First, a news flash: Entries opened this week for the Ad Age Agency A-List and Creativity Awards. This year there will be 10 new categories including Agency Network of the Year, Purpose-Led Agency of the Year, Newcomer of the Year, Best B-to-B Campaign, Best Social Lead/Community Manager of the Year and more. You can read all about the contest and enter here before Nov. 3 for early-bird pricing. The Ad Age awards gala announcing the Creativity Award winners will also return in April 2022.
 

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Driving the point home

Car shopping and selling online marketplace CarGurus has teamed up with Portland-based agency Via for its latest “Do More from Home” campaign. 

The campaign is focused on highlighting the additional capabilities the company now offers beyond researching cars online and contacting dealers. Now users are able to pre-qualify for financing, value their trade-in, and even search for cars that can be delivered to their door—all before contacting a dealer.

The company literally drives its point home in four humorous TV spots in which a CarGurus spokesperson duo drives directly into different people’s living rooms to explain the ease of using the CarGurus app and site. 

“I’ve always been a huge car geek and when Via got the opportunity to create work for CarGurus our team was thrilled,” Chris Avantaggio, art director the agency said in a statement. “We aimed to create work that would not only break through the category but educate consumers on CarGurus' smarts, science and scale. By casting our duo of gurus, we were able to bring the brand to life in playful and unexpected ways, while also creating a campaign that’s unmistakably CarGurus.”

Have it your way

Burger King has hired 360i to handle its U.S. social media account. “As the BK brand evolves, we’re excited to work with an industry leader like 360i to bring a fresh perspective to our social media strategy,” Burger King shared with Ad Age. 

The Restaurant Brands International chain previously worked with MullenLowe on social media in the U.S. Burger King ceded the No. 2 burger chain spot to Wendy’s in 2020.

This is a significant win for 360I which already handles social for 7-Eleven, and a number of Mondelez brands such as Oreo and Sour Patch Kids.

Grey Group hires new executive creative director

Grey New York has hired Peter Alsante, as its new executive creative director. Alsante is the latest to join the agency’s roster after spending 16 years with BBDO New York where he worked on brands like AT&T, FedEx, Snickers, Mountain Dew, Foot Locker, and Thinx. Probably most notably,  Alsante led the Sandy Hook Promise creative team that produced the film “Evan.” The effort won 10 Cannes Lions and helped propel BBDO to “Agency of the Year” at Cannes.

“We’re thrilled to welcome Peter to the creative leadership team at Grey New York after 16 years at BBDO,” Justine Armour, chief creative officer of Grey New York said in a statement. “He joins us having made some of the industry’s most-awarded work in recent times, and we’re excited for what he’ll do in his next 16 years with us.”

This follows a number of key hires Grey has had this year. In February, Ron Lewis was named group creative director of Grey Health & Wellness after spending nearly four years with McCann Health. In April, the agency brought on Tim Jones, as chief creative officer-pharma after spending time with agencies like McCann and Area 23. In August, Brandon Solis was tapped as executive director of social and connections after nearly two years with Eleven. 

The agency has also hired four new executive creative directors this year: Andre Gray, who joined from Eleven; Sara Worthington, who joined from McCann; Armando Flores, who also joined from McCann; and Ulrika Karlberg, who joined from Yard NYC.

Love and mindfulness at The Community

The Community has just hired Love Whelchel as its executive VP and chief people officer and Jen Patterson as its head of mindfulness. Prior to taking on this newly created role, Whelchel spent time as the global chief talent officer of IPG’s DeVries Global as chief human resources officer for Sean “Diddy” Combs of Combs Enterprises/Bad Boy Worldwide, as well as in recruiting and HR roles across the industry, including TBWA\Chiat\Day and Young & Rubicam.

In the newly-created role Patterson will serve as an executive coach who spends one-on-one time with individuals and teams. “Her approach is based on reframing limiting beliefs and using mindfulness and meditation as tools to create balance,” according to a statement by the agency. She will be made available every week for appointments with any employee of the agency.

Patterson has 30 years of experience in the industry; her last role in advertising was chief strategy officer for Wunderman Thompson Seattle.

“We spend a lot of hours at work. But often the way we work takes away the energy we need to be fully present in important areas of our lives—with our partners or children, or in our creative pursuits,” Patterson said in a statement. “My coaching is all about getting you out of your head into your heart and body through mindfulness and meditation. It’s about showing people how to create boundaries and balance in a time when those are especially hard to find.”

The barriers to following your dreams

Kelly Services’ latest campaign from Erich and Kallman, which has been the company’s creative and media agency-of-record for three years, aims to highlight the unjust barriers to equity at work. The “Equity@Work” campaign includes a 60-second spot that starts off as a normal classroom full of excited kids where the teacher is asking her students what they want to be when they grow up. The happy scene quickly changes when their teacher matter-of-factly explains why they can't achieve those dreams. The teacher points out different factors that would impede the children from achieving their dreams such as a lack of mentorship, a non-violent criminal history, race, or a lack of higher-level education.

“We knew we needed to tap into the emotional side of this topic to get people's attention,” Eric Kallman, founder and chief creative officer of Erich and Kallman said in a statement. “We crafted the spots to be purposely uncomfortable for the viewer. The device of the children allowed us to really emphasize just how unfair and harsh the situation is when it comes to workplace equality.”

The spot will air across national broadcast channels and national cable business networks

Wavemaker hires a chief transformation officer

Wavemaker has appointed Kathryn Spaeth as its new global transformation officer. Prior to taking on this new role, Spaeth served as managing director, applied Intelligence, consulting at Accenture. She replaces Jason Dormieux, who was appointed as GroupM’s chief data and technology officer in June.

Spaeth will be based in New York and responsible for leading Wavemaker’s consultancy hub, which contains 2,250 staff consulting on commerce, precision, content, data, addressable, tech and analytics. She will also work to strengthen collaboration with key media partners such as Google, Amazon and Facebook, to deliver innovative solutions for brands. 

“Kathryn is intelligent, tenacious and experienced in everything we need to help positively provoke growth at a client enterprise level,” Wavemaker CEO, Toby Jenner said in a statement. “As the marketing landscape continues to evolve, her expertise will be invaluable in supporting our clients’ digital transformation journeys.”

Moving to Northwest Arkansas?

Walrus’ first major ad campaign for the Northwest Arkansas Council aims to enlighten people to the benefits of living in the Northwest Arkansas area. The campaign, which bears the tagline “Life Works here,” includes a 60-second spot about all the area has to offer as well a series of lighthearted 15-second spots that serve as ‘How to’ guides. One example is a spot titled “How to tell your spouse you're moving to NWA.”

The TV spots (digital and connected TV), as well as out-of-home ads and short-form social videos, are rolling out across Seattle, Denver, Minneapolis, and Austin markets.

Two digital activations coming later in October will support the relocation campaign in creative, participatory ways. One will be a slideshow generator allowing people to create a funny PowerPoint presentation to help them explain to friends and family why they are relocating to Northwest Arkansas, and the other will be a Zillow “Smack Down,” which is a website where people can plug in their current city and view a competitive Zillow home listing in NW Arkansas.

Just briefly

Dentsu’s iProspect has appointed Danielle Gonzales as its first North America CEO. Gonzales joines from Publicis where she was recently elevated to president and chief client officer of Publicis Media North America. Prior to that, Gonzales was president and chief client officer at Starcom, where she led North America and global client partnerships for Kraft Heinz, McDonald’s and Beam Suntory across its media, communications, data, and tech teams.

David has tapped Alejandro Juli as group creative director. Juli has over a decade of experience in the industry with stints across multiple agencies including stints at Ogilvy, DDB, and BBDO. This is one of the first new hires made by Rafael Donato, who was recently named chief creative officer.

R/GA has appointed Smruti Shah as its executive strategy director. Before taking on the newly created role, Smruti led digital transformation and customer experience development as VP of product strategy at Possible.

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Code and Theory has hired Anne Sachs, as its senior director of editorial strategy. She takes on the newly created role, after previously serving as the chief content officer of Thrive Global.

Global creative technology agency Reaktor has appointed Michael Burkin as its new chief experience officer, North America. Prior to taking on this newly created role, Burkin held management roles at IDEO, Doberman, Fjord, and Disney.

Contributing: Jessica Wohl