12395: Adweek Blog Blah Network.

Adweek announced the launch of Adweek Blog Network—which really should be called Adweek Blah Network. The story labels the mess as a “diverse collection of industry blogs”—which, of course, is completely devoid of diversity—spawned from a 2014 purchase of properties formerly owned by Mediabistro. A review of the $8 million acquisition shows it might be the online equivalent of Publicis Groupe Chairman-CEO Maurice Lévy’s digital drunkenness; that is, it looks like Adweek parent company Prometheus Global Media bought a huge, steaming pile of online shit and now hopes to mold the disparate dung into a unified turd.

One particularly smelly piece of fecal matter in the network is AgencySpy, whose updated site makes it the New Coke of advertising blogs. The spell-check-challenged chimps currently publishing posts at the site have delusions of journalistic grandeur—despite essentially copying stuff from Adweek, Advertising Age and PR Newswire—and seem to want to transform AgencySpy into a respectable advertising news vehicle. Plus, the design changes are a UX nightmare displaying complete ignorance of AgencySpy’s special persona.

AgencySpy is unique because it’s essentially user-generated content—it’s closer to being social media or a chat board, and it will never succeed as a trade journal. The visitors’ comments are the sole attraction. Period. AgencySpy became popular (i.e., its traffic exploded) when lead editor SuperSpy envisioned it as a forum for advertising workers to voice and vent their opinions. The daily posts were not interested in communicating press release information; rather, they were intended to ignite responses and let the masses expose behind-the-scenes truths.

Not sure why Adweek would want to integrate AgencySpy into a network. The site is embarrassing when placed alongside legitimate journalism. And the chances that AgencySpy will ever be profitable on its own are less than zero. The only potential benefit would be offering cross-links to draw traffic to other network players. However, such a notion will fail if AgencySpy doesn’t stay true to its identity, as alienating the actual audience/authors would lead to absolute abandonment.

9 Popular Sites Become Core of New Adweek Blog Network

Previous parent Mediabistro refocuses on recruitment and professional development

By David Griner

A diverse collection of industry blogs previously owned by Mediabistro today has been integrated into Adweek.com as the new Adweek Blog Network.

Purchased by Adweek’s parent company in 2014, the sites largely will remain the same in content and structure. Most visibly, their Web addresses will now begin with Adweek.com rather than Mediabistro.com, and each blog today has a consistent, updated design.

The nine blogs forming the Adweek Blog Network are:

TVNewser, covering national television news

TVSpy, covering local television news

AgencySpy, covering the ad agency world

LostRemote, covering TV’s second screen

PRNewser, covering public relations

FishbowlNY, covering New York media

FishbowlDC, covering the intersection of politics and media

GalleyCat, covering the book publishing industry

SocialTimes, covering social media

SocialTimes has been expanded to include all content from Mediabistro’s former social media blogs AllFacebook, InsideFacebook, AllTwitter, InsideSocialGames and InsideMobileApps.

The Mediabistro site itself is being refocused specifically on recruitment and professional development. Its primary features will be job boards, education programs and creative communities such as Ads of the World and Brands of the World.

Adweek’s decade-old AdFreak blog, which draws millions of readers each month, will remain the core of Adweek.com’s creative coverage and will not officially be part of the Adweek Blog Network.

As the former Mediabistro editorial properties transition to becoming the Adweek Blog Network, the corporate structure of the sites is also getting a new name.

Now called Mediabistro Holdings LLC, the organization will include Adweek, Mediabistro, the Clio Awards and FilmExpoGroup. Jeffrey Wilbur retains his title as president of the company.

“2014 was a very successful year for our business, highlighted by the acquisition of Mediabistro,” Wilbur said in a statement on the blog transition. “Establishing the ABN in 2015 is the next step in our evolution, allowing their voice to complement Adweek’s editorial expertise and leadership. This transition also allows Mediabistro an opportunity to expand upon core offerings in professional development and recruitment services for media professionals.”

In 2014, Adweek.com generated more than 121 million pageviews, up 81 percent from the previous year’s total of 67 million pageviews. The news site and Adweek Blog Network are expected to reach a combined audience of more than 8 million readers.

12394: Viewing Vixen.

From Paste Magazine…

DC Spinoff Vixen Coming to CW Seed

By Danielle Ryan

The CW revealed Sunday that they will be adding a little diversity to their DC-heavy lineup with an animated Flash and Arrow spinoff, Vixen.

Vixen is a female superhero with African roots who uses ties to a Tantu Totem to wield her powers. The animated format will allow creators to show off all kinds of magic tricks without requiring a massive budget. Because Arrow focuses heavily on vigilante justice, and Flash focuses on science, the focus on magic will be something new for writers and viewers alike.

The series will be a six-part origin story set in Detroit, but will be set in the same continuity as the two live-action shows. Plotlines from the other two shows will be touched upon in the series, and creator Marc Guggenheim promises closure for one very important fan question.

“There’s actually a question I’ve been getting on Twitter a lot, ‘Is Oliver going to find out that Felicity kissed Barry?’ That’s actually going to happen in the Vixen cartoon. Part of the fun is that close cohesion,” he said in an interview with CBR News.

Vixen will air on CW Seed, the network’s digital-only streaming service.

12393: White People Shuffle At Y&R.

Advertising Age reported Y&R California tapped a White man—Ronny Northrop—to serve as the agency’s Chief Creative Officer. The hire sorta offsets Y&R New York’s appointment of a White woman—Leslie Sims—as its Chief Creative Officer. Actually, Northrop’s elevation upsets the gender progress at Y&R, as he replaced a White woman. Y&R Chicago, however, recently replaced its White man CCO—Bill Cimino—with a White woman and White man. So things are kind of balancing out, except for the fact that all the CCOs are White people. At Y&R, CCO stands for Caucasian Creative Officer.

Y&R California Names Ronny Northrop Chief Creative Officer

Appointment Is Third Chief Creative Change in a Week at WPP Agency

By Maureen Morrison

Y&R California has named Ronny Northrop its new chief creative officer.

The San Francisco office of the WPP network is the latest Y&R shop to make creative executive changes at the top in the last week. Earlier this week, Y&R’s New York office named Leslie Sims chief creative officer, and last week, the agency confirmed that Bill Cimino was leaving his post as the top creative in the Chicago office. Rather than being replaced by one chief creative, Mr. Cimino is being replaced by co-executive creative directors Pam Mufson and Jeremy Smallwood.

Mr. Northrop, who will oversee all creative at the 40-person office, replaces Mimi Cook, who is leaving to pursue other interests, according to the agency. Mr. Northrop has been an executive creative director at Y&R California since the fall, when he was promoted after joining Y&R a year ago as a freelance creative.

“Since joining our team last year, Ronny has had a dramatic impact on our culture and creative output,” said Y&R California President Mike Reese, who was named president in 2013, the same time Ms. Cook was named chief creative . “Not only is he passionate about our clients’ businesses, he is a big believer in the power of creative to accomplish good, which is an ethos he has infused throughout our agency.” Clients at Y&R California include Chevron, Citrix, Crystal Cruise Lines, Sandisk and Blue Diamond’s almonds, as well as Blue Diamond’s Almond Breeze and Nut Thins.

Other agencies Mr. Northrop has worked at include Omnicom’s Goodby Silverstein & Partners, where he worked in various creative roles from 2005 until 2011 on clients like Anheuser Busch, California Milk Processors and Comcast. Prior to that, he worked at MDC’s CP&B from 2002 to 2005 on brands such as Burger King, Mini and Molson Canadian.

12392: Eyes On The Peace Prize.

From The New York Times…

An Unsettled Chapter in Martin Luther King’s Legacy

By Richard Fausset

ATLANTA — The legacy of the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. seems to be everywhere these days with the success of the film “Selma,” which begins with his being awarded the Nobel Peace Prize.

It has been a hot topic among historians, who have debated whether the film adequately depicts the interplay between the civil rights leader and President Lyndon B. Johnson.

And it took on renewed prominence in Atlanta on Monday when Gov. Nathan Deal of Georgia, in his Inaugural Address, reminded residents that a statue of Dr. King would soon be erected on the State Capitol grounds.

At the same time, a decidedly less heroic aspect of his legacy has been playing out here in court filings and hearings as his three surviving children work through a pair of lawsuits over the disputed ownership of their father’s Bible and Nobel Prize medal, and the licensing of his intellectual property.

The disputes are the latest in a series of dispiriting legal tussles involving Dr. King’s children, who have squabbled in the past among themselves — and with others — over the ownership of their father’s personal effects and the stewardship of his legacy. Along the way, they have found themselves at odds with some of Dr. King’s most famous friends and confidants, including Harry Belafonte, the actor and singer, and Andrew Young, the former United States ambassador to the United Nations and mayor of Atlanta.

For all the good will the King name brings, many here are exasperated.

“It is hard to fathom how the important legacy that the competing parties claim to be seeking to protect will be well served by yet another very public airing of the disputes and squabbles that have sadly divided the King family in recent years,” Judge Robert McBurney of Fulton County Superior Court wrote in an order attached to one of the recent suits.

In a hearing Tuesday morning, Judge McBurney could rule on whether the annotated Bible and Nobel medal belong to the Estate of Martin Luther King Jr. Inc. In January, two of the three directors — the brothers Dexter King and Martin Luther King III — voted to sell the items. Their sister, Bernice King, the third director, opposed.

Judge McBurney could also delay a ruling or send the case to trial. A tentative trial date is Feb. 16.

The second lawsuit was filed by the Dr. King estate against the Martin Luther King Jr. Center for Nonviolent Social Change on Aug. 28, 2013, the 50th anniversary of his “I Have a Dream” speech. The King Center, a nonprofit, is one of the historic and commemorative buildings dedicated to Dr. King that are among Atlanta’s top tourist draws. Ms. King is its chief executive officer.

In the complaint, lawyers for the estate claim that it had been the single largest financial contributor to the King Center over the past decade, but that the two entities had recently suffered “a total breakdown in communication and transparency.” The lawyers also claimed that some of Dr. King’s personal effects were being stored in an “unacceptable” way by the center.

The lawyers also said that the estate would agree not to end an intellectual property licensing agreement with the King Center if the center made a number of changes, including placing Ms. King on administrative leave and removing Mr. Young from its board.

Mr. Young, the complaint said, had breached his fiduciary duty “by willfully infringing upon Plaintiff’s intellectual property in commercial ventures and disregarding Defendant’s policies.”

Mr. Young, whose website counts him as a current King Center board member, did not return calls for comment Monday. Nor did lawyers for Ms. King, the King Center or the estate.

Supporters of the family over the years have noted that Dr. King copyrighted his work, and meant it to retain value and offer sustenance for his family. His survivors have reportedly sought payment from CNN for the right to broadcast the “I Have a Dream” speech. In 2006, the family sold a trove of Dr. King’s documents for $32 million after a group of civic and business leaders, led by Atlanta’s then-mayor, Shirley Franklin, raised the money amid concerns that they would be auctioned off.

They are now housed at Dr. King’s alma mater, Morehouse College.

But other ownership matters have been hashed out in court. Coretta Scott King unsuccessfully sued Boston University in 1986 in an effort to regain control of 83,000 documents her husband left to the school. In 2011, the King children unsuccessfully sued to prevent Dr. King’s former secretary from selling about 100 documents in her possession.

In 2013, Mr. Belafonte, a close friend of Dr. King’s, sued the three surviving children in federal court after he tried to sell documents that they claimed had been taken without permission.

A number of lawsuits among the King siblings arose after their mother’s death in 2006. But by 2010, they appeared to have reconciled; Ms. King said that she was “proud that my brothers and I are speaking with one voice to communicate our parents’ legacy to the world.”

Their father might have been proud, too. In a speech to striking Memphis sanitation workers in 1968, he invoked the Old Testament and Pharaoh’s divide-and-conquer tactics among his subjects. “Now let us maintain unity,” he said.

In the case of his children, it would not last.

Alan Blinder contributed reporting.

12391: Altruism Or Adtruism?

Adweek published a perspective by Digital Brand Consultant Steve Hicks on altruism as a marketing technique and creative idea. Um, somebody tell Hicks that the advertising industry takes the truism out of altruism. The overwhelming majority of agencies pursue faux altruistic efforts for self-serving motives including wooing millennials or winning awards. Plus, the average advertiser allocates marketing dollars for faux altruistic projects to display its corporate soul to the public—usually in promotional, pathetic and patronizing fashion.

Altruism must be rooted in being of service to others, and placing others’ welfare ahead of your own. It takes a spiritual commitment and honestly believing in a greater good. Unfortunately, advertising agencies are in the service business—and service to self, clients and holding companies trumps service to our fellow man and woman. Advertisers are also in the service business—and service to CFOs and shareholders trumps service to our fellow man and woman. Hell, altruism shouldn’t even appear in the same sentence with advertising agencies or advertisers. What agencies and clients practice should be called something else—like adtruism.

Truly Altruistic Ads Don’t Just Raise Money, They Enrich the Culture

Stop do-gooding, start doing good

By Steve Hicks

In the good ol’ days before pesky digital came along, making content was a problem for the TV networks. Now, with social media and YouTube dominating our attention spans, it’s also a challenge that marketers and agencies must face daily.

And there’s one idea in this new reality that’s already becoming its own cliché: altruism.

I’m not talking about actual giving or good deeds. If you want to work in a soup kitchen or make a donation to charity or pour ice water on yourself, then you unquestionably should. I’m talking about do-gooding and altruism as a marketing technique and as a creative idea.

It’s a blight that particularly plagues digital, partly because digital embraces so many careers and disciplines that don’t involve the perceived cloven-hoofed immorality of (big A) Advertising—and also because the process of digital ideation thrives on user benefit. One way or another, I guarantee that “doing something for charity” will crop up in pretty much every brainstorm session you’ll ever have for digital content.

I’ll always support anything that helps move funds from the offshore accounts of giant corporations into the pockets of the needy. That’s not the issue. The issue is that it’s a creative cop-out—lacking the imagination to generate a powerful emotion, and we fill the void with pity for the unfortunate.

The problem is not with the intention. The problem occurs because for marketers, the giving is in the wrong currency.

Marketing is not investing. We are not a bank. Marketing is the business of generating and spreading thoughts, ideas, images and words. Not bullion. From ads to websites to vines to tweets, we make cultural artifacts. The river that marketing swims in isn’t made of cash; it’s made of culture.

We all want to give back and be altruistic. And we all want to make work that’s famous, has a usage for our audiences and wins awards.

The wonderful thing is, if you treat culture like it is a bank, then you’ll be many steps closer to achieving all those goals.

From VW’s Darth Vader to Oreo’s Facebook posts, great, famous and effective work has a single commonality: They all made investments into our shared cultural bank. They gave us something to talk about, share and enjoy.

It’s not something you can do all the time. By necessity a lot of marketing has to make cultural withdrawals, be it borrowing equity from celebrity or from third-party content.

Your agency’s mission might be to win awards or be famous or serve consumers or maybe just do something that your mom has actually heard of. These are not objectives but rather side effects of what happens when your work makes cultural investments.

So, why not make 2015 the year to up the proportion of your cultural deposits? Simply make it part of your process to ask, “Does this idea enrich or deplete culture?”

To help you on your way, here are four tips that can springboard culturally valuable content ideas.

1. Short-handing and naming

Take a nebulous thing/action/insight that takes a lot of words to express and give it a name. The shorter the better. “Wassup,” “Priceless,” “Boom Chicka Wah Wah” give us the ability to express complex ideas in brief.

2. Is it replicable?

Can your idea be used in common conversation not related to your product? Does it allow for a joke? “I don’t always eat moldy cheese, but when I do…”

3. Novelty

We don’t say, “An interactive film experience that cleverly uses real user content.” Instead we say, “Something like Museum of Me.” We don’t say, “Provocative, sexy and challenger-brand like.” We say, “Like Axe.” If you have a hard time giving your executional technique a name, then you are probably creating something new and culturally valuable.

4. Reflect a truth

Does your communication hold up a mirror to the world and show it a truth? “Think Different” and “Think Small” share more than a verb. They succinctly articulate truths that before we saw them we didn’t realize we believed.

If you have an idea that distributes some wealth—do it. Unquestionably. But if you have an idea that might get famous, win an award or become colloquial—do that too. Shamelessly. Just because it benefits your business doesn’t mean it won’t benefit us all, and our industry will be able to look back at 2015 and feel proud that it made our culture, and hence our world, a wealthier place.

Steve Hicks (@TwitH1x) is a digital brand consultant and was the creative co-founder of mcgarrybowen’s digital practice.

12390: Y&R&Gender&Equality.

Oh, look! Adweek reported Y&R New York tapped a White woman—Leslie Sims—to serve as the agency’s Chief Creative Officer. Wonder if Kat Gordon or Cindy Gallop will take credit for the hire.

Young & Rubicam Gets a New Creative Chief in New York

Agencies see leadership churn in the new year

By Andrew McMains

Agency leadership is churning this month, and Young & Rubicam is no exception. Today it named McCann Erickson’s Leslie Sims to succeed Jim Elliott as chief creative officer in New York.

Elliott had led the creative department since June 2011. Before that, he was a group creative director at Goodby, Silverstein & Partners in San Francisco. He’s leaving Y&R to become global CCO at Arnold.

Sims has spent 17 years at McCann in New York, lastly as an ecd working on the U.S. Postal Service and General Mills brands like Nature Valley. McCann employs a half-dozen ecd’s in New York, where Sims worked her way up from copywriter, creative director and group creative director. The co-creative chiefs there are Sean Bryan and Tom Murphy.

Y&R represents Sims’ first chance to run a department. The WPP Group shop has nearly 150 creative staffers in New York, where the top accounts include Xerox, Dell and Campbell’s.

Office president Jim Radosevic sought a new creative leader because he has ambitious goals for the agency. “It was, how do we put the pieces together to make Y&R New York as successful as it can be and, frankly, as it should be?” said Radosevic. “There was nothing broken but (the agency) had all this potential that we just hadn’t really captured yet. We really hadn’t realized the potential of this place.”

Radosevic is new to his role as well, having advanced internally from global creative director in May. Rounding out the leadership team is chief strategy officer Dick de Lange, who joined (from R/GA) in September. Sims is expected to start late next month.

12389: Tiffany Engages LGBT.

From The New York Daily News…

Tiffany features gay couple in engagement ad for the first time

The upscale jewelry retailer’s new ‘Will You’ marketing campaign includes a real-life same-sex couple — a first for the company.

By Victoria Taylor

A new engagement-themed Tiffany & Co. campaign has people buzzing.

For the first time, the luxury jewelry retailer is featuring a gay couple in one of its ads.

The photogenic grooms-to-be, who are a real couple living in New York, were shot by photographer Peter Lindbergh.

The company’s “Will You” marketing campaign includes black-and-white images of six other pairs who will one day tie the knot.

Tiffany Vice President of Northern America PR Linda Buckley said the ads reflect “a modern approach to love and romance.”

“Nowadays, the road to marriage is no longer linear and true love can happen more than once with love stories coming in a variety of forms,” she said in a statement to the Daily News. “The Tiffany engagement ring is the first sentence of the story that a couple will write together as they create a life that is deeply intimate and exceptional, which is the message we hope to convey through this campaign.”

12388: Diversity Prediction For 2015.

Campaign published The year ahead for creativity by J. Walter Thompson London Executive Creative Director Russell Ramsey. First of all, allowing a JWT wonk to pontificate on creativity is like asking Publicis Groupe Chairman-CEO Maurice Lévy to explain how “this digital thing” will transform the industry. Ramsey typed nearly 1,400 words, yet communicated little of value or interest. He did manage to use the word “diversity” once—however, he was only referring to the diversity of skills needed at agencies to achieve greater communications integration.

Based on Ramsey’s ramblings, it’s easy to make one guaranteed-to-happen prediction: In 2015, diversity in the advertising industry—especially for UK and US agencies—shall continue to be a dream deferred and denied. This will be true even at JWT, which feigns displays a strong commitment to Equal Employment Opportunity. Hey, foreseeing the future for trade journal fluff trumps diversity.

BTW, Campaign provided a follow-up piece that asked “top creatives” for responses to Ramsey’s prophecies—and of course, they polled a White man and White woman.

12387: Misleading MediabistroEDU.

Why do all MediabistroEDU alumni look like royalty-free stock photo chicks? And shouldn’t these ads carry “Career results may vary” and “Model depicted is not an actual MediabistroEDU Alumni” legal disclaimers?

12386: Mad Men Don’t Change.

Adweek reported the final seven installments of AMC series Mad Men will begin airing April 5, playing off the theme: “People do change, but in a lot of ways, they don’t, unfortunately.” Additionally, Creator Matthew Weiner said the last episodes refocus on the six core characters. In other words, don’t expect to see much from Dawn Chambers, which is actually in keeping with the theme on a couple of levels.

First, Mad Men is staying true to modern-day Madison Avenue in that minorities remain invisible servants. Plus, Black representation is declining in the TV program and the real world.

Second, Weiner is not changing, unfortunately, in his cultural cluelessness. His inability to figure out how to integrate non-Whites into his story is painfully obvious. Hell, reflecting the nepotism so prevalent in the advertising industry, expect Weiner’s son to receive more screen time than Don Draper’s secretary.

12385: Plastic Propaganda.

CapitalOne says, “It Won’t Hurt To Look.” Um, yes it will.

Hey, join the thousands of people a day being pre-qualified for a credit card offer. Or better yet, join the masses who are staying away from double-digit interest and crushing debt.

12384: Smartest White People At CES…?

Adweek presented content titled, “6 Marketing Experts Tell You What You Need to Know About CES 2015—A chat with the smartest people in the room.” Not surprisingly, none of the six “smartest people in the room” were executives from traditional advertising agencies. Plus, Adweek’s interviewees seem to indicate that White people—especially White women—are well represented in the digital arena.

12383: McSigns Of Desperation.

Advertising Age reported on the next commercial in Mickey D’s desperate attempts to resuscitate itself. The spot features McDonald’s signs displaying patriotic, prayer-filled, patronizing and pathetic messages. It’s hardly the first time the Golden Arches have served as a backdrop for asinine advertising purposes.

In fact, the World Wide Web is filled with real and fake Mickey D’s signs that are more interesting than the bullshit via Leo Burnett.

12382: LOL—Lying LaNeve Leaves.

Advertising Age reported Team Detroit COO Mark LaNeve is returning to the client side as the new head of U.S. sales, marketing and service at Ford. So much for being a team player. Then again, a bailout is to be expected when adding a fucking liar to the fold. Pity the Team Detroit staffers who must now bow to LaNeve as the client. Hell, someone should have put a clause in the man’s contract to prevent such a move, especially given that LaNeve landed the Team Detroit role by directly applying to his Ford friends. Advertising executives, car salespeople and insurance salespeople are consistently listed among the least honest and ethical professions, which totally explains why LaNeve—whose career includes stints with Volvo, General Motors, Allstate, Team Detroit and Ford—is a world-class scoundrel.

LaNeve Lands at Ford as Head of U.S. Marketing, Sales and Service

Team Detroit’s COO Jumps to the Client

By Nick Bunkley

Mark LaNeve, a former top sales executive at General Motors, will take over as Ford Motor Co.’s new head of U.S. sales, marketing and service as of Feb. 1.

Mr. LaNeve left GM in the months after its 2009 bankruptcy and spent nearly three years as a top executive with the insurance giant Allstate Corp. before joining Ford’s advertising agency, Global Team Ford, in August 2012 as chief operating officer. At Allstate, he helped create the well-known “Mayhem” advertising campaign.

Mr. LaNeve, 55, replaces John Felice, who was the company’s U.S. sales chief for only 15 months. Ford said Mr. Felice, 53, “has elected to retire” after a 30-year career at the automaker.

His appointment comes a week after Stephen Odell started as Ford’s global sales, service and marketing chief, swapping jobs with Jim Farley, who now runs Ford of Europe.

“With nearly three decades of proven experience to draw upon,” Mr. Odell said in a statement, “Mark brings the right skills to continue building the Ford brand while creating a stronger retail experience for our customers, making it even easier for them to interact with their dealer and with Ford—and helping us profitably grow.”

Mr. Felice’s departure follows a year in which Ford’s U.S. market share dropped a full point to 14.9%, the lowest level since 2008. Ford sales fell 0.6% in 2014—a drop it blamed largely on the changeover to the newest version of its F-150 pickup—vs. a 7% gain for the rest of the industry.

Ford said Mr. LaNeve will oversee all marketing, sales, service and dealer relations in the U.S., focusing on “innovative new digital communications and transforming the retail experience for customers.”

Mr. LaNeve will report jointly to Mr. Odell and Joe Hinrichs, Ford’s president of the Americas.

Earlier in his career, Mr. LaNeve was CEO of Volvo Cars of North America from 1999 to 2001, when Ford owned it. He was chief marketing officer there from 1997 to 1999.

GM’s sales and market share declined significantly during Mr. LaNeve’s five-year tenure as its North American sales and marketing chief, though that slide began long before his arrival. He worked closely with sales analyst Paul Ballew, whom Ford hired in December as its chief data and analytics officer.

Mr. Felice joined Ford in April 1984. Among his previous roles at the company were head of Ford and Lincoln sales, head of Ford and Lincoln marketing, and president of Ford Thailand. He was general sales manager of Ford and Lincoln prior to becoming U.S. sales chief.

“John has had a long and successful career as a key leader serving us around the world for more than 30 years,” Hinrichs said in a statement.

“Among his many contributions, John led the Ford brand revitalization in the U.S., resulting in an unprecedented improvement in customer favorability, and was a strong advocate for our dealers, ensuring their participation in our business planning process and further strengthening our relationship with them. We thank John for his many years of service and wish him all the best going forward.”

—Nick Bunkley is a reporter for Automotive News

12381: Cancer & Collusion.

Adweek reported the American Cancer Society handed its account to DDB Chicago following a review. According to Adweek, a previous relationship between American Cancer Society SVP of Marketing Daniela Campari and DDB facilitated the decision to award billings to the Chicago-based shop. Campari once worked for Wrigley, a DDB client. Of course, DDB ultimately won the account fair and square, with Campari gushing she was “particularly impressed with how personally attached DDB Chicago was to the society’s mission throughout the process.” For the pitch, DDB trotted out staffers who had survived cancer or knew people in treatment. DDB CEO Paul Gunning said, “This was a higher calling.” Right. It also probably involved calls from higher-ups in the Omnicom network to take advantage of the Campari relationship and maximize the Corporate Cultural Collusion.

American Cancer Society Exec Hires a Shop She Worked With at Wrigley

DDB succeeds The Martin Agency

By Andrew McMains

The Chicago office of DDB has leveraged a past connection with the American Cancer Society’s new marketing chief to land the organization’s creative account, which is backed by nearly $30 million in annual media spending.

Daniela Campari, svp of marketing at the American Cancer Society since July 2014, previously was head of marketing in the U.K. and Ireland for Wrigley, a global client of DDB’s. Campari’s familiarity with the agency put DDB on her consideration list initially, and the shop subsequently beat a handful of other contenders to win the business.

As lead creative agency, DDB succeeds The Martin Agency, which did not participate in the review. Martin had worked on the account since 2008.

In a statement, Campari said she was “particularly impressed with how personally attached DDB Chicago was to the society’s mission throughout the process.” In fact, DDB staffers who had survived cancer or knew others in treatment were among those who contributed insights to the pitch effort. As Chicago DDB CEO Paul Gunning put it, “This was a higher calling.”

The new agency’s first work is expected in the first half of the year. Next month, meanwhile, the shop will break its first ads for Kohler, a brand that Chicago added in October. Kohler spends about $35 million in media annually.

12380: Drunk & Dangerous Driving.

This drunk-driving campaign from Uganda is not very subtle; plus, it seems like driving while intoxicated may be the least of one’s worries when navigating Ugandan roadways.

From Ads of the World.

12379: Google To Tell The Truth.

Advertising Age reported Google—in a demonstration of greater transparency—will start telling advertisers when their video ads are actually being viewed. Yes, but will Google tell advertisers when their video ads are actually worth being viewed? Add some truthfulness to the transparency already.

Google to Tell Brands When Their Video Ads Are Actually Seen

Search Giant Will Report Viewability for Some YouTube Ads Later This Year

By Tim Peterson

Google is getting more transparent with advertisers about whether consumers are actually watching their online video ads.

Google will start telling advertisers and publishers to what extent their digital video ads are being seen, the company announced on Tuesday. Specifically the search giant, which also owns YouTube, will say what percentage of an advertiser’s or publisher’s video ads were at least 50% in view and for at least two seconds in keeping with the Media Ratings Council’s standard.

This viewability reporting will be available to any campaigns served through Google’s DoubleClick ad-technology system, including its ad exchange, but advertisers and publishers will need to use Google’s DoubleClick reporting tools to view the stats.

Video is at the foundation of Google’s efforts to move brand advertisers’ budgets from traditional media like TV to digital channels. And at the foundation of digital is viewability—or at least Google wants to put viewability at the foundation.

Right now online advertising’s foundational metric is whether an ad was served. From there advertisers can see if people saw the ad, clicked on it, watched it, etc.

“Viewability is really table stakes,” said Neal Mohan, VP-video and display advertising at Google.

With display banner ads, Google has already allowed advertisers to pay only for those that are viewed. Asked if it plans to do the same with pre-roll and mid-roll video ads, Mr. Mohan deflected and said that Google plans to roll out more viewability solutions throughout the rest of this year.

As part of that 2015 viewable video ads roll-out, Google plans to extend its viewability reporting to YouTube ads bought on a reserved basis or through its NewFronts package called Google Preferred, which compiled the top 5% of YouTube channels into 14 packages for advertisers to buy.

Later this year Google also expects to start telling advertisers the average amount of time that an ad was viewable on YouTube and whether people are listening to the ad or whether it’s muted or playing in a background tab.

Google also offered a peek at how it’s private video ad exchange business Google Partner Select is doing. Seven months ago, Google announced the program that automates the sale of online video ads through private auctions. Through Partner Select, advertisers can bid on a single publisher’s video inventory and buy ads against full episodes, live sports and news streams and short clips in real time that aren’t available for purchase anywhere else.

Google has added more than 30 TV networks and premium publishers and over 20 advertisers to sell and buy online video ads through its Partner Select program. Companies selling ads through Partner Select include Fox News, Discovery Channel, Animal Planet, Food Network, Hearst Television, Rolling Stone, Us Weekly and Men’s Fitness. And advertisers buying that private inventory include BMW and Allstate.

Mr. Mohan declined to say how many campaigns have run through Partner Select or what percentage of the average participating publisher’s digital video inventory is sold through the Google-run private exchanges.

In keeping with the viewability theme of Google’s Tuesday news, Google claimed that people on average watch in full 74% of the video ads that are sold through Partner Select.

12378: How Digital Impacts Ad Creativity.

Marketing Magazine published a perspective by fashion and textile designer Zandra Rhodes, where the author/artist questioned the ways that digital has adversely impacted creativity. The following excerpt warrants consideration and conversation:

Fashion is ever-changing. Ideas come from all different directions. But in the world of printed textiles, the computer age has transformed the speed both of creating the design and bringing the textile to its printed form.

Development time may have been halved, but the new digital designs are more obvious and they lack repeat ingenuity. As a result, students entering the world of textiles today, in my opinion, still have much to learn in the field of printed textiles.

I think the computer and the digital revolution has damaged creativity and drawing in textiles. It is too easy to lift photographs. It is too easy to mirror images to create repeats.

As a result, motifs today are merely repetitive. It is impossible to foresee in which direction creativity will head because the whole world is in a state of flux.

Gee, replace “fashion” and “textiles” with “advertising” and the statements still hold true. Indeed, regarding the advertising industry, digital has actually adversely impacted creativity on at least two fronts.

First, traditional advertising agencies have accelerated the creative process, abandoning craft for quicker delivery. Coupled with the commoditization of the industry fueled by holding companies—which in turn leads to a sea of generic shops—there is little difference between the offerings of A-level agencies and C-level agencies. Hell, traditional advertising agencies are even losing competitions against media agencies and below-the-line enterprises.

Second, digital agencies have entered the fray. What these firms lack in creativity—and they really lack creativity—they make up for with speed and digital savvy. In a standard pitch, the slower and digitally dumb traditional advertising agencies are now on par with digital agencies. Or more accurately, the work generated by traditional ad shops and digital shops is often equally mediocre.

Rhodes wrapped up by saying, “One thing is certain, the youth of the future will have new ideas of beauty that will not be the same as ours.” For the advertising industry, the new ideas of beauty will actually be measured in lowered expectations and satisfaction with uninspired shit.

Digital revolution has damaged creativity, says Zandra Rhodes

By Zandra Rhodes

Zandra Rhodes, the pioneering fashion and textile designer, believes computers and the digital revolution has “damaged creativity”, and uses other methods to find inspiration and stay at the cutting edge.

I am inspired by what I see around me, especially when I am lucky enough to travel and escape my regular environment. I find my daily surroundings, with the humdrum of everyday tasks, can hold me back and divert me away from design.

But when I travel and nobody can get hold of me, I feel I am free to allow my mind to wander and follow new paths.

With a high-profile career it is particularly important to find a means to hide away and be creative, to be in a space where my mind can be calm and unbothered, away from pressure.

I love to stroll around museums, pausing to draw in my sketchbook. When accompanied by my close friend, the artist and sculptor Andrew Logan, we stop together and he paints his watercolours as I sketch. To me, the things I see and capture in my sketchbook have a deeper meaning than a simple photo.

I then take photographs of my sketches, blow them up and put them on the walls in my studio. I live with them, and I find the creative inspiration hidden in them gradually comes out.

To me, it is very difficult to develop a creative idea. It takes time and it takes hiding away.

I experiment with shapes, making toiles to see how a new, unfinished textile print will perform and whether it will be effective.

My experience in set design and costume for the opera has widened my vision and enabled me to see clearly how a print can create a dramatic statement, with little alteration. Through time, it isn’t creativity that changes and shifts, but the way things are looked at.

Evolution of trends

Fashion is ever-changing. Ideas come from all different directions. But in the world of printed textiles, the computer age has transformed the speed both of creating the design and bringing the textile to its printed form.

Development time may have been halved, but the new digital designs are more obvious and they lack repeat ingenuity. As a result, students entering the world of textiles today, in my opinion, still have much to learn in the field of printed textiles.

I think the computer and the digital revolution has damaged creativity and drawing in textiles. It is too easy to lift photographs. It is too easy to mirror images to create repeats.

As a result, motifs today are merely repetitive. It is impossible to foresee in which direction creativity will head because the whole world is in a state of flux.

The language of creativity

Will hand-drawing disappear? Will it be more valued? Will these skills continue into the future or will they become a rare art form? Computers mean that there are now two languages. The one we create with our hands, and language that evolves from the computer.

Technology produces a different kind of art, and fashion drawings will become two different things — from those who can draw and those who create strange, computerised images.

Creativity will evolve on two levels — artistic and “space age”. In the US, the language we create with our hands is already being heavily eroded as computers become a way of life.

Students do not have the same co-ordination between the hand and brain. So in the future, it will be a different kind of art.

My revolution initially was in large printed textiles being and forming the finished shape of the whole garment.

But in future, creative influences will come from the East — from China and the areas that surround her, just as when Japan opened up in the early 70s, inspiring the Issey Miyake shape and pleating revolution.

One thing is certain, the youth of the future will have new ideas of beauty that will not be the same as ours.

12377: Late-Night Star Talk Show.

From Adweek…

Neil deGrasse Tyson Is About to Get Yet Another Job Title: Late-Night TV Host

Astrophysicist’s Star Talk podcast expands into National Geographic show

By Jason Lynch

The National Geographic Channel is boldly going where it’s never gone before: into late-night TV.

Author, astrophysicist, Cosmos host and Cannes presenter Dr. Neil deGrasse Tyson will host Star Talk, the network’s first late-night series, debuting in April.

Based on Tyson’s popular podcast and radio show, Star Talk “will bridge the intersection between pop culture and science as it brings together celebrities, comedians and scientists to discuss the latest developments in our vast universe,” said Courteney Monroe, CEO of National Geographic Channels.

The new program, announced at the Television Critics Association winter press tour, adds to Tyson’s lengthy list of TV credentials, including PBS’ Nova, Fox’s hit revival of Carl Sagan’s Cosmos, a six-part lecture series available on Netflix called The Impossible Universe and many appearances on popular talk shows like The Daily Show.

Star Talk will be less like his intricately edited and computer-enhanced work on Nova and Cosmos, instead capturing more of the conversational tone from his chats with Jon Stewart and Stephen Colbert.

“It’s a very different way of bringing science to the public,” said Tyson, who will host the series from the site of his day job: the American Museum of Natural History’s Hayden Planetarium in New York. “Are people ready for it? We don’t know, but we have enough things going for it that I think it’s surely worthy of this foray.”

National Geographic Channel also announced it will be “returning to our roots” by resurrecting Explorer, the longest-running documentary series in U.S. history (totaling 25 years and more than 2,000 films), this summer.

12376: Examining Charlie Hebdo.

The New York Times reported on the Charlie Hebdo terrorist incident. A provocative quote from the story reads:

“The French like their satire,” said Jean-Marie Charon, a sociologist who studies the news media. “The idea is to be irreverent, that irony and criticism are good things. But it is true that this is perhaps not part of everybody’s culture.”

Proud to Offend, Charlie Hebdo Carries Torch of Political Provocation

By Doreen Carvajal and Suzanne Daley

PARIS — In 2012, when Charlie Hebdo editors defied the government’s advice and published crude caricatures of the Prophet Muhammad naked and in sexual poses, the French authorities shut down embassies, cultural centers and schools in about 20 countries.

“Is it really sensible or intelligent to pour oil on the fire?” asked Laurent Fabius, the foreign minister at the time.

But Charlie Hebdo’s editor, Stéphane Charbonnier, who died in the attack on the paper’s offices Wednesday, was not deterred.

Week after week, the small, struggling paper amused and horrified, taking pride in offending one and all and carrying on a venerable European tradition dating to the days of the French Revolution, when satire was used to pillory Marie Antoinette, and later to challenge politicians, the police, bankers and religions of all kinds.

This week’s issue was no exception. It featured a mock debate about whether Jesus exists and a black-and-white New Year’s greeting card from the leader of the Islamic State, Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, with the caption, “To your health.”

No subject was off limits. The paper offered pages of colorful cartoons depicting France’s top politicians and intellectuals as wine-swilling slackers indulging in sexual acts, or suggesting the pope was stepping aside to be with his girlfriend.

It is a brand of humor the French and other Europeans are attached to, but it has prompted fury among both Muslim extremists and less radical Muslims who see the denigration of their religion as provocation, not food for thought.

“The French like their satire,” said Jean-Marie Charon, a sociologist who studies the news media. “The idea is to be irreverent, that irony and criticism are good things. But it is true that this is perhaps not part of everybody’s culture.”

In recent years, the editors and cartoonists at Charlie Hebdo had weathered a firebombing, computer hacking and death threats. Mr. Charbonnier was included on a list published by Al Qaeda’s magazine, Inspire, of those “most wanted” for crimes against Islam. But Charlie Hebdo’s staff continued to take on Islam with the same irreverence as it did other religions, a stand that gave it stature among French journalists.

In 2006, for instance, the paper republished the controversial cartoon caricatures of a weeping Prophet Muhammad that had appeared first in a Danish newspaper.

“Charlie Hebdo has always kept its insolence, and since the caricatures crisis, it has become a symbol of press independence,” said Bruno Patino, director of the journalism school at the Institut d'Études Politiques de Paris, known as Sciences Po. “The debate about caricatures overlapped others in France about freedom of speech and religion. It became the most visible.”

The newspaper was born in controversy in 1970, after a publication called Hara-Kiri was banned for mocking the death of former President Charles de Gaulle. That prompted its journalists to set up a new paper, Charlie Hebdo, named for its reprint of Charlie Brown cartoons from the United States and a French shorthand for weekly publication.

According to some reports in the French news media, the attackers knew the names of their victims. Among the dead were Mr. Charbonnier, editor since 2009, and the veteran artists Jean Cabut, 76, and Georges Wolinski, 80, who had been involved with the publication since its inception.

While the paper first drew the anger of Muslims by reprinting the Danish cartoons from the newspaper Jyllands-Posten, it went further in 2011, when it temporarily renamed its weekly “Charia Hebdo,” a play on Shariah, Islamic law, and appointed the Prophet Muhammad as its “editor in chief.”

In 2012, the French authorities increased the police presence outside the Charlie Hebdo office out of concern about another attack. At the time, one of its journalists, Laurent Léger, said that “in France, we always have the right to write and draw.”

He continued: “And if some people are not happy with this, they can sue us, and we can defend ourselves. That’s democracy. You don’t throw bombs, you discuss, you debate. But you don’t act violently. We have to stand and resist pressure from extremism.”

Mr. Charon said the paper was often sued, including 14 times in recent years by the Roman Catholic Church. The New York Times has chosen not to reprint examples of the magazine’s most controversial work because of its intentionally offensive content.

Mr. Charbonnier, like the other Charlie Hebdo journalists, published under his pen name, Charb. His last published cartoon appeared in Wednesday’s issue, a haunting image of an armed and cross-eyed militant with the words, “Still no attacks in France,” and the retort: “Wait! We have until the end of January to offer our wishes.”

Since 2012, Mr. Charbonnier had a police bodyguard, who also died in the attack. “The threats were constant,” the publication’s lawyer, Richard Malka, said. “It’s frightening.”

But Charlie Hebdo thrived on breaking taboos. In the past, Mr. Charbonnier vowed that his cartoonists would keep poking fun “until Islam is just as banal as Catholicism,” but in the process it struggled not only with death threats, but also with its own financial survival.

Its circulation is about 30,000, and like other frail journals in the French newspaper industry, it has turned to its own form of crowdfunding, publishing a coupon on Wednesday for readers to fill out and mail in with checks.

Its chief rival is Le Canard Enchaîné, founded in 1915, which specializes in scoops and leaked secrets, whereas Charlie Hebdo is known for its cruder and more vicious wit. On Wednesday, an editor at Le Canard Enchaîné declined to speak about the shooting. Journalists there were instructed during an emotional afternoon meeting not to discuss the attack.

“It’s too early and too difficult to talk about this right now,” said a journalist there who knew some of the victims at Charlie Hebdo.

Radio France, Le Monde and France Télévisions issued statements late in the day saying they intended to offer staffing and other support to help Charlie Hebdo “live on.”

Doreen Carvajal reported from Paris, and Suzanne Daley from New York.

12375: Howdy, Partner Awards.

The 4A’s Partner Awards launched with the lame advertisement above, produced by Crispin Porter + Bogusky. The agency likely “won” the assignment because CP+B Chairman Chuck Porter is the Jury Chair for the awards program. It’s always curious how advertisements for awards shows are so unworthy of award-winning status. Regardless, here’s the explanation for the Partner Awards:

The 4A’s Partner Awards will recognize and honor great partnerships that elevate creativity to new levels. We realize there are unique challenges that occur when individuals and companies with different personalities and cultures collaborate to achieve a common goal on behalf of a client. We want to salute those that put their egos aside for the greater good of properly servicing the client and creating meaningful work.

Okey-doke. There are lots of things to hate and question about the Partner Awards.

First and foremost, does the industry really need another awards show? Sorry, but awards continue to be nothing more than exclusive and political cheerleading events that really don’t honor anything besides the overinflated egos of the participants. Plus, awards shows are mostly concerned with generating revenue for the organizers—and based on the eligibility and fees, the Partner Awards are no exception. Hell, the entry requirement of a video submission demands that contestants expend serious time, resources and money just for the chance to play.

Second, the jury lacks diversity. This is not surprising, as Porter is a culturally clueless cretin running an ignorant White advertising agency. However, given the 4A’s alleged commitment to diversity—as well as the trade association’s awareness surrounding exclusivity in awards shows—it is disappointing to see the predominate Whiteness of the jurors.

The previous point leads to the third gripe, which involves determining who is truly qualified to be considered for—let alone win—a Partner Award. Sorry, but collaborations and partnerships in the advertising industry have always been suspect. Minorities and non-White advertising agencies are especially familiar with the issues, inequities and insults tied to teaming up with other firms, even when the allies are sisters and brothers harmoniously coexisting within a holding company. By golly, any enterprise defined as “below-the-line”—regardless of race, ethnicity, gender, lifestyle, etc.—knows that second-class citizenship is a common position in professional unions.

From multicultural to cross-cultural to U.S. Census to U.S. Army to Commonwealth to Cavalry to Team Sprint to Total Toyota to Royal Order to Nissan United to frenemies, the examples of buddy bullshit abound. Plus, imagine the potential presented by Razorfish Global, Publicis.Sapient and the Saatchi & Saatchi Clusterfuck. Oh, if only Publicis Omnicom Groupe hadn’t experienced imploding impotence before consummation. And is it ironic or moronic that Google Global Head of Agency Sales & Services Torrence Boone is serving as a technology juror for the Partner Awards, having once been the Global CEO of Enfatico, perhaps the most infamous confederacy of dunces in modern times?

As long as White advertising agencies exist—demanding to be dominant dictators—anyone accepting a Partner Award should have an asterisk attached to his or her name.

12374: IoT And IDIoT.

Adweek videotaped Omnicom Media Group CEO Daryl Simm gushing about all the potential opportunities posed by the Internet of Things. This really shows why executives for advertising and media agencies are digital dummies. That is, they primarily view digital technologies as potential media vehicles, wondering how to wedge a lame banner or mediocre video into the experience. Hell, the majority of advertising and media wonks probably think IoT is another acronym à la LOL or TTFN. In Simm’s case, IoT leads to IDIoT—and CES essentially stands for Client Entertainment & Schmoozing, as evidenced by Omnicom Media Group’s soirée at Hyde Bellagio. Simm likely used his various devices to connect clients with Vegas hookers. That’s how Madison Avenue maximizes the Internet of Things.

Why This Agency Chief Is Stoked About the ‘Internet of Things’

It’s all about connection for Omnicom’s Daryl Simm

By Michael Bürgi

Omnicom Media Group held a party for its clients and bigwigs at Hyde Bellagio to kick off this year’s Consumer Electronics Show. Adweek caught up with host Daryl Simm, chairman and CEO, who firmly believes the Internet of Things—and the connections it enables that were unheard of just a few years ago—holds huge potential for his clients, even if it still needs to mature some more. Simm also drew a parallel to CES itself, which has become a powerful connector of people at the beginning of the year.