Agency news you need to know: April 21, 2023

New York City Department of Sanitation targets 'dog-poopetrators' The New York City Department of Sanitation is telling New Yorkers, “Don’t be a #Garbage New Yorker,” in an effort to combat the increased prevalence of litter and dog waste on sidewalks. The campaign, designed pro bono by VMLY&R, calls out all New Yorkers to stop bad behavior that keeps streets and sidewalks dirty. In the series of out-of-home ads that will run on bus shelters and LinkNYC kiosks across the five boroughs for the remainder of April, a series of portraits replaces people’s heads with garbage—including an old coffee cup, cigarette butt and a take-out container. The ads ask onlookers who see a #GarbageNewYorker to “Tell ‘em where to stick it.” Another ad, focused on people who don’t pick up after their dogs, demands they “Don’t leave **it on the sidewalk.” The ad includes a pixelated image of a dog defecating on the sidewalk. The campaign comes amid New York’s Mayor Eric Adams’ commitment to “Get Stuff Clean.” The DSNY is now cleaning more than 1,500 “long-ignored” areas in the city, cracking down on illegal dumping and changing the hours trash is set up and how it is collected, according to a statement. Also read: Inside the 'We Heart New York' campaign WPP gives some sound advice WPP’s Landor & Fitch has acquired sonic branding agency Amp, which has worked with large brands such as Mastercard, Mercedes-Benz, Kraft Heinz and Deloitte. Amp uses a generative AI toolset called Sonic Hub to help clients analyze, create and manage audio assets that can be tailored to different audiences and markets. “We believe that differentiated and ownable sound is the next great branding frontier,” Jane Geraghty, global CEO of Landor & Fitch said in a statement. “This acquisition gives us an unparalleled breadth of design capability—graphic, digital, motion, physical, product and experiential—and now sonic. It will also help us accelerate our rapidly growing accessible design practice.” This is the third notable acquisition from WPP this month. The holding company also recently acquired influencer agencies Goat and Obviously. AI marketing blog How brands are using ChatGPT, DALL-E 2 and other tools Read more here Dentsu offers sports analytics Dentsu Sports International launched a global offering called Dentsu Sports Analytics. The new offering combines the data and analytics capabilities of MKTG Sports + Entertainment, Sponsorship Research International and Dentsu’s Merkle to better measure sports and entertainment. Glenn Lovett will lead Dentsu Sports Analytics as global managing director, based in New York. Lovett was previously a strategic and commercial advisor at Dentsu. McCann appoints first chief audience architect McCann Worldgroup named Nathan Brown its first global chief audience architect, effective May 1. He joins McCann from sibling IPG agency Universal McCann, where he spent two years as the media company’s global chief strategy officer. Brown will be responsible for building McCann’s audience planning global practice to offer clients an understanding of consumer behavior across devices, content and platforms. McCann also named Michelle Tang its global chief growth officer. Tang joined McCann from Digitas in 2022 as chief growth officer of North America. She is responsible for several of the agency’s recent wins, including Smirnoff, Prudential and Post Consumer Brands. In this expanded role, Tang will lead the global new business function and be the point of contact for the network’s global new business pitches. Wavemaker’s first international head of strategy Wavemaker appointed Jon Gittings as its international head of strategy. He will report to Global Chief Strategy and Product Officer Stuart Bowden. Gittings will lead global strategy for the agency’s Adobe account and global strategy for Colgate. Gittings previously served as an executive VP, strategy for Essence’s North America region prior to its merger with Mediacom. He also held lead strategy roles at Mediacom and Omnicom Media Group. “We know that to expand and grow our global client base and expertise we need a senior and recognized international strategic leader in the U.S., which is exactly what Jon delivers,” Bowden said in a statement. “He will give us a bridgehead to expand our U.S. client relationships to the rest of the world and will enable us to strategically lead global clients headquartered on the West Coast.” Just briefly WPP officially launched Design Bridge and Partners following the merger between Design Bridge and Superunion announced last year. The company includes 850 employees across 12 countries. Some of the network’s North American clients include NASA Artemis, Coca-Cola, Microsoft, Diageo, Mastercard, Intel and Mondelēz. John Morris, the former CEO of Design Bridge, will serve as Group CEO. Jim Prior, who was previously CEO of Superunion, will serve as chair. AKQA named Roman Ptakowski its first Atlanta managing director. Ptakowski also serves as global client lead for Coca-Cola as part of WPP’s Open X team. Mother LA named Jed Cohen its co-executive creative director, alongside creative partner and co-executive creative director Simon Bruyn. Bruyn was named to the role in 2021. Cultural strategy consultancy Sparks & Honey has added president to Chief Operating Officer Mark Newhouse's title. Chief Client Officer Davianne Harris was given the expanded role of managing partner. Freight Farms, the inventor of container farming, appointed Allen & Gerritsen as its brand agency of record. A&G will be responsible for brand strategy, platform development and creative direction across paid, owned and earned media. NVE Experience Agency is rebranding itself as a creative marketing agency specializing in brand experience. The mid-size shop brought in more than $100 million in revenue in 2022 and now offers marketing strategy, experiential, event production, content and communications solutions.

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