Publicis reaches out

The Russian invasion of Ukraine has global implications, and marketers and agencies with operations in the region are among the businesses grappling with how to safeguard their employees' health and welfare. One of them is Publicis Groupe, which has approximately 350 staffers in Ukraine.

Today, the holding company's CEO, Arthur Sadoun, sent an internal memo to employees explaining how it is attempting to assist and support its staff in the region. We reprint the memo below.

Bonjour,

As the situation in Ukraine intensifies, many of you around the world have expressed your deep concern for your teammates there and asked what is being done to help them in this incredibly difficult moment.

Over the past weeks the Groupe has been monitoring events very closely, putting the safety and wellbeing of our people and their families first through a number of concrete actions. These include emergency training, security alert systems, information hotlines and dedicated support teams, as well as financial assistance. We continue to reinforce those efforts and adapt to the unfolding events in Ukraine in real time, to bring our teams the aid and resources they need.

We are staying very close to the entire Publicis Ukraine community, and with their local and Groupe leaders I will chair a roundtable for all of them at the beginning of next week, to connect, give them the latest updates we have, and to take any questions or comments from them.

For those of you outside Ukraine who would like to show your support, a Marcel Community has been set up here and will be further updated in the hours and days ahead with more resources and information. Of course, if there is anything more you would like to ask about, don’t hesitate to get in touch with your managers and talent officers.

The courage and resilience our Ukrainian colleagues are showing is nothing short of extraordinary. I know I speak for all of us when I say we stand with them in this terrible moment and are keeping them in our hearts and in our thoughts.

Take good care of yourselves and each other.

Amitiés,

Arthur

Continued growth at No Fixed Address

No Fixed Address has hired Kelsey Horne and Alexis Bronstorph as co-chief creative officers. Current Chief Creative Officer Dave Federico will stay on until mid-March to help with the transition. 

Both Horne and Bronstorph were recently chief creative officers at Canada's Taxi, where they oversaw creative for clients such as Audi, Volkswagen, Canadian Tire, Canada Life and United Way. 

“In addition to their impressive body of work, Kelsey and Alexis have many of the qualities that make them a perfect match with NFA,” said its president, Mark Carpenter. “They are collaborative, they work in a close partnership and they care deeply about the craft of marketing communications. We’re very excited about their arrival as CCOs. It marks the next chapter at NFA.”

This is the second big hire for the agency in recent weeks; Katie Newman, who previously led new business across Publicis’ U.S. creative agencies, has joined No Fixed Address as its first global chief marketing officer and partner.

“NFA has been making some undeniable noise in the last few years. We are thrilled to be part of such a smart, entrepreneurial group who know that creativity is at the core of what we do, and aren’t afraid to use it. We can’t wait to bring our energy to the team,” Horne said.

HubSpot breaks global push

Customer relationship management platform HubSpot has released its first-ever global brand campaign with the help of creative agency 72andSunny and actress Kathryn Hahn.

Hahn is the first brand ambassador for HubSpot, making her the perfect pirate CEO in its latest campaign where she does in fact play a pirate on the seas, using HubSpot to help grow her "business." The campaign is meant to show how HubSpot’s CRM can help its customers grow better by connecting their people, customers and business. 

“Scaling businesses have a unique set of needs, which were validated both in our research and in the stories we hear from our customers,” Brad Minor, VP of brand for HubSpot said. “We were inspired by their trials and triumphs, and how they have carved out a better path to growth. Our first-ever global brand campaign celebrates those success stories while positioning HubSpot’s CRM as a trusted, powerful partner for them no matter where they are on their journeys.” 

In the campaign, Hahn takes to the seas with her crew and is changing the ways of pirates: looting, setting fires to villages and pillaging. Now, with the help of HubSpot, the life of pirates can expand past those pirate-esque themes and keep the whole fleet on the same page, the ad says. In the 60-second spot, Hahn walks around the ship while pirates use the CRM platform to do business using laptops and even making Zoom calls. 

The global campaign just rolled out in key markets including the U.S., Canada, U.K., Australia, Germany, France and Japan. On top of the ad running across social media, it will be found in digital displays in places such as Boston's Logan International Airport and Chicago's O’Hare, along with ferry and bus wraps in New York City. 

Media.Monks hires its first global chief diversity officer 

Media.Monks named James Nicholas Kinney as its global chief diversity officer, a newly created position. Prior to the new role, Kinney was the chief DE&I officer at Ogilvy. 

Kinney will help evolve the S4 Capital agency's workflows, recruit new talent and support career growth to foster a culture of inclusion. In his new position, he will lead the agency's environmental, social and governance strategy through DE&I and recruiting to build upon existing initiatives such as the parent company's four-year fellowship program which launched two years ago. 

“Our vision is to break work and reinvent what it means to truly belong,” Kinney said in a statement. “Having the opportunity to serve more than 8,000 lives through living and working is what it is all about. The last several years have proven that the world is ready for a new model. A more meaningful way to work. This is what we will deliver.”

Since January 2020 Media.Monks has tripled its headcount to more than 8,300 employees, according to a statement by the agency. Part of that growth includes its merger with Los Angeles-based Cashmere in September 2021.

True Texan Whiskey 

Pernod Ricard and Tombras worked together for TX Whiskey's first major campaign. 

The campaign for the Texas-based whiskey company is called “Our Whiskey, Our way” and is a nod to the independent spirit of Texans and their love for the dark liquor. Tombras enlisted native Texan Scoot McNairy, an actor known for Netflix's "Narcos," to espouse what it means to be a Texan in mind, body and spirit. McNairy is a cattle ranch owner himself, making him even more perfect to play a rugged Texan. 

The 15- and six-second-long videos were shot at Whiskey Ranch, TX Whiskey’s distillery. In each video, McNairy is seen sitting at the bar drinking a glass of TX Whiskey on the rocks. In one video he says he’s never had a dull night in Texas and adds that it must be the whiskey. In another, he questions if the man next to him is really a Texan by asking what whiskey he is drinking to see if it’ll be TX Whiskey.  

LTK taps Deloitte Digital as its first AOR

Global influencer marketing platform LTK has chosen Deloitte Digital as its first-ever creative, strategic and media planning agency of record, charged with launching LTK’s first brand campaign.

LTK launched in 2011 and has since become a technology platform that gives brands and creators access to content monetization, strategic growth consulting and global brand partnerships. LTK generated more than $3 billion in annual sales for brands last year, Amber Venz Box, co-founder and president of LTK told Forbes in November. Of those sales, about 10%-25% goes to the influencers who spur those sales through the products they promote.

"LTK has grown into what it is today by disrupting the status quo, and we were selected to help keep that momentum and subversiveness going," said Leslie Sims, U.S. chief creative officer of Deloitte Digital. "The 360-degree view of both industry and audience that Deloitte Digital provides is our special sauce — it helps decide where and where not to show up and gives all our work a sharp edge. Creative only gets better when you can feed it with the right information at the right time.”

The campaign and new brand positioning will kick off in April, with follow-up campaigns to run during the holiday season. 

Emoji on the water

The world was not going to let you forget that Tuesday was a numerical masterpiece as its date, 2/22/22 landed on all twos and thus the term ‘Twosday’ was born. Several brands like Macy’s, The Container Store, Burger King, Grubhub, United Airlines, and more all found ways to make the fake holiday into a marketing opportunity.

Charmin also decided to throw its hat in the ring with a not-so-subtle reference to the number. On Tuesday, the brand worked with Saatchi & Saatchi to create a giant inflatable poop emoji (28 feet high x 30 feet wide) that traveled the rivers of New York City. The float traveled from the East River in the morning to the Hudson River in the afternoon and ultimately ended at Miller’s Launch, Staten Island.

The oddly adorable poop emoji garnered significant attention on social media with a video post on Instagram garnering over 28,000 views. 

Just briefly

FCB has promoted Bella Patel, formerly FCB Chicago’s chief talent officer, to global talent officer. The role was previously held by Cindy Augustine, who left the agency last year to join McCann Worldgroup. The agency also named Mark Jungwirth, previously chief financial officer of FCB’s North America region, to global chief financial officer, a role previously held by Carmine Battista, who will be taking on a new as yet undisclosed role within Interpublic Group of Cos.

World’s Best Cat Litter, a brand under the Kent Pet Group, has hired TRG as its agency of record in the U.S., where the agency will be responsible for creative development, brand strategy, digital strategy, and all media planning and buying.

VaynerMedia London has appointed Allan Blair as its head of strategy, replacing Dubose Cole, who has held the position and is leaving the agency to move back home to the U.S., according to a spokesman for the agency. Blair joins from Engine Creative London where he spent four years as head of strategy.

BBH London has made several executive moves this week. Holly Ripper, previously a managing partner, was tapped as managing director, replacing Polly McMorrow who recently left the agency to become the CEO of McCann London. Stephen Ledger-Lomas was named chief production officer, a role that has been vacant since David Karbassioun held the position in 2016. Ledger-Lomas previously served as head of production, a role that Victoria Keenan, formerly head of film production, will take over. Susan Liu, previously a digital producer and partner, takes on the newly created role head of experience production. Lastly, BBH London commercial director Garin Bisschoff moves to chief financial officer, a role that was previously held by Radhika Radhakrishan, who left the agency at the end of last year.

VCCP is putting its energy into the gaming “multiverse” with the launch of VCCP+. The practice is meant to help marketers and brands properly and strategically navigate the gaming space, where it says 2.7 billion people are active. The new division of VCCP+ will get help from coders at VCCP PX and the recently launched global content studio, Girl&Bear. 

Atlanta-based Fitzco has brought on David Matathia as its new head of strategy, replacing James Lou who has left the agency, according to a spokeswoman for Fitzco. Prior to this Matathia served as senior VP, strategy director at GSD&M.

WPP announced the acquisition of Village Marketing in the U.S. It was specifically created to help build brands in a social media and smartphone world. The creative firm will join the Wunderman Thompson network where it will focus on its clients and brands digging deeper into the creator economy. The acquisition is also part of WPP’s accelerated growth strategy.