• by Richard Whitman , Columnist, October 7, 2013

Publicis Indianapolis will cut 15 percent of its staff following the loss of its client Simon Property Group as the account shifts to Publicis New York following SPG's hiring of a New York-based marketing officer. Out of 55 Publicis Indianapolis employees, 8 will lose their jobs. One of the eight is Publicis Indianapolis President Tom Hirschauer. It's not clear whether Hirschauer was terminated or left of his own accord.

Toiling day in and day out in the ad world seldom allows for the realization of personal goals or the overcoming of seemingly insurmountable personal obstacles. But not if you work at El Segundo-based David & Goliath. The agency's founder and chief creative officer, David Angelo, just announced the launch of Defiance Club, an agency initiative which helps employees overcome personal obstacles. And because this is advertising, it's not just about overcoming personal obstacles; it's about "truly living one's brand while inspiring others to do the same." Angelo kicked off Defiance Club for the agency by sleeping on the rat-infested streets of downtown LA's skid row for a night as part of a program put on by nonprofit charity organization Covenant House called "Sleep Out." The annual nationwide event has community and business leaders sleep outside in support of Covenant House's mission and to raise awareness and funds that will help get homeless kids off the streets. Bringing Defiance Club's mission closer to home, Management Supervisor Rocio Castrillon who was diagnosed with Crohn's Disease in 2008, signed up for Team Challenge, the Crohn's and Colitis Foundation of America's training program which steered her onto a path of running three half-marathons and raising over $10,000 over the next four years to help find a cure for the disease. And who says David can't overcome Goliath?

Is it really a big deal to be recognized by your local Chamber of Commerce? Can you even remember that last interaction you had with a Chamber of Commerce or something of notoriety they accomplished? Apparently, Philadelphia-based LevLane thinks quite highly of their local Chamber of Commerce because they sent us a press release noting they'd just been named by the Greater Philadelphia Chamber of Commerce the organization's 2014 Professional Service of the Year. Along with 11 other honorees who were selected for their "positive impact on the region's economy," the agency earned recognition for its work on the city’s municipal offices and organizations, including the Center City District, the Philadelphia Streets Department, the Fairmont Park Conservancy and the Philadelphia Recycling Office. Well, we suppose when most of your clients are municipal, you're bound to do some good work at some point.

Lambertville-based agency Oxford Communications has...Wait, what? Where? Who? Has anyone heard of this agency? Or of Lambertville? Anyway, we can't all work on the proverbial Madison Avenue now can we? So let's get on with it. The agency has hired Lisa Skinner as senior account executive, Matt Musick as client service representative and Sherry Smith as assistant account executive. 

Well here's an interesting press grab. Long Island-based agency CGT, who as far as we can tell has not been approached for acquisition, blogged about the fact they don't think the whole agency merger thing is all that big a deal. In a post on the agency's blog, someone (it might be nice if you guys placed author names on your posts) wrote, “We don’t believe bigger is better and that it’s possible to be ‘more nimble’ in a mega-agency environment. We are proud of our size. It allows us to be better at everything we do – service, creative, media, strategy and digital.” Unlike porn star requirements, we firmly believe size has nothing to do with performance when it comes to agency work and that even the smallest of the small can create awesomeness. So you go CGT. Fend off those Big Dumb Agencies and go it alone!

So this advertising dude, Dave Allen, who is currently director of interactive strategy at Portland-based North, was bass guitarist for the famed English post-punk rock band Gang of Four. Which if you ask us, is really no surprise. Just have a look at his picture. He has punk rocker written all over his face! Advertising Age's Rupal Parekh has written a nice profile of Allen in which he shares how he made the move into advertising and how his punk rock experience has affected his advertising career .