• by Staff Report , August 29, 2013

What the heck is going on over at AKQA? Guys, you need to chill! AKQA employee Gaspar Magisa, 52, was recently acquitted  of whacking a 30-year-old coworker over the head with a champagne bottle because he didn't like the coworker playing dubstep music at work. The coworker, who has a history of office violence including poking a man in the eye while he was using the urinal and body-slamming Magisa, received 17 stitches and two staples. Guys, you work in an advertising agency. Not a zoo.                                                                                

And now for some good news about ad agencies. Recently, the IAB found that 75% of you plan to shift  portions of your TV budgets into digital media--specifically, pre-roll, social and promoted content--in the next 12 months. It's about time too, don't you think? And Facebook COO Sheryl Sandberg plans to take a hefty chunk of that shifted budget, charging between $1-$2.5 million for 15-second ads which will play in consumer's newsfeeds three times each day.   
                                                                     
Agencies love LinkedIn! A recent poll from Cincinnati-based new business consultancy RSW/US found 46% of agency executives feel LinkedIn is the "most important" social media channel for acquiring new business leads. This is followed by blogging at 24%, Facebook and Twitter at 14% and Google at 2%. Point. Click. Win new business. What's not to love?                                                                                 

When you think of ad Meccas, usually New York, San Francisco and Chicago come to mind. But Detroit? A city that declared bankruptcy just over a month ago? A city which had been failing for decades? Not really in the consideration set. But one ad man, Lowe Campbell Ewald Creative Director Iain Lanivich recently posted a video urging innovators and agencies to help turn Detroit into some kind of Dumbo for the Midwest. Lanivich aims to lead a SXSW panel on the topic next March. We wish the man luck. We really do. We don't think he's going to succeed. But we certainly wish him all the best. We might even attend his panel if it gets picked.

Can James McKenna, former 72andSunny creative, help TBWA Digital Arts Network in LA ramp up its new digital model? The agency hopes so and has brought in McKenna as Creative Director. McKenna will work with Group Creative Director Fabio (really?) Costa on Nissan, Infiniti, Energizer and Hillshire. McKenna thinks he's up to the task and told us, “It's an exciting time to be joining DAN LA. I look forward to working with the talented folks here to create engaging, meaningful experiences for our clients, and further grow DAN's footprint as a leader in the digital space.”

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