• by Richard Whitman , Columnist, October 2, 2013

Oh please! I just might puke. Yet another agency rebrands and sends business buzzword bingo to new heights. In a press release dripping with sycophantic self-importance, the founder of a new agency called The Company of Others (formerly FKM), Jose Lozano, said, "We are excited to unveil The Company of Others to better tell the story of who we are and what we do. We're changing the trajectory of culture by helping brands live and think ahead of trend and anticipate where mass audiences will head so they can innovate accordingly." Lozano's right hand man, agency president and CCO, Scott Brown added, "We connect brands with culture creators to create immediate opportunity and future relevance. By constantly learning from and collaborating with brands and innovators, we not only uncover ideas that will intersect with consumers in the future, we also benefit alliance members by giving their concepts scale." Really? Is it that hard to say, "we do whatever it takes to help companies sell whatever they make?"

Who knew the CEO of one of the coolest agencies in existence would sing praise for one of the oldest (some say dead) forms of media? In a recent Advertising Age byline, Barbarian Group CEO Benjamin Palmer wrote,  "Over the past few years, digital marketers have been so focused on display, better ad-tech, and creating experiences on the ever-expanding list of social platforms that we've managed to largely ignore a traditional medium that's becoming increasingly sophisticated right under our noses (well, our ears): radio." He notes radio is perfect for a mobile generation and the integration of FM radio into mobile devices would allow for a whole host of inventive, interactive behavior. What do you think? Is Ben right?

Well this seems like a supreme waste of time. And yet another way for an agency to garner some publicity for the mundane act of hiring a few new employees. Philadelphia-based Red Tettemer O'Connell + Partners created paper doll figures for each of seven recent new hires. And they created a "documentary" to, yes, document the process of creating these paper dolls for each new hire. I wonder how much RTO+P paid the guy, Steve Thompson, who made these paper dolls. Pretty sweet gig if you ask me. 

LA-based creative Zach Urbina decided to participate in Bartle Bogle Hegarty's Beautiful Minds recruiting event held in the agency's Manhattan offices over the summer. Instead of flying to Europe for a vacation, Urbina decided to take part in the competition. He has recounted his experience (which includes all the requisite drama you'd expect from cut throat creatives doing everything they can to land their next gig) on Tuesday in The Awl. It's a sweet read complete with recounted infighting among childish 20-somethings, pompously bombastic type-A personalities and a girl named Rainbow Kirby...who won the competition.

In a press release that hails the increased focus on thought leadership, Anomaly has hired Gareth Goodall, named by Campaign as one of the 100 Moist Influential People in British Creative Industries, as its first Chief Strategy Officer. Of the hire, Anomaly New York President Karina Wilsher said, "Gareth is proper Anomaly talent. Tons of content, zero ego. He has the energy, smarts, and ambition to deliver on our model of thinking." Sounds like someone really likes Gareth. Prior to joining Anomaly, Goodall was head of planning for Saatchi & Saatchi New York and managing director and chief strategy officer for Fallon London. Goodall will oversee brand planning, communications strategy and Data and Analytics for the agency.