Commentary

AMV BBDO's Peter Mead Pays Tribute To David Abbott, Who Died Over The Weekend

Over the weekend, Abbott Mead Vickers BBDO Co-Founder David Abbott died at age 75. Co-Founder Peter Mead has paid tribute to Abbott in a statement issued to The Drum. Mead said: "He meant more to me than I can possibly express in words. He transformed my life from the moment I met him some 45 years ago. When he joined Adrian Vickers and me in our little agency it was like Lionel Messi joining Millwall. His talent catapulted AMV into the advertising stratosphere. I never saw him write a bad line of copy, could count on the fingers of one hand the number of times I saw him lose his temper and remember countless times when the three of us were helpless with laughter." The D&AD will pay tribute to Abbott at its ceremony this week.

In our continuing investigative efforts to determine what creatives do during their down time or when they simply need to stretch their creative imagination, we have unearthed Look Birdy, a photo app created by Clemenger BBDO Creative Director Ben Keenan that helps parents take better pictures of their children. With beautiful simplicity, the camera app attracts kids' attention by using bird sounds and flashing the flash before the picture is taken. All of this aims to reduce the amount of time and effort parents must expend to get their children to pose properly for the picture. The app, launched in late February, has been well-received, and has been downloaded thousands of times in 32 different countries. All you ad types out there should download the app now.

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Mullen SVP/Creative Director Christopher Brady has left the agency after eight years at the shop. No word on where Brady is heading next, but he did make an interesting exit with a public post on Facebook. The post consisted of an image of all the business cards he had over the years which show his changing titles as well as the agency's branding changes...which is a bit stunning. No less than three rebrands in eight years. That's kind of a lot. But I guess that's what's expected when creatives get bored and they have nothing better to do than tinker with their agency's brand.

WPP's Grey is re-entering South Africa with the acquisition of a majority stake in The Volcano Group, one of South Africa's fastest-growing independent advertising groups. The Volcano Group will rebrand as Grey Africa with the aim of re-establishing Grey as a leader across the African continent. Of the acquisition, Grey EMEA (Europe, Middle East, Africa) President and CEO David Patton said: "The most important outcome of this exciting partnership is the acquisition of talent and expertise that will re-ignite our efforts in establishing a dynamic South African presence for Grey and will also allow us to truly focus on serving international clients across the African continent." 

Good God. Can an agency be any more stupid? In an ad for Indian mattress retailer Kurl-On, Ogilvy & Mather India used the image of Pakistani teenager Malala Yousafzai, who at 14 was shot in the head by the Taliban with an AK-47. In the ad, she can be seen getting shot then falling through the air toward the mattress. She then bounces up again, healthy as can be. The ad carries the headline, "Bounce Back." Like, seriously? Of the screwup, Ogilvy Spokeswoman Rachel Ufer said: “We deeply regret this incident and want to apologize to Malala Yousafzai and her family. We are investigating how our standards were compromised in this case and will take whatever corrective action is necessary.” Screw standards. How about firing the idiots who possess brains that determined something like this was okay?
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