Agency Brief: The ho-ho holiday edition

Boise-based advertising and marketing agency Duft Watterson is celebrating the holidays with a video parodying the grueling process of rebranding a mystery product. At the start of the two-minute long video, the agency's co-owner Ward Duft sits in an office chair, sipping what looks like a stiff drink on the rocks. Soon enough, the agency is pulling out all the stops—including all-nighters with one employee crashed out on the floor in a sleeping bag with, sadly, no pillow. Throughout, the video pokes fun at the process with employees bandying about jargon like “conversion funnel,” “monetize” “passion project,” "humanize"— and at one point some employees open a locker backed to the brim alcohol, presumably to relieve some of the high-stakes pressure for recasting the product, which at one point is dubbed "a challenger brand." The video ends with some Duft Watterson team members staring at the mystery product—a fruitcake—and one of the partners says: “If we do this right, we really can democratize fruit and cake, one fruitcake at a time.” Ah, if only they could. “Our industry works so hard to stay ahead of social and cultural trends, we sometimes take ourselves a little too seriously,” Duft said. “This was a chance to have fun with ourselves, to remain honest with ourselves. As I often say to our team, ‘We’re not curing cancer, we’re creating marketing.’” Holiday card bonanza It’s that time of year again: agencies are sending out holiday cards for those who need an extra fridge decoration. The XD Agency is doing things a bit differently this year. It sent emails out to employees and allowed each of them to click on a "hybrid spirit animal"—like a snail crossed with a cheetah–that best represents themselves in 2021. After clicking a thumbnail sent to all employees, they are able to look at all the hybrid animal postcards and post the one that best suits them to LinkedIn. Periscope, meanwhile, is hoping its digital “Forever Holiday” card will take a little bit of stress away from the already hectic holiday season. The card reads “May your emails be silent and loved ones close by, cheers to more good work and greater ROIs.” BarrettSF is sending what seems like a traditional card, with a cute snowman on the front that reads “Happy Holidays,” but inside it shows a handful of snarky comments from employees regarding the snowman's nose; remarking on whether he’s got enough snowballs; and joking that the holiday card would “never get featured” in a story. Via decided to put the ha ha ha in ho ho ho with its holiday card this year. Riffing off of research that shows children laugh around 400 times a day and adults only laugh 15 times a day, the Portland, Maine agency created a laughter monitor that measures laughter based on the movement of the diaphragm. The so-called “Gigglr Counter” was placed on the diaphragm of employees at Via while they watched funny videos. The agency then compiled a video showing its employees laughing with a meter next to them to go along with screenshots for its holiday card. A video game designed for children in hospitals Daniel Brian Advertising based in Detroit, Michigan, teamed up with Valley Children’s Healthcare to create “Castle on The Coast,” a children's game starring the hospital’s mascot George the Giraffe. The Madera, California-based hospital will now have the world’s first-ever video game custom-designed for a children’s hospital, available on Nintendo Switch. Valley Children’s Hospital chose a giraffe as its mascot because it has the largest heart of any land mammal and “that heart is present in the care provided at Valley Children’s every single day,” the press release reads. The game is supposed to have therapeutic value that hopefully raises spirits, manages pain and improves health outcomes for convalescing pediatric patients. “Hospitalized children can’t go out and play,” said Brian Cobb, CEO of DBA. “Video games capture their imagination and draws them into a new world where, for a short time, they can put their pain, worry and loneliness on pause. It is a little bit like meditation or mental yoga in that respect. Except you do not have to convince a 12-year-old to try it." DBA commissioned Big Heart Productions and Black Wave Productions to develop the video game therapy tools in partnership with their clients. “Castle on The Coast'' was designed specifically for children in hospitals to help bring them some fun, but can still be bought by those outside of the hospital for PC and Switch for $14.99. A Wonderbox of curiosity Childhood excitement fades as one ages, which is why creative agency Curiosity tried to help adults feel that elusive emotion once again with its very own Wonderbox vending machine that offered mystery goodies through an innovative livestream. During a livestreamed Instagram event, the team at the shop's Cincinnati office erected a vending machine and invited people—clients, reporters, friends and followers—to participate in the fun via livestream. Each viewer of the livestream was able to virtually "step up" to the vending machine for a 60-second time slot and choose a number on the vending machine. A person at the agency then pressed it for them and their prize tumbled out. The free mystery gifts were wrapped in pink paper bundles and marked as “curiosities.” The bundles were then shipped out to participants via USPS and after they arrive, they are encouraged to post their mystery gift on Instagram. Have you found yours? Today Y-USA breaks a new campaign from VMLY&R Chicago urging the public to "Find Your Y" by getting involved and volunteering at their local Y. According to a press release, the effort "speaks to what sets the Y apart from other community organizations: they are more than just a gym, a pool, or a youth program. The Y is there to help people realize a greater sense of purpose in their community, thereby, finding their 'why.'" Inflation busting New York City-based agency Barker is fighting inflation by giving all its employees what it is calling a "year-forward" bouns of 4.3% of their compensation. This is in addition to their normal year-end bonuses. “It’s tremendously important to us that we’re in tune with our talent and managing proactively rather than reactively,” said Exective VP and Managing Director Mary Beth Well. “No one asked for this. But we knew it was an unexpected challenge for our team members. Despite rising salaries, higher expenses are a real burden for all of us, particularly in the New York City metro area. Everyday staples and expenses like milk, produce, gas, utilities, rent — all of these things are suddenly far more expensive, and it’s a shock to any household budget. This Year-Forward Bonus will help.” Carat continues to accelerate growth Carat U.S. has appointed Christine Piñeiro and Adil Zaim U.S. client presidents, reporting to Mike Law, U.S. CEO. In these roles, they will continuously oversee key client relationships and work to drive growth within the company. Piñeiro joined Carat in 2004 and was previously executive VP and managing director. Zaim was previously CEO of Carat China. “At Carat, we’re committed to advancing our clients’ business through meaningful progress and providing them with partners who can make a real impact and accelerate growth,” said Law. “Christine and Adil are the definition of a valued partner—each one of them playing an instrumental role in continuing to grow the agency with their long-standing client relationships and collaboration.” Just Briefly Jatinder Singh has been named global head of data and analytics at Accenture Interactive after most recently serving as chief data officer at DDB. The company said he will work closely with CEO David Droga and Accenture Interactive Chief Strategy Officer Baiju Shah. Havas Formula has expanded its presence in the Midwest by opening a regional hub in Chicago. The public relations agency opened the hub as a way to expand its reach to hundreds of new brands in the region. It will primarily focus on consumer, lifestyle, b-to-b and tech brands and will be run by Tara Reid, who’s been promoted to president of Havas Formula Midwest after previously serving as VP. MKG continues to grow with two new hires. Matthew Conley comes to the agency as head of production, a newly created role at the agency. He was previously executive producer at the Participation Agency. Before snagging the newest executive creative director title, Tricia Desjardins was the director of creative strategy at Camp, a family retail experience company. David&Goliath has signed on two new senior hires. Brett Terblanche joins D&G as the newly created position of group creative director and art director after serving as creative director at Havas Chicago. Luiz Vicente Simoes joins as the newly created group creative director and copywriter after working as creative director at Leo Burnett Chicago. Weber Shandwick has launched a new consulting network called The Weber Shandwick Collective. It opens in 2022 and will house Weber Shandwick and “an ecosystem of specialist creatives, marketing, communications and consulting firms built for the convergence of society, media, policy and technology.” Happy holidays from all of us at Agency Brief! We'll see you again in January.

Agency Brief: The ho-ho holiday edition

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