Agency Brief: The pawned-it-off-on-the-intern edition – Info Advertisement

It was one of those weeks. For the first time in my career, a coworker with nothing but the best intentions eyed me on a quintuple-deadline day and asked (hopefully half-kidding) “Did you… sleep here?”

Needless to say, I needed help with today’s Brief. I called in our intern, Megan Mowery, who graciously agreed to do my job for me. Thanks, other Megan! Here she is:

Hey! I’m Intern Megan (otherwise known affectionately around the office as Rising Megan, don’t ask me why) and I’m just finishing up my summer at Ad Age. Prior to my time here I hadn’t thought, let alone known, much about the advertising industry—ads were just those things I paid Spotify to get rid of. Naturally it’s been a huge learning experience, but a great one. So to kick off this Agency Brief, here’s a list of the top four things I learned about advertising this summer.

1. Creativity means, uh, not what I thought it did. I learned, to my surprise, that creativity is an actual segment of the advertising world. Related: a “creative” is a real job, not just a condescending adjective that math and business majors throw at English majors.

2. My (admittedly uneducated) preconceived notion about advertising was that there’s something inherently sleazy about it—the whole goal is to sell people things they mostly don’t need, right? But especially through my work on our Small Agency Awards, I found that lots of agencies are promoting healthier work environments, and many do work for important causes like the National Alliance on Mental Illness and the Nature Conservancy. It’s not all bad!

3. I need to watch “Mad Men.” I know—gasp. The last time I was deciding between dramas to binge, I chose “West Wing” over “Mad Men.” (In my defense, I’m a poli sci major and didn’t yet know I’d be placed at Ad Age!) Knowing what I know now (McCann Erickson is A REAL AGENCY), I need to actually immerse myself in the world of Don Draper and Sterling Cooper Draper Pryce to see how it stacks up. Yes, I had to Google Sterling Cooper Draper Pryce.

4. Cannes is pronounced “can” but somehow with a fancier air.

It’s me again, Big Megan (please don’t call me that). Let’s get on to this week’s agency news.

Hungry like the Vee

Gary Vaynerchuk spends a lot of money on office snacks, apparently. Yesterday, we wrote on his blog that “I know I can offer some snack and beverage suppliers/companies out there significant value in comparison to the cost of the goods that I’m looking for.” So now he’s willing to trade. Snack and beverage companies and suppliers can barter studio time at VaynerProductions for a minimum of $1,500 worth of snacks, for instance. “P.S, when you fill out this form, bear in mind that if you’re asking for $100K in services from me, I’m going to expect $100K in coffee, chips, or goods in general in return,” Gary wrote. That’s a lot of mini Oreos.

Let’s just hope the experience isn’t squats

AnalogFolk has been named experience agency-of-record for Blink Fitness, the fitness chain with locations across New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania and California. The independent agency’s scope will include digital experience and innovation across Blink’s digital products and its in-gym experience.

Safe and sound

Brinks Home Security — the monitored home-security company — has named indie creative agency Barton F. Graf its lead creative agency. The agency will be responsible for brand strategy, creative and advertising, design, eCRM, social and production for Brinks, with its first work launching later this year. The company previously worked with Dallas-based The Company.

Colle McVoy gets healthy

Colle McVoy has been named agency of record for Children’s Health, a pediatric health-care system in North Texas. The agency will manage strategic planning, creative, media planning and buying, content planning and development, social marketing and digital marketing. The client previously worked with Barkley.

Mark your calendars…

The United Nations has tapped VML as its lead agency for its World Humanitarian Day for the second consecutive year. Last year’s campaign utilized Facebook Camera Effects in conjunction with Facebook Live to connect people across the globe to raise awareness of those affected by conflict. This year, World Humanitarian Day lands on August 19.

On the move…

Zimmerman Advertising has appointed Alisa Ben, formerly at Universal Music Group, as senior VP in charge of strategic marketing intelligence. Earlier this year, Zimmerman, which works with McDonald’s and Hair Cuttery, tapped Brad Higdon as CMO.

Andy Zonfrillo, formerly global head of trading at Omnicom Media Group, has joined IPG Mediabrands as the new global president at Magna. Zonfrillo will be based in London.

Leo Rayman, CEO of Grey London, has been promoted to be CEO of Grey Consulting — the just-announced global enterprise practice. Grey Consulting will “go beyond traditional consulting” to “combine analytical rigor with lateral creative thinking and an understanding of how to make things happen to accelerate growth for clients,” Rayman said in a statement.

Tweet of the week

Cardi B straight up telling you that the weight loss tea she’s shilling is just a diuretic and laxative is the kind of truth in advertising I’d like to see more of. pic.twitter.com/NCf5D95D7J

— ℂ???????????????????? ℙ???????? (@caraghpoh) August 2, 2018

Contributing: Adrianne Pasquarelli