After these last few years, conferences are much more important than ever to connect and keep up with the pulse of the industry. Time to get your ticket for The Small Agency Conference is winding down. The only industry event specifically tailored for the needs of agencies with fewer than 150 employees is taking place from August 2-4th.

Come check out my panel as I interview Kate Higgins, chief growth officer of Erich and Kallman, and Christofer Peterson, senior VP of people and culture at Dagger. We’ll be discussing which good and bad trends are likely to survive the pandemic such as flextime, virtual working, and more.

The conference will touch on other topics as well including the following:  How to deal with burnout after a year of working 24/7; how small shops are diversifying their talent base and becoming more inclusive; how to land a large client and how that might affect your business; how to grow your capabilities without selling out; and how to build culture within your agency, and why that could help you win new business.

Register today for the Small Agency Conference & Awards at AdAge.com/saca2021.

TBWA executive hires in Los Angeles

TBWA\Chiat\Day Los Angeles has brought on Wayne Hempe as chief financial officer and Courtney Nelson as managing director. Hempe is replacing John Minty, who recently took a role as chief marketing officer of fitness brand F45. Nelson is taking over for Michael Claypool, who has assumed a new role as TBWA West Coast’s growth lead.

Hempe has spent 14 years within the TBWA collective, previously holding senior leadership positions at Nissan United, TBWA\Worldwide, TBWA\South Africa and TBWA\NEBOKO in Amsterdam. He most recently served as  VP, finance at TBWA’s Nissan United North America. Previously Nelson has spent over a decade at Wieden+Kennedy Portland, most recently as global group brand director.

Why go out? Have fun indoors

New York-based agency Fancy and “Pleasure, passion, and romance” chain Lion’s Den, are releasing a campaign dedicated to celebrating what it deems the “Summer of Love” indoors. 

The campaign consists of six new commercials, a mix of 60, 30, and 15-second videos, across CTV, online video, digital, and social media, including an OTT buy during the Summer Olympics. While everyone is itching to go outside, Lion's Den is encouraging people to enjoy their time inside with a partner by “Exploring a surprise box of goodies from Lion’s Den.”

The spots feature couples from a range of different ages, relationships, and ethnicities. Each person is joyously getting ready to go out, going through their pre-party, dinner, date, exploration process, when they discover a Lion’s Den surprise box and reroute their plans to a stay-at-home night.

JLL taps Havas for AOR duties

Following a competitive pitch led by Flock Associates, JLL has tapped Havas to be its global lead creative and strategy agency. The account will be led out of Havas’ New York, London and Singapore Villages. Globally, Havas will be responsible for defining the commercial real estate company’s brand’s strategy and creative platforms with local adaptation and execution in the Americas, EMEA, and Asia Pacific. 

"JLL is one of the world's most-admired global commercial real estate service companies, and we're proud to be selected as their global strategy and creative agency-of-record," Laura Maness, CEO of Havas New York, said in a statement. "JLL and Havas are both companies committed to making a meaningful difference, so we're incredibly excited to bring JLL's purpose to life."

Mekanism hires chief strategy officer for West Coast

Mekanism has named Sonal Narain as its chief strategy officer for its West Coast clients, such as Amazon, Alaska Airlines, Charles Schwab, GoodRx and Sling TV. She replaces Jeremy Daly, who held the role for over five years and before departing in April to work freelance, according to a spokeswoman for Mekanism. Prior to joining the agency, Narain led strategy at advertising agencies across Asia including Ogilvy & Mather Singapore and Wieden + Kennedy India. 

Don’t be a Bleephole

According to a report by the Outdoor Industry Association in  2020, 7.1 million more Americans participated in outdoor recreation than in the year prior. Seeing an influx in tourists, Mammoth Lakes, a town in California, found that many visitors practiced some bad habits when visiting the area such as not properly extinguishing campfires, leaving dog poop on trails and leaving campsites a mess.

Register today for the Small Agency Conference & Awards at AdAge.com/saca2021.

To educate tourists Mammoth teamed up with Mering/The Shipyard to create a blunt campaign. “The centerpiece is an original “Don’t Be A Bleephole” sing-along tune designed to create a natural hook that will have people humming long after they visit Mammoth Lakes,” according to a statement by the agency. 

The project includes an out-of-home billboard on the side of the road on the way into Mammoth Lakes with the statement “Are You A Bleephole? NoBleepholes.com” to entice people to go to the website where the song is found. QR code posters will also be placed throughout prominent locations around town and at local lakes and trailheads to encourage people to scan and uncover some tips about Mother Nature. 

MullenLowe hits the ice with new AOR win

National Hockey League team The Arizona Coyotes has named MullenLowe Los Angeles as its agency of record. The agency was chosen after a competitive review against several shops to create a new brand identity and positioning for the team. The goal of the partnership is to transform the Coyotes into more than a hockey team, highlighting the team’s multicultural approach and its commitment to leading and impacting the community. The agency’s first work for the team will debut in September with a new brand anthem releasing in October.

“We are very pleased to partner with MullenLowe LA for our rebrand,” Arizona Coyotes president and CEO Xavier A. Gutierrez  said in a statement. “We chose MullenLowe LA to help us with our mission to break NHL team stereotypes and present our club in a cool and edgy way. We want to change the way we showcase our players and incorporate the fashion and lifestyle world in our branding. Our identity and brand evolution will focus on our commitment to be consistent contenders on the ice, and as leaders by being inclusive, innovative, and impactful in our community.”

Just briefly

New York-based agency Walrus has tapped Mallory Diamond for the newly created role of head of development. She joins the shop from Rochester-based Partners+Napier after 11 years working across new business, marketing, and communications, most recently as its director of agency growth. 

Deloitte Digital has brought on Kenny Gold as its first-ever managing director and head of social, content and influencer for Deloitte Digital. Prior to the role, Gold worked at Grey Group in North America for nearly three years, most recently serving as executive creative director of social media.

R/GA is bringing on three new creative hires. Andrezza Valentin joins the agency’s New York team as its group executive director, which is a newly created role. Valentin most recently worked at  MediaMonks LA  leading the agency’s Google account. Ari Halper is tapped for the newly created role of global head of creative excellence.  Prior to joining R/GA, Halper started his own creative consultancy called Sauce Idea Lab, where he worked with several clients and agencies. Last, Xavier Teo joins as group executive creative director, taking the place of a team that left this year, according to an R/GA spokeswoman.

All three will work with R/GA New York creative leads Shannon Washington and Erin Lynch, in addition to global chief creative officer Tiffany Rolfe.

Ogilvy PR has named industry veteran Erin Jacobson as head of digital and advocacy for North America. In this newly created role, Jacobsen will lead the evolution of Ogilvy PR’s digital and advocacy offering including social strategy and content, public affairs and advocacy while growing the digital public affairs practice across Canada, Washington D.C., and North America. 

McCann Worldgroup has named Bertile Calinaud as its regional director of DE&I in Europe and the U.K. Calinaud replaces Sufia Parkar, who has been promoted to a global role as global associate director, DE&I for McCann Worldgroup, after 2 years in the regional role.  

Want to learn more about agencies? The Ad Age Small Agency Conference & Awards is the only industry event specifically created for independent shops of fewer than 150 full-time employees. Buy your ticket for the Aug. 2-4 virtual event at AdAge.com/saca2021.