Agency news you need to know this week

Anselmo AI As AI image generators including MidJourney and Dall-E 2 grow in popularity in the agency world, now comes an AI version of Anselmo Ramos circulating on LinkedIn, where the Gut founder is a prolific poster. The account, aptly named A.I.nselmo, was created by Pat Cholavit, a creative at VMLY&R Paris. Cholavit not only used AI image generator MidJourney to create an image of Ramos but also another AI tool, GPT-3, to generate LinkedIn posts emulating Ramos’s own. “[Anselmo is] ad nerd/non-native English copywriter from developing countries, where the advertising scene is already unique and amazing, but still eager to go out of the comfort zone," Cholavit said. "I landed in the U.S. barely knowing any English, and we all know who [Ramos] is right now. He has shown me that if I'm passionate and work hard enough, I can achieve my dream. He's been one of my creative muses since I started working in advertising, and I've always felt connected to and inspired by his journey and posts.” Read more: How agencies are using AI image generators Creating the image took about two days. “It was super hard to find the right prompt and setting,” Cholavit said. For the posts, Cholavit used around 150 samples including articles, interviews and Anselmo’s LinkedIn posts to create the AI’s text, which Cholavit admits is not enough for completely accurate imitation. “The writing style is pretty accurate, but the content is not,” Cholavit said. “Not every answer works, and it usually takes 20+ variations of a single prompt before I find something interesting. I still have to act as a curator.” In a Linkedin post where Cholavit showed off the AI page and explained that Ramos “hasn’t been posting as much lately” on the site, Ramos commented the following: “Txs for this Pat! Maybe I’ll start to post more often so A.I.nselmo can have more inputs to process. I’m just glad I look better than my AI version.” Jack Morton CEO transitions out of role Jack Morton’s longtime CEO Josh McCall is stepping down from his role after nearly 20 years. McCall, who has been with Jack Morton for almost 40 years, will remain as chairman throughout 2022 and be supporting Chief Operating Officer Bill Davies and Chief Client Officer Craig Millon, who are both taking on the newly created roles of global co-presidents. Davies will oversee operations and financial management and Millon will lead client relationships, growth, and agency capabilities/offerings, according to a statement by the agency. Millon will also retain his role as CEO at Genuine, Jack Morton’s digital marketing agency. Reading DNA DNA sequencing giant Illumina has launched the first work from its creative agency of record Fig, which won the business last September. The work is part of a new brand platform called “This the Genome Era,” and includes a brand video promoting Illumina’s newest product, NovaSeq X. The product is a genome sequencer that can read a person’s genetic code for $200. The product was announced during Illumina’s Genomics Forum which included an appearance from Barrack Obama and Bill Gates. In a snap Citysnap, a New York City-focused real estate and rental search company, launched a new campaign by Supernatural. The campaign includes a 45-second spot that starts off as an inspirational journey of a young boy learning how to play the trumpet before quickly showing the reality of the neighbors next door who have to hear the boy's poor trumpet playing. The video ends with the tagline “Find a new place in a snap.” Cashmere hires Burnett vet as chief strategy officer Culture agency Cashmere has named Aki Spicer as its first chief strategy officer. Spicer most recently served as chief strategy officer for Publicis' Leo Burnett, a role he held for just over three years. Before that, Spicer served as chief strategy officer and chief digital officer of TBWA\Chiat\Day New York. While at Burnett, Spicer helped Samsung, Kellogg, Jim Beam, Bank of America and other brands navigate AI, Web3 and multicultural spaces. Spicer also co-led a “strategic resource and accelerator for all the creative agencies across Publicis” to help “general market” teams at creative agencies become more “culturally fluent” across different markets, according to a statement by Cashmere. Spicer is the latest appointment to Cashmere’s leadership team. The agency recently hired Erick Erickson as chief operating officer and Burrell Communications vet Rebecca Williams as VP, group creative director. Recent leadership promotions include Aisha Bean to chief diversity officer and Celeste Bazán to VP of people and culture. AMC Networks taps Known as global media AOR AMC Networks chose Known as its global media agency of record following a review conducted by The Burnett Collective. The agency will be responsible for promoting AMC’s portfolio of networks, which includes AMC, BBC America, IFC, WE TV, and SundanceTV, as well as streaming services AMC+, Acorn TV, ALLBLK, Shudder, Sundance Now and HIDIVE. Previously Dentsu Media and Allied Global Media shared the account. Known's "creative excellence and strong data-driven approach to this work is a powerful and rare combination,” Len Fogge, AMC Networks’ president of marketing, said in a statement. Just briefly Hogarth Worldwide has hired Lara Horowitz as a creative director for its North America team. Prior to this, she served as a creative director for Organic. Horowitz previously held creative roles at Huge, Victoria’s Secret, and AKQA. Ex-Wunderman Thompson Executive Creative Director Peter Sayn-Wittgenstein and Managing Director Kristie Brown, alongside Ahab Nimry, the founder of San Diego agency Gut Branding, have started their own agency called Big Day. Atlanta-based agency Chemistry has brought on five new hires as part of an expansion of various departments within the agency. Kristie Cannon takes on the role of group creative director, Christine Iannucci joins as a chief people officer; Kelly Holley joins as a group account director, Alexandria Fuller joins as a senior producer, and Chris Bowden joins as an IT Director.

Agency news you need to know this week

Featured Stories