Omnicom CEO John Wren sent a holding company-wide internal memo yesterday outlining guidelines for agencies returning to the office as a response to inquiries by employees. In the letter, Wren said the plan to return to an “office-centric culture” will be gradual and will vary by country, depending on the infection and vaccination rates.

“In many parts of Asia, our employees are already back in the office,” Wren said. “In the U.S., U.K., and other parts of Europe, we expect more people will start coming into the office throughout the summer, with most back in the office by early fall. Across the rest of Omnicom’s markets around the world, we expect return dates to vary depending on local conditions.”

Omnicom has developed a “workplace dial,” that defines the five stages of the back-to-work process, with stage five being an office that is completely open with COVID-19 no longer being a significant burden on the local community. As an example, according to Omnicom’s site, New York is in stage three which is defined as the following:

“In Stage 3, we are encouraging employees to return to the office. For example, in the U.S., with few exceptions, we find ourselves in Stage 3. In Stage 3, employees in the U.S. that are vaccinated are encouraged to return to the office and should schedule days for on-site work with their managers. In addition, in Stage 3, we are asking managers in the U.S. to invite people on their teams that are vaccinated back to the office for scheduled meetings, lunches, etc. If you are in a Stage 3 U.S. city, have not been vaccinated, and have been asked to return to the office, please contact your human resources manager.”

Currently, the only offices in stage one, meaning remote work is mandatory, are Omnicom’s Canadian offices. Stage four offices include those in Greenwich, Connecticut; Fort Lauderdale, Florida; and Tallahassee, Florida. This means employees are “expected to return to the office for on-site work while maintaining appropriate protocols for masks, social distancing, etc.”

Wren said agencies in the holding company’s largest offices, representing more than 80% of its employees, completed an assessment by its “Anyplace Workplace” committee, composed of members from agency, network and practice leadership, which formed last year. The results found that an “overwhelming majority” of Omnicom’s employees want to be back in the office most of the time, while having some flexibility to work remotely.

“Over the next several weeks our leadership teams will be developing specific plans for how agencies will work in the future, including policies for on-site, hybrid and off-site work, where appropriate,” Wren said. “The results of the plans will be communicated locally by your leadership.”

Rainier beer discovers new hard seltzer drinks

Rainier beer has announced the launch of its new hard seltzers in a hilarious new campaign that shows a parody scientist Ron Yaier with the “Rainier Center for Discovery” finally discovering the new “species” swimming in the Pacific Northwest. There are three flavors of the hard seltzer—lemon, huckleberry and apple—with one can containing just 90 calories and being gluten-free.

The campaign was created by independent agency DNA and produced by its in-house production company Petting Zoo. 

“Our recent work that brings back the iconic Wild Rainiers was so well received by the brand’s fans, that we saw an opportunity to build a new world of discovery with Rainier Seltzer,” a spokesman from DNA said in a statement. “We took a mockumentary approach to revealing these new members of the Rainier brand which we envisioned as water creatures, another aspect of the PNW that is important to our consumer.”

The Rainier Seltzer brand will be supported by paid social media advertising across Instagram and Facebook with a series of films that detail the stories of the new Rainier Seltzer varieties. The films contain a variety of hidden Easter eggs (the name Ron Yaier is a take on the name ‘Rainier’ for one).

“This is a great time for Rainier to introduce a Hard Seltzer line and expand our brand to meet growing consumer tastes for light-flavored libations,” a spokesman from Rainier said in a statement. “This new campaign captures the spirit of our brand in a way that will engage our consumers and encourage them to discover and share our new offering.”

This is the latest example of a company looking to get into the hard seltzer business. Just this year, companies like Coca-Cola, Miller Genuine Draft and Anheuser-Busch InBev released their own hard seltzer brands.

“A year ago, category leader White Claw had six competitors,” Ad Age’s E.J Schultz wrote in an April article. “Now it has more than 170 brands nipping at its heels, it says, with new hard seltzers hitting the market on a weekly basis.”

Become a BIGionaire at Big Lots

Big Lots wants its customers to feel like a million bucks without actually spending a million bucks in a new campaign created with Knoxville-based agency Tombras. "Be A BIGionaire" features spots with actor, author and producer Retta—best known for her role in the NBC series "Good Girls" and "Parks and Recreation”—encouraging savvy shoppers to find the best deals at their local Big Lots. 

“Our customer is an 'all-American superwoman' providing for her family and stretching every dollar,” Joice Wirkus, senior VP of marketing at Big Lots, said in a statement. “In developing the 'Be A BIGionaire' campaign, our goal was to create a culturally relevant, disruptive campaign that introduces Big Lots to so many consumers out there that haven't yet discovered us.”

TV spots launched in select markets on April 24 and will be rolled out nationally ahead of the annual Memorial Day sale at Big Lots. The new campaign will include a series of spots featuring Retta living the “BIGionaire” lifestyle that will be deployed across local and national television, radio, digital, video, mobile and social channels.

"Years ago, I hosted my first holiday party in my tiny, Los Angeles studio apartment. My holiday spirit was enough to fill the small space, but you can't serve Christmas cookies on holiday spirit,” Retta said in a statement. “I went to my neighborhood Big Lots where I was able to find everything from serving platters to festive décor, and I've been shopping there ever since.”

The spots were directed by Rachel Lee Goldenberg and produced in partnership with Society.

Real-life stories of horrible bosses

Last year, Jason Sperling, who spent over 10 years at independent agency RPA and last served as the agency's senior VP, chief, creative development, left for a global exec creative director role with Facebook Reality Labs. On June 1st he’s releasing a book entitled “Creative Directions: Mastering the Transition from Maker to Manager,” dedicated to being a conversational guidebook for creatives, since too often they are thrown into leadership positions because they were good at creating work but that doesn’t necessarily mean they will be a good manager, Sperling says. 

“A common refrain I’d been hearing at creative conferences was how the shift from creative person to creative leader is incredibly difficult, and the training is still nowhere near what it should be,” Sperling told Ad Age. “I distinctly remember one person on a panel at the 3% Conference saying, 'You get better management training at a fast-food restaurant than you do in most creative departments.' By the way, her comment was received with a massive applause.”

On Wednesday to promote the book Sperling released a twitter thread with over 80 creative leader horror stories from employees of companies like Amazon, TBWA\Chiat\Day, Google, Apple, New York Times, McCann NY, Wunderman Thompson and much more.

“When I reached out to people for stories, I was very transparent about wanting to use names with these in order to give them credibility (although I did make anonymity an option),” Sperling says. “I wasn’t looking to create Diet Madison Avenue Pt. 2, but something fun that many of us in creative jobs could all relate to. People definitely fell squarely into two camps. Either ‘I don’t want to share negative stories and potentially have it get back to me’ or ‘here’s three stories, take your pick, use my name, that boss was horrible.’ Luckily, far more were willing to share their stories and their Twitter handles. And as more and more high profile creative people jumped on board, people became more willing to share.”

Below are some of the interesting stories: 

Doner hires leadership for Johnson & Johnson account

MDC Partners’ Doner has announced two new hires for newly created positions to support Doner’s growing business with Johnson & Johnson.

Lauren Turner joins as executive VP, brand strategist, and Natalia Casas joins as VP, brand strategy. Turner will manage strategy across the agency’s portfolio of Johnson & Johnson brands, while Casas will focus on Johnson & Johnson brand Lubriderm, as well as the newly awarded Travelocity business. Both Turner and Casas will report to chief strategy officer Jane Goodman.

Previously, Turner served as senior VP, group planning director at Saatchi & Saatchi NY, where she led strategy for P&G Fabric Care brands Tide Gain, Bounce and Downy. Prior to Doner, Casas served as strategy director at Dietse Health and Conill, and senior strategist at Grey/Wing

In April, it was reported that J&J moved its Johnson’s Baby and Aveeno Baby U.S. creative accounts to Doner following a review, taking effect this quarter. While J&J didn’t confirm, people familiar with the matter said Stagwell Group’s Code and Theory will work alongside Doner on the account. 

Put to greatness

Zambrezi’s new campaign for the United States Golf Association “Journey to the Open” promotes the U.S. Women’s Open Championship. The campaign includes a 30-second TV spot featuring Kathryn Newton, best known for her role as the eldest daughter of Reese Witherspoon’s character in the HBO hit series “Big Little Lies,” and has an upcoming leading role in the Marvel film, “Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania.” In the spot, Newton drives across the country on a golf cart, meant to symbolize the long journey golfers from around the world take to win the championship. 

Get your hydration on

May has been Mental Health Awareness month as well as Global Employee Health and Fitness Month. According to a statement by NYC-based agency DiMassimo Goldstein, every day, 75% of Americans suffer from chronic dehydration, which can impact short-term memory and focus.

To tackle this, the agency decided to kick off an internal “Seltzer Smackdown” campaign to challenge its six internal teams to consume at least six cups of water (sparkling or still) per day throughout the month of May. Drinking their fill earns their team points, and the team with the most points wins a day off—a summer Friday of their choice. 

DiGo is a roster agency of carbonated water company SodaStream, which helped support the initiative by providing each employee with their own SodaStream machine. 

“The first duty of a positive behavior-change agency is to help team members change their own behavior for improving their daily lives,” Mark DiMassimo founder and creative chief of DiMassimo Goldstein told Ad Age. “We know a better day starts with water, and it’s a simple behavior change to improve mental health. While working with our client SodaStream on their Earth Day campaign, we got to see just how compelling and tasty daily hydration can be. It was a win-win to offer a fun hydration challenge, while also providing every single team member at DiGo a SodaStream to be in the hydration game.”

The contest ended in a tie but all participants were fully hydrated.

Hires to watch

Chris Foster is the new CEO of Omnicom Public Relations Group, taking over for John Doolite who was serving as interim CEO and will become chairman of OPRG. Prior to this, Foster served as WPP’s BCW’s North America president for over three years.

OPRG had been seeking a CEO since January of last year, when former CEO Karen van Bergen departed that role to become dean of Omnicom University, as reported by PR Week.

The holding company’s PR firms include FleishmanHillard, Ketchum, Porter Novelli, and Marina Maher Communications.

McCann Worldgroup is reshaping its production leadership with two key moves. Nathy Aviram will be taking on the newly created role of chief production officer for its creative production unit Craft North America, while retaining his current role of chief production officer of McCann North America. 

Aaron Kovan will be returning to McCann Worldgroup, after a three-year stint as chief production officer for VaynerMedia, to fill Aviram’s former role as chief production officer for McCann New York. Prior to that, Kovan served as exec VP, head of integrated production for McCann’s M: United, and helped found in-house live production unit Craft Studios.

Havas Creative has promoted Mark Sinnock to the newly created role of global chief strategy officer. Sinnock joined Havas in 2015 and previously served as the head of its UK and European strategy.

He will assume overall strategic responsibility and direction for all Havas Creative agencies globally, across its 67 integrated Villages, in addition to his existing UK Village remit. Specifically, he has been tasked with driving further integration of its dedicated customer experience network, Havas CX, which launched last year.

“The beauty of Havas CX is that it was born inside Havas Creative, which has given us the ability to look at the total customer experience across the spectrum from brand communications through to engagement and loyalty,” Sinnock said in a statement. “The past 12 months has proven that CX is the foundation on which brands can build more meaningful relationships that drive business performance. That’s why we’re making a conscious effort to put it at the very heart of our approach across the board.”

Omnicom-owned 180 NY, part of the larger 180 network, has brought on Jason Chebib, former VP of consumer planning at Diageo North America, for the newly created role of head of strategy. 

“We’re excited to welcome an experienced strategist like Jason to the New York team at a pivotal moment in the early stages of 180 NY, coinciding with the launch of our consultancy practice and overall growth of 180 globally,” Sander Volten, 180 global CEO, said in a statement. 

Chebib will oversee the launch of the agency’s consultancy practice, 180 Thinking, in the New York office and report to 180 NY President Evan Weissbrot.

“We’re adamant about harnessing innovative strategies to better connect with clients and consumers on a human level, which, in turn, drives massive organic growth,” Weissbrot said. “Jason understands that implicitly, and we’re excited for him to bring his proven strategic skills to the table and drive business forward.”

Since the New York office’s launch in January, it has grown in size from eight employees initially, to over 20 now. The agency has also brought on brands like Rockstar, Under Armour, Pepsi, Mirinda and Mountain Dew for global projects. One of its most recent success stories was the transformation of Slim Jim’s online presence into a meme-driven consumer lifestyle brand and growing its Instagram following from 10,000 to 1.3 million.

Just briefly

Work & Co has brought on Angela Carola, for a newly created role as the digital agency’s director of marketing. 

She most recently spent five and a half years at the Webby Awards, where she served as managing director at the International Academy of Digital Arts and Sciences and Industry Relations—overseeing the judging academy and developing ways to share digital best practices and insights. Carola earlier spent time on the publishing side at Ad Age in a variety of sales and marketing roles, launched the integrated marketing team, and oversaw its global events business.  

Labelium Americas launched Labelium Play, a full-service division dedicated to high-engagement platforms such as video, gaming, audio and  high-impact display. The new unit will be based in Chicago and led by Clayton McLaughlin, managing director of Labelium Chicago. The office will act as a digital media, planning and buying service that integrates brands into high-engagement platforms.

72andSunny Amsterdam has brought on Ben Armistead as executive strategy director, replacing Stephanie Feeney who left after nine years at the agency, a spokeswoman confirmed. 

“Steph has been instrumental in building 72andSunny Amsterdam from a small shop to bringing 100+ of the world’s most diverse, talented makers and doers together under one roof. She’s helped nurture our people and she’s been the author of transformative brand strategies for Google, Axe, Samsung and Smirnoff. We will miss her humanity and wit, but we will continue to cheer for Steph and her family as she steps away from the agency world,” 72andSunny said in a statement to Ad Age.

California-based agency Zambezi, has announced three new hires. Grace Teng was promoted to chief media officer, a newly created position. She previously served as the shop's executive director of media & analytics. The agency also brought on Latoya Love as chief financial officer and Suzanne Keen for its newly created creative director role. Love was brought in to replace former CFO Erickson Llog.

London-based agency Common Industry has brought on Simon Robertson for its newly created strategy partner role. He formerly held senior roles at BBH, Wieden+Kennedy and Anomaly UK, where he was head of comms strategy and helped grow the agency from 15 to 100-plus staff.

Mediassociates has filled two newly created leadership roles. Alicia Weaver was promoted to VP, offline activation and Christine Sheehan was hired as VP, account strategy. Weaver previously served as executive director of offline activation and Sheehan has 18 years of industry experience working at companies including Mindshare, Media Assembly and TargetCast tcm.