Be brave

As the Russia-Ukraine war rages on, Ukraine-based agencies continue to do what they can to help their country

Ukraine agency Banda has teamed up with the office of the Ukraine President to launch a campaign focused on the nation’s bravery. It has created downloadable and sharable 10-second video clips and billboard ads with the theme “Be brave like Ukraine.”

So far the awareness-building project has been seen in more than 15 countries worldwide, including the U.S., Poland and Germany. Distribution of the billboards has been handled by Dentsu and Publicis Worldwide and OMD in Ukraine.

Another Ukraine-based agency, Drama Queen, launched a campaign for Aid Legion, a charity foundation, to help educate people on how they can donate to people who need it most. 

The campaign includes multiple one-minute videos showing how you can donate and the importance of donating. The ads ask people to stop saving Ukraine and instead fight with the country through donations. Aid Legion is able to deliver aid coming from all over the world to the Ukrainian defenders and civilians who have been displaced because of the war.

Creators of Jerry Smith’s LinkedIn account revealed

Last year DDB FTW made headlines when the agency announced on LinkedIn that it "hired" Jerry Smith, a popular character in the animated "Rick & Morty" series, as a creative director. Now the people behind the account—which amassed 6,000 followers on LinkedIn—have been revealed.

In a LinkedIn post explaining why the Linkedin account had been suspended, Alex Sinmaleza, a senior copywriter at The Community’s Miami office, said in a post yesterday that he and his friend Gautier Fenestraz, a freelance art director and founder of creatives community platform Creators Community, began the account in 2020 with the goal of getting the Jerry character a job in the industry. Sinmaleza told Ad Age the account was created when the two were a creative duo at Publicis Italy.

“We did everything we could to help him [Jerry Smith], from putting his best hits online to pasting signs in the streets across the world,” Sinmaleza said in his post. “We did it because we felt it was a good satire of how the industry works, never expecting something in exchange or knowing what could be the outcome of it. Just two nerds trying to bring some fun to everyone’s feed.”

While "Jerry Smith" was hired by DDB’s gaming agency, the relationship didn’t expand beyond that, the duo confirmed. 

“We already got what we wanted: a job for Jerry. And that was fine for us as it was the only objective from the beginning,” the pair told Ad Age in a written statement. “Plus we are not as talented as Jerry to create the next 'Hungry for Apples.'” ("Hungry for Apples" was Jerry Smith's signature ad campaign in the show.)

The next goal for the duo was to create a satirical awards show that mirrors “The Appley Awards” from the show. In his post, Sinmaleza said the account was taken down by the platform and the two haven’t been able to recover it. 

“Unfortunately, we couldn’t get a lot of information. Basically what we know is that being a person you’re not goes against the terms and conditions,” Sinmaleza and Fenestraz said in a written comment to Ad Age. “We were trying to find a way to contact the platform and explain it’s just a fan page, but it was impossible. So we decided to explain what happened to the community created around Jerry and see if maybe we could call attention. The response has been awesome. We don’t know if it will be useful or not, but we’re glad to see how many people miss Jerry."

Dentsu Media launches apprenticeship program

Dentsu Media has launched a new apprenticeship program called The Media Experience across its US media agencies, Carat, Dentsu X and iProspect.The eight-week program, which is open to anyone—even those without advertising experience—provides hands-on training and onboarding into full-time roles including media planning, paid search, investment, and programmatic on existing client teams.

To attract talent to the program, Dentsu Media ​​is developing partnerships with organizations to help reach veterans and other individuals returning to the workforce or looking to make career changes, in addition to recruiting from its existing network of universities. 

The program’s first official cohort is in progress and includes individuals both with and without college degrees, some with internship experience and others working full-time jobs in the hospitality, IT, and retail fields, among others. Dentsu will host two more cohorts in 2022 with the aim of hiring 200 or more new employees a year through The Media Experience.

First stop, Chicago

Jane Lynch, an Illinois native, is showing viewers all the best spots to check out in the Windy City and beyond in the campaign “Middle of Everything,” created by Chicago-based agency OKRP. Governor JB Pritzker kicked off the campaign with the Illinois Department of Commerce and Economic Opportunity at the Shedd Aquarium. 

The campaign stars the Emmy award-winning actress as Illinois’ official tour guide, showing the attractions that make the state the center of culture, food, history and nightlife among other facets. It includes videos taking viewers through an array of scenes highlighting the state's many things to do, such as the Field Museum, Route 66, the Shawnee Bluffs canopy tour and Tall Ship Windy. It also shows her grabbing a slice at the famous deep-dish restaurant Giordano’s. 

Lynch made her directorial debut with this campaign that will run in 20 markets across Illinois and seven neighboring states, and will be seen on cable nationwide starting April 25. A Spanish-language ad will also air in the Chicago market.

Chill out, will ya?

Coors Light is sliding its way into the workplace with its new CoorsSlide. 

The concept is simple. Have you ever been in the middle of putting the finishing touches on a presentation when a co-worker digitally drops in as an “Anonymous Ferret” or “Anonymous Armadillo” to make unwanted edits or just view your progress, adding pressure on you to rush your project? Well, Coors is offering a way to “Tell your coworkers to [respectfully] go chill. The brand recommends dropping this slide in your deck to make sure curious coworkers get the message to grab a beer and “check back later.” 

The slide, which was created by Mischief @ No Fixed Address, even includes the following offer: "Text SLIDE to 49375 with a picture of this slide and get a Coors Light on us.”

Measure by measure

Montreal and New York-based agency Bam Strategy has teamed up with condom and lubricant brand Durex to help educate people on finding the right fit for them in its latest national campaign called “Find Your Fit.”

Durex is launching XL-sized products and wants consumers to know about the range of condom sizes and encourage men to find the best fit for them. To do so, the agency came up with a series of banners with sayings like “One size doesn’t fit all," ”Know your girth“ and “Size matters.” It even invites consumers to use its “find your right fit” tool to help measure their girth. Ultimately, Durex's effort aims to show that sex will be more pleasurable with the right-sized condom. 

“Bam is committed to driving valuable impact for our clients, and this new campaign serves as an educational and engaging way for consumers to interact with the brand in their own surroundings,” said Lonn Shulkin, CEO at Bam Strategy. “With our deep understanding of the customer journey, it was only natural for us to look at how we could combine intimacy with digital technology to launch this new product for Durex."

Stagwell invests in e-commerce

Stagwell has acquired Brand New Galaxy, a marketing and technology company that works with brands such as Bayer pharmaceuticals and Lindt chocolate. BNG has over 600 experts across Europe, the U.S. and the Middle East and North Africa, expanding Stagwell’s e-commerce capabilities to more global clients.

BNG joins the Stagwell Media Network, which focuses on using data and technology. As part of the network, it will go to market under the BNG brand. The brand has been a partner of Stagwell since 2021 as part of its Global Affiliate Program; this is the first acquisition Stagwell has made of one of its affiliates, according to the holding company. 

Just briefly

Chemistry has named Renee Williams Royal as its first VP, head of production. She will head up the agency’s production arm, Test Tube Productions, and be responsible for all broadcast, social and experiential productions

Dept, a digital agency owned by PE firm Carlyle, has acquired growth marketing agency 3Q digital. Together the two entities will have 3,000 employees and manage over $3 billion in digital media spending across over 180 markets.

Creative agency Octagon has appointed Sarah Glover and Lucy Collier to the newly created roles of global creative directors, based in the London office. In their new role, the pair will help guide the creative development for many of its global client accounts, such as Mastercard. Prior to joining Octagon, they were both creative directors at Leagas Delaney in London. 

Republica Havas has hired Saif Ishoof as an innovator in residence. Most recently, Ishoof worked as VP of Engagement at Florida International University and as senior advisor for innovation and technology for the City of Miami Mayor Francis Suarez. “In this new consultative position, Saif Ishoof will be involved in creating opportunities and partnerships for Republica Havas in technology, innovation and culture, including blockchain, the metaverse and Web3,” according to a statement by the agency.

Metaverse glossary for brands

Material has announced that Bill Kanarick has been named CEO and Anil Arora its chief financial officer. The move comes as former CEO Dave Sackman becomes the executive chairman of the board of directors. Prior to becoming the newest CEO, Kanarick was president at the company. 

OS Studios has hired Eric Fischman as head of creative, a new role at the creative agency. Before joining, Fischman had worked at video game giant Activision Blizzard for four years. There he was a broadcast and content producer working on games such as Overwatch and Call of Duty.

Marketing consultancy XenoPsi has hired Paul Nelson for the new role of managing director of its marketing and advertising division. Prior to joining, Nelson had worked at Arnold for 27 years as executive VP and managing director, where he managed the agency’s Jack Daniel’s global portfolio.