Absolut win

The folks at Ogilvy are toasting the addition of Absolut Vodka to its roster after being tapped to handle global strategic and creative duties. The Swedish brand, most recently handled by BBH, has a storied creative past with decades of collaborations with artists and influencers from Jean Paul Gautier, Andy Warhol, Keith Haring, Stella McCartney and more.

The account was won after a competitive pitch run by Observatory International and the winning Ogilvy team was led by Marcos Kotlhar, chief creative officer of Ogilvy New York, and Björn Ståhl, CCO of INGO; and strategically led by Philip Heimann, global chief marketing and growth officer, along with Antonis Kocheilas, global CEO of advertising. 

“Absolut has an incredible legacy of creating extraordinary and unexpected communications, of being a cultural provocateur. As the brand continues to see tremendous momentum globally, we wanted a network partner that can deliver the strategic and creative excellence that Ogilvy has demonstrated time and time again,” says Tad Greenough, Absolut’s global chief creative officer.

Added Ogilvy Global CEO Andy Main: “Ogilvy is proud to be chosen by Absolut, a globally iconic brand, to be their creative partner for growth. We admire Absolut’s strong heritage of using creativity to drive meaningful connections and influence culture. Our team is excited to use the borderless creativity of Ogilvy’s global network to deliver the innovative work that will win the attention of people around the world.” 

Absolut isn’t the only new brand to hit the agency’s liquor cabinet:  The shop was recently named lead creative agency for Pernod Ricard USA’s Olmeca Altos Tequila, Tequila Avión, and Del Maguey. 

Brian Whipple goes barking mad

For those of you who think consulting companies are boring and unimaginative, Accenture begs to differ. Accenture Interactive CEO Brian Whipple and his dog—yes, his dog—George have been running a March Madness takeoff on Instagram as part of an employee engagement campaign.

The push features Whipple doing his best Ron Burgundy, reporting with a canine co-anchor (who talks and has hilariously flailing paws) named Harry Barker. They report on “George Madness” for the “Totally Legit Sports Network” chronicles which of two snacks pooch George will go for first. Prepare for a lot of broad humor. When Barker is asked which munchie he predicts George will choose, he responds, “What do I know, I ate my own barf last night.”

As for the grade-school humor, the company says that’s by design. “Brian said he wanted the challenge of making something funny to a 7-year old,” said a spokesman.

According to Accenture, some 500 employees have filled out the bracket, from cities including Chicago, Berlin, London, Stockholm and Singapore, and they have been submitting photos of their own dogs. The method behind the madness, says the spokesman, is that “culture and client connections are hard to build—across all businesses—as a result of the pandemic. And Brian’s view as a CEO is that sometimes you have to act. While we take our work seriously, we don’t have to take ourselves seriously all the time. It’s evident that water cooler chats aren’t replaced by virtual cocktail hours, so that gave us a reason to change it up.”

Missed opportunity, Accenture: That should read water bowl chats.

But does it have a water cooler?

Miami’s The Community has reopened its office—virtually. Using a proprietary platform called Gather, the agency has replicated its office digitally on the one-year anniversary of everyone working from home. “It’s basically a videogame version of our space with everything you miss about being together—spaces to sit and collaborate, hallway conversations as you walk to meeting, the ability to play games like chess and poker,” says Luis Montero, president of the agency, captured in the below photo as he says, “in mid-karate chop.”

Video and audio are integrated so employees can poke their heads in and visit a neighboring office or have actual meetings in conference rooms. “You can imagine a client coming in and having someone meet them at reception and taking them to a new business pitch room decorated specifically for that client,” says Montero. 

The plan is to keep building the space, including other offices and maybe even integrate it into everyday life at the shop, even when everyone is physically back in the office.

Elsewhere in Miami …

Alma has named Christian Liu executive creative director. This is a homecoming of sorts for Liu, who spent seven years at the agency. In between, he has worked at Y&R and Global Hue and was most recently a creative director at McGarryBowen in Chicago.

David&Goliath goes on hiring spree

El Segundo, California-based David&Goliath has elevated Lixaida Lorenzo and Frauke Tiemann to executive creative directors from group creative directors, as well as adding new hires Michael Molinaro as group creative director and design director and Bruno Cunha as group strategy director. 

Molinaro joins from MullenLowe, where he was group creative director and design director, while Cunha was previously at 360i where he was a VP of strategy.

At David&Goliath, Lorenzo will primarily work on Jack in the Box and the Ad Council, while Tiemann will lead Kia along with Mark Koelgen, executive creative director. Cunha will also work on Kia. 

DNA gets new genes

Seattle’s DNA is beefing up its media capabilities by bringing on Alex Dobson as director of media, a new role at the agency. Dobson is an 18-year Wieden+Kennedy veteran, where he served most recently as group media and communications planning director before leaving four years ago to run his own consultancy focused on research strategy, communications planning and buying. DNA has also recently added two new media supervisors: Francisca Moliere and Tess Oppenheimer. Moliere joined fom Mediahub, where she was senior media planner on accounts like Scotts Miracle-Gro and Athena Health. Oppenheimer hails from Zillow, where she was senior marketing specialist and media planner.

DNA Seattle has added several new national accounts to its client roster in the past six months including software marketer Tableau, a part of Salesforce, Swerve Sweetener, New Holland Brewing’s Dragon’s Milk stout, Build Asset Management and others. 

Calling all ad geeks

A new documentary on the changing ad world is coming March 30 that will feature 40 big name agencies and creators including David Droga, PJ Periera, Alex Bogusky, John Boiler and more. Called Make/SHIFT, the film is being produced by WP Engine, September Club and HeyLetsGo! 

According to the creators, “This film about adaptability in the face of a constantly changing digital landscape, daring to say ‘yes’ before something is completely ready, and stretching ideas to new applications is more relevant than ever in the face of the global pandemic.”

The aim of the 76-minute film, which will stream on iTunes, Google Play, Fandango Now and cable and satellite, is to document advertising and marketing “since the dawn of the internet.” And, in fact, the release reads like a movie trailer for a thriller: “While some advertisers struggled to evolve, a brave new generation grasped the possibilities—both creative and strategic—and harnessed these fast-changing technologies to enhance their creativity, test new business models and press ahead.”

The film is unrated—and this is the ad industry after all—so it’s not clear if it’s only for mature audiences. You can judge for yourself with the preview here.

Just briefly

Dept has purchased of Devetry, a software consultancy that provides technology solutions ranging from organizational strategy to custom software development. Devetry, according to a press release, “has expertise across renewable energy, education, cybersecurity, and SaaS products, as well as diverse clients like NREL and Intel.”

Innovatus Capital Partners, an Investment adviser and portfolio management firm, has acquired from Southfield Capital two agencies: Match Marketing Group’s Public Label and Match Retail. Public Label is a creative marketing agency out of Boulder, Colorado, and Match Retail, a sales, merchandising and branded retail agency based in Toronto, Canada. The acquisitions follow the company’s purchase of VSA Partners in January. Public Label offers integrated, experiential, shopper and digital marketing for clients such as Progressive, Adidas, Fujifilm, Mars Wrigley, Dreyer’s Grand Ice Cream and Ford Bronco. Match Retail is focused on driving conversion in traditional shopping environments and counts as current clients LG, Rogers Communications, TELUS, Nespresso, Danone and L’Oréal.