Agency Brief: The A-List blues

If it hadn't come two days later, we would have definitely suspected an April Fool's joke when the news hit that Accenture Interactive swallowed up Droga5. In a business where people (thankfully) do a lot of tongue wagging, this tripped off an avalanche of calls and emails proffering pundits to discuss just what this means for advertising. It is a tipping point for the ad world as we know it? Will it cause a ripple effect of other acquisitions? Are creatives dusting off their resumes? Is it one for the advertising history books? All good questions. We report. You decide. Turning over a new leaf They say every copywriter has a book in them. We can assure you that there is at least a first chapter in Susan Credle, FCB Global Chief Creative Officer; Paul Nagy, chief creative officer VMLY&R, Sydney and Tom Christmann, partner and CEO at DiMassimo Goldstein. This trio is among more than a dozen ad world luminaries who are contributing first chapters of their unfinished novels to a project from Miami Ad School and Grey Canada. A printed copy of the book can be purchased for $20 and a digital copy is $10. Proceeds go the Miami Ad School. A pre-order link is here. Westward ho! Fun fact: The state motto of Oregon is "she flies with her own wings" and a new series of Travel Oregon spots seems to prove that true. The fantastical animated commercial, from hometown agency Wieden & Kennedy, Portland, continues the "Only slightly exaggerated" theme begun last spring. It features eye-popping Lewis Carroll-like images of cloud people, enormous rabbits, rocks that morph into dinosaurs and more. The campaign is in equal measures delightful and trippy. Brother can you spare a dime? Winston-Salem, N.C. agency The Variable has got an infusion of cash from Advance America, which offers payday loans, installment loans, title loans and more. The agency of record assignment includes strategy, design and production, media planning and buying, digital and social media marketing, and more. Going wild After snagging Buffalo Wild Wings’ creative account in November, the Martin Agency has now also been named the restaurant chain’s digital agency of record. The Martin Agency says it will now handle B Dubs’ paid and owned channels, including paid social and digital, email marketing and the content on the chain’s website. The appointment comes as the wings and beer chain is running its first big creative campaign from the agency, a series of ads tied to March Madness. Watching paint dry Does paint make you cry? A lot of folks don't get emotional over a can of primer, but Kilz, a brand under the Behr label, hopes to move you. A new campaign from agency Arcana Academy takes a page from home-reveal TV programs and shows people surprised by their room transformations. The catch is you don't actually see the finished product, just their reactions. To see what they are actually looking at, you are directed to a landing page. Which, of course, being "Trading Spaces" junkies, we did. Get current Interpublic tells us it's merging two shops, Current Marketing and Creation, into what it's calling "a midsized global communications agency with consumer, corporate, health and technology expertise." The new name is Current Global. Catchy, huh? Also on the IPG front, brand experience shop Jack Morton has named Shelley Elkins to chief creative officer, based in Chicago. Teaser alert The Ad Age Agency A List is coming! We're typing our fingers to the bone putting together the issue that will unveil our list and the winners our Creativity Awards. But in the meantime, here's a glimpse of the set for our photo shoot. Blue was always our color. Email of the week Scrolling through my emails this week, I came upon an oddity caught in the clutter. It's from the Amazing Kreskin. Yes, you read that right. It says he's happy to comment on "David Blaine hypnosis molestation accusations." I'm making that one disappear. Contributing: Jessica Wohl, E.J. Schultz, Jack Neff

Agency Brief: The A-List blues

Featured Stories