• by Richard Whitman , Columnist, October 25, 2013

Well here's an interesting stat. Nearly one-third (32%) of agency executives think they have placed video ads on Facebook. That'd be awesome except for the fact that...doh!!...they don't exist yet! Yup, that's right, one third of you think you have placed video ads on Facebook and it isn't even possible yet! That finding comes to us courtesy of a recent study by Mixpo. Way to make the dumb look dumber, Mixpo! But, another stat from the study makes that finding a bit less surprising. Just 26% of agency execs say they are "reasonably competent" regarding video advertising in social media. There now. Do you 32% feel less stupid now?

Israeli digital advertising firm Matomy Media Group has acquired Adquant's social advertising agency, which was formerly called Adotomi, to increase its Facebook offering. Terms of the deal were not disclosed. Adquant, an Israeli social advertising software company, will now focus on providing the technology for its Facebook advertising platform. Its social advertising agency team, along with its clients, will be integrated within Matomy's social advertising unit, which will use Adquant's technology. Of the acquisition, Matomy CEO Ofer Druker said, "This acquisition helps Matomy because our multichannel strategy is to offer advertisers various points of media. Social media will be very much a part of this strategy."

Speaking of social media, Sydney-based Clemenger BBDO has hooked up with sister agency Porter Novelli to launch a new, as yet unnamed and seemingly as yet unfocused, social media venture. Of the new entity, Clemenger BBDO CEO Andy Pontin said, “Where social is at at the moment, it is still the Wild West. The industry hasn’t settled down in terms of who does what bits of the social mix and I think that’s true of both the agency side and the client side. It’s still a work in progress but we see a really great opportunity to take the best of what creative can bring to the social space and partner that with the best of what a PR agency can bring and generate something that’s very different from what’s currently out there." OK, then. That totally clears things up.

Roku has awarded its roughly $8 million creative, digital and media business to Sausalito-based Butler, Shine, Stern & Partners. Predictably, the review followed the installation of new CMO Matthew Anderson. Nine shops, including incumbent Division of Labor participated in the review. Of his holiday advertising plans, Anderson told Advertising Age, "If you think about this holiday season across the whole landscape, one thing happening is it's going to be a big season for streaming. I felt pretty strongly that there was a big creative opportunity for us and an opportunity to put together a strong digital capability that might be more than we've done in the past." On selecting BSSP, he said, "Most of the agencies we saw were in one camp or another (creative, digital). BSSP did both. They've been very successful in working with brands like Mini and Priceline who have distinctive creative."

After having left Doner as CCO in 2008, John DeCerchio is back. He's started a new agency called Industri and has, as its first client, Detroit-based wall decal maker Fathead. When DeCerchio left Doner, he was in the midst of a lawsuit claiming the agency owed him a $55 million payout over 10 years while the agency claimed the payout should have been $51.5 million. Really? Seriously?? A man who worked at an agency since 1974 and stands to take home over $50 million is going to quibble over a few million? The parties ultimately settled though neither is sharing the details. It's all good though because with all that cash in his pocket -- whatever the sum may be -- DeCerchio isn't all too worried about his new agency's billings. In a statement, he said, "I don't have to reach a certain amount of billings by 2014. There's a great liberation in that concept, and I can just be the creative ad guy I want to be." Well now isn't that nice.