George Lois’s memorial

A memorial for advertising icon George Lois, who died in November at the age of 91, was held this week on a brisk Wednesday night at the City College of New York Harlem.

Guests were greeted by displays of some of his work spread out like a mini museum, including his Esquire covers featuring Muhammad Ali and Richard Nixon, and the popular “I Want My MTV” ad, essentially a time capsule of the cultural impact Lois had on society.

More than 100 people attended to hear tributes to Lois, including his son Luke Lois, Senator and former NBA player Bill Bradley, Paper Magazine Founder Kim Hastreiter, fashion designer Tommy Hilfiger, Senator Dennis Kucinich, the photographer Platon, TBWA New York Group Chair Rob Schwartz and The One Club for Creativity CEO Kevin Swanepoel.

Speakers shared stories about the time Lois threatened to jump out of a building window if a client didn’t accept the idea he pitched during a meeting; his love of basketball and interest in politics; his straightforward way of communicating; and the love he and his wife Rosemary shared. Hilfiger spoke about how Lois helped launch his career and image.

“It was never easy to fight for positive change,” Platon recounted Lois telling him after Platon questioned him about some brash advice he gave a young creative. “It was never easy then. It’s not easy now and it won’t be easy tomorrow. This picture of a fighter lying down on the ground [Lois was referring to his first Esquire Magazine cover of a boxer knocked out in a boxing ring], that’s the kind of hits you take when you fight for integrity in your work and fairness in society.”

Lois’s son Luke gave the final speech, at one point choking up briefly. He spoke about the time he and his father had launched their own agency, Good Karma Creative.

“At 71 years old, he wanted to keep things small on a new venture, just the two of us,” Luke Lois said. “It was truly an amazing opportunity to sit next to and learn from this great cultural provocateur, but more so to get closer as a father and son. We loved, we laughed, we fought, we bonded, and each of us discovered new levels to our relationship.”

Luke Lois ended his speech with some advice from his father: “Be true to yourself and who you are. Go to museums, question everything, and search for the truth. Stand up for others if they cannot stand for themselves. Speak truth to power. And last, above all else, hate hate.”

Read Ad Age's obituary for George Lois here

GroupM names Robert Wheeler CMO of North America

GroupM hired Robert Wheeler as its first chief marketing officer for North America. Wheeler, based in New York, will report to Kirk McDonald, CEO of GroupM North America, and serve as part of the North American executive leadership team. 

This is a new regional role for GroupM. Jill Kelly was previously U.S. CMO before becoming CEO of EssenceMediacom U.S. 

Wheeler joins GroupM with more than 15 years of experience. He was most recently Warner Media's group VP and corporate communications lead. He also was head of global communications at Xandr and worked at AT&T, TiVo and NBCUniversal.

Empower fights financial anxiety

Financial planning company Empower wants to address people’s money worries in a new spot from Pereira O’Dell. This is the agency's first work for Empower since being named its agency of record after a review in May. 

The agency was tasked with creating a new brand platform for the company, and the first spot in the campaign, titled “Empower What’s Next,” uses levity to address everyday money anxieties head-on. 

“No matter where you are in life or your attitude towards money, everyone has questions about how to manage their money,” Pereira & O'Dell Chief Creative Officer Rob Lambrechts said in a statement. “Instead of pretending that anxiety doesn’t exist, we leaned into it as much as possible to show the confidence customers get working with Empower.”  

AMV BBDO names Martin Weigel Chief Strategy Officer

AMV BBDO hired Martin Weigel as its new chief strategy officer, starting in April. Weigel joins from Wieden+Kennedy Amsterdam, where he spent the last 13 years, most recently as head of planning. Weigel has more than 30 years of experience, having worked at Leo Burnett in London, J. Walter Thompson in New York, London and São Paulo and Lowe Howard-Spink in London.

Weigel has developed strategy and communication solutions for, as he puts it, “everything from diamonds to toilet paper,” and has extensive tech and platform experience working with Instagram, Facebook, Meta Reality Labs, Samsung, Uber and Amazon Music. He also led the global strategy for Heineken's long-running “Open Your World” campaign, which garnered a Grand Prix in the Cannes Effectiveness Lions, and Milka's global "Tenderness Is Inside" brand platform.

“If, as somebody once said to me, ‘The past is your competition,’ coming to AMV with its vast and storied creative legacy is one of the most thrilling and daunting challenges one could wish for,” Weigel said in a statement. 

Weigel will be replacing Tom White, who leaves the agency at the end of March.

Just briefly

Puma tapped McKinney as its creative agency of record for its running and training division. The work was previously handled internally before a months-long pitch process. New work will feature the recently relaunched PUMA Running brand and its redesigned Nitro running shoes as Puma.

Cashmere has hired Frank Dattalo for a newly created role as executive VP, executive creative director, leading creative efforts across client accounts including Taco Bell, Google, Budweiser and Disney.

Duolingo selected VaynerMedia LATAM as its social creative agency of record. The agency has already released two TikTok posts for the Spanish-speaking region that reached more than 2 million and 1.3 million views organically, respectively, within only a few days of being posted.

Global creative agency Haddad & Partners is merging with marketing, data, and technology company PureRED. The companies will retain their individual brand identities and client rosters, but offer comprehensive services for clients. 

Adobe consolidated its media business between WPP and Publicis following a review that began in November of last year. Adobe has awarded Publicis the International (EMEA, APAC, Japan) B2C media business, and WPP's Wavemaker won the Americas full-funnel B2C media business in Latin America, Canada and the U.S.