• by Richard Whitman , Columnist, October 30, 2013

Appropriately scheduled just before Halloween, Durham-based McKinney which, in 2004, moved into an old 60,000 foot Lucky Strike factory that's reportedly haunted, will host a ghost hunt October, 30 at 9PM. Agency employees, along with ghost hunters, will use Google Glass, Google Hangouts, mobile phones and other various "ghost hunting" technology" to reveal whatever there is to reveal and live-stream it for all to see. Christ (the holiest of ghosts), just look at the building! Of course it's haunted! McKinney, being an advertising agency, has a whole host of videos on YouTube hyping the event and sharing interviews with those who claim to have had ghostly experiences. What will they find? Will you watch? 

Watch out DTC drug marketers and agencies! The FDA has launched an e-learning course which will train healthcare providers to spot and report ads and promotional material which may be untruthful or misleading. The course, which will use case studies, aims to help medical students and providers to "become discerning readers of drug promotional information said FDA Prescription Drug Promotion Director Thomas Abrams. The course is part of Bad Ad, a program the agency launched in 2010 to educate doctors about their role in ensuring advertising stays pure. Or at least not completely full of BS.

Yes, Virginia, there are advertising agencies in Maine. And of course they have running water in Maine. Anyway, Auburn-based Rinck Advertising is celebrating its recent international and regional award wins. The agency won a Gold and two Silver W3 Awards in the General Website and Web Video categories for its clients American Beverage, Little Hug Fruit Barrels and for the Amtrak Downeaster Reel Experience Video Challenge. The agency also won two Gold Davey Awards and a Silver Davey Award for American Beverage and for Daily's Cocktails. They also won a Maine Public Relations Council Golden Arrows Gold Award in Social Media for Daily's. Of the wins, Rinck President Laura Davis said, “Receiving these awards is truly an honor for us, and we’re extremely excited for our clients.”

Denstu agencies mcgarrybowen and Carat Enterprise teamed up to pitch (and win) the Fujitsu account. The team will handle the brand's global brand advertising. Of his selection of the Dentsu team, Fujitsu VP of Brand Marketing & Communications said, “mcgarrybowen, Carat Enterprise and Dentsu stood out from the competition as the team that really understood our business challenge. The trio not only demonstrated a huge amount of rigor, but also showed us a new level of innovative thinking when it comes to how to best reach and engage with our target audience.”

Following a review which pit finalists Leo Burnett, Arnold and Crispin Porter + Bogusky against one another, CP+B triumphed and walked home with the $40 million Hotels.com account. The account was previously handled by WPP's Y&R who has had the account since 2009...and have done some pretty good work if you ask me. We wish CP+B the best. Media planning and buying duties will remain with TargetCast.

New Orleans-based Peter Mayer has beefed up the agency with three new hires agency president Mark A Mayer says "will not only reinforce our cultural positioning, but also enable us to continue to generate results for our clients.” John Rushing has been hired as a Studio Specialist. Kimberly Cadena, who worked on Brad Pitt's Make It Right non-profit and the ONE Campaign, has been hired as a Strategist. And Melissa Moran, formerly with Red Square Agency, will join as Associate Art Director.

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