account director at Mono Minneapolis and before that worked for Publicis out of Milan, Italy.
Agency Brief has been updated to reflect the rebranded Rain’s response to the lawsuit the original Rain brought against it this week.
