Aleve hires MullenLowe as creative agency of record 

Aleve has named MullenLowe New York as its creative agency in the U.S following a pitch that included four shops. BBDO, which previously held the account, declined to comment.

The Interpublic Group of Cos. agency now becomes the interagency team lead with the brand’s other partner agencies, which were not identified. MullenLowe will be responsible for launching Aleve’s next global 360-degree campaign launching in May, according to a statement by the agency.

Enter the 2022 Small Agency Awards at AdAge.com/SAA2022

"The MullenLowe team got to the heart of this brand and its role in the world. We're excited to partner with them to bring that to life in a creatively evocative way," Jeff Jarrett, Aleve’s North American chief marketing officer, said in a statement. “Inarguably, the strength of the work is what helped us crystalize the new partnership.”

This marks an expansion of Mullen’s business with pharmaceutical giant Bayer, which owns brands including Berocca, Afrin, and Aspirin. In 2019, MullenLowe’s UK team won Bayer’s Europe, Middle East and Africa business.

This is the second significant win for MullenLowe this year, which picked up KFC’s creative account following a long pitch process. In September 2021, Bayer named MediaCom as its global media agency.

Mike’s Hard at WrestleMania

Mike’s Hard Lemonade in early March introduced its newest character, the “Harder Farmer,” to promote its Mike’s Harder Lemonade, which has more alcohol than its traditional alcoholic product. This week the take-no-prisoners lemon farmer was included in a series of spots from Workinprogress launching the brand’s Mike’s Harder Half & Half product, which is a blend of tea and lemonade.

One spot acts as a movie trailer and shows the character arm wrestling a lemon and an alligator, and smashing a pitcher of tea over someone’s head.

The Harder Farmer will also be making his real-life debut at WrestleMania this Saturday. The brand’s character will also be included in a content series with wrestlers that will air live in-stadium, streamed on Peacock and shared on the talent’s social channels. Content teasers featuring wrestlers Shinsuke Nakamura and Rick Boogs were posted on WWE’s social channels earlier this week.

Stagwell acquisition

Stagwell has acquired Dyversity Communications, a multicultural full-service marketing agency in Canada, that "specializes in Chinese and South Asian communications, with additional expertise in over 20 other languages including Filipino,Korean, Portuguese, and Spanish," according to a statement. 

Dyversity will become part of Doner Partners Network, which already has several multicultural capabilities in Canada including DonerNorth, Veritas, and Meat & Produce, and the holding company said there is potential to later expand its operation beyond Canada.

“Dyversity’s team were pioneers in spearheading growth in the burgeoning ethnic markets in Canada, at a time when few considered it. Now, they are the leader in one of the fastest-growing segments in North America," said Krista Webster, vice chair of DPN and president and CEO of Veritas Communications and M&P. "As a challenger network with offices all over the world united by a mission to transform marketing, it only makes sense for Stagwell to bring Dyversity into the mix.”

Dyversity Founder Albert Yue remains as CEO. “I am so proud of growing Dyversity into Canada’s largest and longest-standing ethnic marketing agency, but that still accounts for a very modest number of Canadian brands’ total marketing spend,” Yue said.  “I knew when I met Krista and the Stagwell team that we could take this agency to an even more special place together. With their wind in our sails, this will be a game changer for cultural marketing overall.”

AKQA Bloom

Creative duo Jean Zamprogno and Fernando Pellizzaro, also known as Zampa & Zara, have launched AKQA Bloom, an agency focused on social-driven work. The duo, which previously served as executive creative directors at David’s Miami office, were responsible for some notable work such as its Moldy Whopper campaign for Burger King.

Read more: Burger King serves up a moldy whopper in 2020 campaign

“A very legitimate skepticism is rising as people begin to see the gap between the purpose-led rhetoric that some companies preach and a corporate reality that’s severely lacking in substance,” Zamprongo said in a statement. “Every enterprise has the power and potential to harness their enormous influence as a force for social good, with sustainable growth that serves the community, workers and environment, aligning interests for all stakeholders.”

The agency is already working on “large-scale collaborations" with brands including Volvo, Nike and Paul Smith, according to a statement by the agency. Bloom will be based in Miami.

Dentsu’s new EMEA chief operating officer

Dentsu has tapped Ete Davies as its first chief operating officer for its EMEA region. Davies most recently served as CEO of Engine Creative for three years. He will report to James Morris, EMEA and U.K. CEO Creative.

“Many organizations talk about being ‘data-driven’, ‘tech-enabled’ and ‘ideas-led,” Davies said in a statement. “But very few have the genuine breadth and depth in their capabilities, moreover the clarity of vision, to effectively bring it all together through the most important element of all, brilliant people.  Dentsu has all of this in abundance.”

This is the latest senior leadership hire for the holding company which last year hired Fred Levron as global chief creative officer and Alex Hesz as global chief strategy officer. This year, Nnenna Ilomechina was tapped as global chief operating officer.

McCann hires

McCann has named Michelle Tang as chief growth officer for its North American operations. Tang joins Digitas, where she served as CMO for its North America region for over two years. Prior to joining Digitas, Tang held growth leadership roles at agencies including Organic, FCB and Wunderman Thompson. Tang replaces Lyndsey Corona, who was named president of Forsman & Bodenfors New York.

McCann Health New York has hired Jorge Munoz as executive creative director, replacing Stephanie Berman, who was elevated to chief creative officer in October. Munoz most recently served as executive creative director at Golin Chicago. He also previously held the role of creative director at Energy BBDO, where he worked on brands like Starbucks, SC Johnson and Bayer.

Enter the 2022 Small Agency Awards at AdAge.com/SAA2022

Just briefly

Dentsu’s iProspect has brought on Josh Dwiggins as its global chief client strategy officer, a newly created role. He comes from Publicis’ Performics, where he served as chief client officer.

IPG agency Performance Art has named Jory Edmunds as its first chief strategy officer. Edmunds joins from Isobar, where he has served as exec VP of strategy since 2019.

Beach shade brand Shibumi Shade has named Raleigh, North Carolina-based Baldwin& as its first agency of record. 

The Many is expanding its people department by adding Courtney Burns as executive director of talent and culture, Jill Savage as director of resource management, and Ash Ramirez as DE&I lead, all newly created roles.