Agency Brief: Introducing the Ditch

Alex Bogusky wants to play Dr. Frankenstein. The co-founder and chief creative engineer of Crispin Porter Bogusky suggested in a brief Twitter video this week (alongside Jen Hruska, co-head of Strategy at CPB) that the agency do a show with old rejected client work. We lose pitches even when the work love the work. I know. Shocking!!! So should we do some shows featuring this rejected work and the fascinating category insights that always pop up? Let us know. pic.twitter.com/6KG3qq8Sa7 "We do all these pitches but then we don't win them all," Bogusky says. "We have all this neat work. Wouldn't it be cool to do a show ... about work that didn't win the pitch." They'd hold the show in CPB's woodshed. The thought got people talking. Mike Duda, managing partner of Bullish, tweeted back that he thought it was a bad call. "Don't do it," he said. "Your rationale is celebrating great work. If you lose, you probably blew it in at least one other area." But many thought it was an intriguing idea. "LOVE this idea. PLEASE do a show about getting pitch slapped (losing a pitch or a pitch that didn't pan out to a client partner)!" tweeted Laura Marczika. Another, social media agency founder Eric Zimmett, made a suggestion to "Call it "The Ditch," work that didn't win the pitch." Mike Diccicco, whose Philadelphia-based DDCworks was recently acquired by Pavone Marketing Group, said this is kind of a thing already: "In Philly we have Dead Work Awards for great stuff that never saw the light of day. Event recently held in cemetery." As long as they keep that shed door locked, everything should be fine. A new home for Realtor.com's account Realtor.com has named Huge its creative agency of record. The real estate company said the Brooklyn-based shop's "digital-first approach" helped win the appointment. In 2017, Realtor.com spent nearly $42 million on measured media in the U.S., according to Kantar Media. Empowering Chitown Cincinnati-based Empower is spreading its wings to Chicago. The media agency, which also handles some creative business, has opened a Windy City office with Hilary Burns at the helm. She was previously at VMLR&R leading the Conagra digital commerce business. Empower's Chicago office, at 440 North Wells near the Merchandise Mart, will oversee clients including Cirque Du Soleil, V-Tech, Dremel and Rust-Oleum. The shop is planting roots in the city because "more brands are craving the agile service and unique attention that an independent shop like Empower can offer, which giant holding companies there struggle with," says Rob FitzGerald, Empower's president and chief operating officer. Down with Down Syndrome misperceptions The National Down Syndrome Society tapped Saatchi for a campaign designed to reverse misguided perceptions about the syndrome. A video pairs a doctor's limited view with the actual achievements of those who have Down syndrome. The push comes as NDDS celebrates its 40th anniversary. Welcome to the Hall of Fame The American Marketing Association of New York named Unilever's Keith Weed, Adobe's Ann Lewnes and DDB Worldwide's Wendy Clark as the 2019 inductees to its Marketing Hall of Fame. The organization will host a ceremony to celebrate the news at R/GA's New York office in April. The corntroversy continues As we all know by now, Bud Light used its Super Bowl ads to call out smaller rivals Coors Light and Miller Lite for using corn syrup, angering America's corn farmers in the process. In the latest twist of the ongoing saga, Coors Light is holding a national toast to farmers event on Friday . Ad agency Osborn Barr Paramore, whose ag-focused client roster includes United Soybean Board, Bayer Crop Science, and Farm Credit, says its employees plan to gather and cheer on farmers while hoisting Coors Light, natch. A year of living dangerously In the year since the shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida, nearly 1,200 children in America have been killed by gun violence. To commemorate lost lives and draw attention to deaths that don't get national attention from the media, more than 200 student journalists partnered with The Trace, McClatchy and The Miami Herald to create Since Parkland, a website that tells the stories of the dead with 100-word obituaries for every child killed by a gun (with some exceptions) in a single year. Reports of deaths continue to come in, and the students are continuing to write. On the move… Scott Hagedorn was named CEO of Omnicom Media Group North America. He most recently spent three years as the CEO of Hearts & Science. Momentum Worldwide has a new managing director of its midwest office. Kevin Collins joins the Chicago office from MKTG, where he worked as senior VP on accounts such as Nike and Gatorade. Sean Lackey is boomeranging back to Droga5 as its chief marketing officer, after a two-year stint at McCann North America as chief growth officer. Lackey first joined Droga5 in 2013 and spent four years at the agency. Tweet of the week: The format of "The Bachelor" this season is really weird pic.twitter.com/wuyRa6X57e Contributing: Adrianne Pasquarelli, Meg Graham, I-Hsien Sherwood, E.J. Schultz, Jessica Wohl

Agency Brief: Introducing the Ditch

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