Agency news you need to know this week

Remembering Jeremy Bullmore Advertising industry icon Jeremy Bullmore died on Jan. 4 at the age of 93. The longtime creative director and later chairman of J. Walter Thompson started as a copywriter at the agency in 1954. He worked there for 33 years, creating campaigns for famous household brands including Persil, Kellogg’s Corn Flakes, Oxo and Black Magic. WPP bought the shop in 1987, and Bullmore remained at the company for another third of a century, serving as a board director from 1988 to 2004. During his time at WPP, Bullmore reframed the industry as a partner to companies and not simply in the business of selling ads. In 1974, he wrote a paper and filmed “What is a Brand?” for JWT, explaining the earliest ideas of brand image and reputation. “Within every brand there’s a product, but not every product is a brand,” he said. As creative director for JWT, he created After Eight for Rowntree Mackintosh and Mr Kipling Cakes for Manor Bakeries. After retiring, he wrote prolifically about the industry in a series of books and for outlets such as The Guardian, Management Today and Campaign. AI interns AI continues to be a major topic of conversation. One agency, Codeword, is pushing the conversation by hiring two “AI interns.” “There’s a lot of talk and fear and hype about how new AI tools will integrate with creative teams,” said Kyle Monson, partner at Codeword. “As an agency that straddles the creative and technology worlds, we want to explore what human-AI collaborations can look like. And we’ll do it in public, so our team and our community can learn from this experiment.” The two interns named themselves Aiden and Aiko, and created their own visual presentation. Aiko will work on Codeword’s design team, reporting to Senior Art Director Emilio Ramos. Aiden will sit with the agency’s editorial team, reporting to senior editor Terrence Doyle. Ad Age events Sign up for events and awards Learn more here The interns won’t be expected to create client-facing work, but may be asked to generate “large volumes of rough concept thumbnails for mood boards, news and trend research, or voice and tone analysis” for the agency’s editorial team, according to a Codeword statement. “To be crystal clear, I’m deeply skeptical they have the goods,” Ramos said in the statement. “Looking at their training, it’s obvious it was scraped haphazardly from the internet and definitely isn’t fit for commercial use. That’s why we’re not jumping in face-first.” Instead of the agency’s typical hourly intern salary, Codeword will be donating the equivalent to the Grace Hopper Celebration.Related: Martini launches an AI-created campaign Read more: Why ChatGPT isn't ready for Super Bowl ads McCann Worldgroup names first North America president John Dunleavy will return to McCann Worldgroup as president of McCann Worldgroup North America. The newly created role aligns the company’s North American leadership structure with models in its other regions and will see Dunleavy manage McCann’s “Yes&” operating system that offers clients a customized mix of expertise and capabilities from across the network. Dunleavy previously worked as global president of m:united//McCann, McCann Worldgroup’s dedicated global unit for Microsoft before leaving in 2018 to become global chief client officer at Ogilvy and lead WPP’s IBM relationship as global president of the Ogilvy and Mindshare joint venture, EightBar. Starting Jan. 23, Dunleavy will report to CEO Daryl Lee. “John knows how to harness the power of collective creativity to make brands an authentic part of the cultural conversation and to ultimately grow businesses,” Lee said in a statement. “His ability to bring out the best in people and their capabilities makes him the perfect person to captain and coach our teams in North America.” Translation elevates Jason Cambell to CCO, bolsters leadership Translation has made several key hires to coincide with the recent promotion of Jason Cambell to chief creative officer. Campbell, who joined the agency as head of creative in 2020, will expand his remit beyond creative services to also include the agency’s partnership with technology platform UnitedMasters, which is designed to give creators more ways to grow by getting artists’ music in TV shows, movies, commercials, games and digital media. The agency hired Stephanie Cajucom, most recently a creative director at McCann, as a creative director, and Dennis Kung, a former Wieden+Kennedy creative director, joins as creative director. Edward Lau, a former operations executive at Havas Health and R/GA, takes on the role of head of operations; Fabian Villenas, previously an associate director, finance at R/GA, becomes VP of finance; and Courtney Nally, previously a senior VP, general manager, entertainment at Ketchum, joins Translation as head of talent management. AKQA hires ECD from Everlane AKQA has named Shu Hung the executive creative director for AKQA’s Los Angeles studio. Prior to taking on this newly created role, Hung led the creative team at Everlane. She also has experience as the global creative director for Uniqlo and worked on the marketing and digital strategy team for Nike Women and Nike Sportswear. The addition follows the recent hires of Jabari Hearn as AKQA LA’s managing partner and former Discord Chief Marketing Officer Tesa Aragones as AKQA’s North America president. “I've been a long-time admirer of AKQA and have collaborated with them in the past on career-defining projects,” Hung said in a statement. “The chance to be reunited with Tesa Aragones, a dear friend and inspiring mentor, has made this opportunity even more electrifying.” Golin launches coaching program Golin is taking adults back to school with a new DEI-focused program. The Night School is a free 8-week career development and coaching program for working adults from marginalized communities who are interested in entering creative-based industries. Originally started in Golin’s U.K. market, the program offers students from Chicago, Dallas and New York hands-on training with industry experts in areas such as copywriting, art direction, planning and production. Each student receives a stipend to complete a personal professional branding project, which culminates in a live exhibition for industry leaders. The inaugural program started in late September 2022 and will conclude on Feb. 8 with an event in Chicago. Just briefly Marketing talent platform We Are Rosie brings on Jeff Levick as CEO. Levick, a veteran of tech companies such as Spotify, AOL and Google, succeeds Founder Stephanie Nadi Olson, who will step away from day-to-day operations to become executive chair of the board. Havas Formula Founder and CEO Michael Olguin is stepping into a new role as chair while Tara Reid, who has been with the PR agency for more than 15 years, takes over as CEO. In other C-suite moves, Havas Street Founder and President Adrienne Cadena will now be CEO of Havas Street. PurposeBuilt Brands has appointed Hanson Dodge as the first-ever creative agency of record for its cleaning product brand Green Gobbler. Dentsu has made some changes to its EMEA executive team. Paolo Stucchi has been appointed as the new media CEO of its EMEA region. Thomas Le Thierry, who previously held the position, will transition to the newly created role of client advisor, EMEA, Dentsu. The Breaking & Entering Advertising Podcast, which gives advice on how to break into the industry, has launched the “Crowbar Awards” to offer people with little to no industry experience a chance to showcase their skills. By submitting work that responds to the brief described on the site, creatives and aspiring creatives will get a chance to have work viewed by guest judge Greg Hahn, the co-founder and CCO of Mischief @ No Fixed Address. The American Advertising Federation has named its Most Promising Multicultural Students for 2023, a program meant to promote diversity, equity and inclusion in the advertising industry. The students selected will spend four days in New York immersed in professional development and personal branding workshops before attending a recruiter’s expo. Web3 marketing trailblazers Entries are open for our first official Web3 honorific Enter here

Agency news you need to know this week

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