• by Richard Whitman , Columnist, December 13, 2013

To all those agencies who handle big box retail accounts, you have raised the ire of one publisher of community newspapers--HMG News Media Group Publisher Brian Hews. He's angry  that you aren't spending money in his local newspapers. He says you are wasting money placing all your ads and inserts in big city newspapers. He says you do that because you are lazy and all you care about is picking the top-ten newspapers and the top-ten radio stations in a market for your promotions. He says that you are ignoring the fact that people love their local newspapers even though they are free. He's asking his readers to march into your client's place of business and demand -- DEMAND, we tell you -- that they ask you to place their ads in local newspapers. Hey, we know you're going to just yawn and go to lunch after reading this but give the guy a bone, OK? It's the least you could do. Of course the fact that everyone reads their news on their phone now seems to be beside the point.

Earlier this month we reported that Gareth Kay had left San Francisco-based Goodby Silverstein & Partners where he was associate partner and chief strategy officer. Today, we're happy to report that Kay will become the founding partner and owner of the San Francisco office of Minneapolis-based Zeus Jones which is opening a west coast office. Of the move to the west coast, Zeus Jones Co-Founder and Partner Adrian Ho told the New York Times, “We recognize fully that we haven’t and can’t make the kind of impact we want to in one place, with one office. Hiring Gareth gives us the benefit of launching immediately in San Francisco with credibility.” Kay is expected to open the San Francisco office in March with four employees

Mother London is having a bit of fun with the Russian government. The agency created a set of matryoskha dolls in the likeness of Britain's well-known gay icons; Elton John, George Michael, Stephen Fry, Graham Norton and Tom Daley. They sent these dolls to the Kremlin in protest of a law Russia passed banning propaganda to minors. Some feel the law has resulted in discrimination against the Russian LGBT community. Either way, we love a good political jab from an agency every once in a while.

So Barton F. Graf 9000's Gerry Graf and TDA Boulder's Jonathan Schoenberg ran into each other at an industry event some time ago and came up with a very cool method of both raising money for charity and steering the focus away from the rampant commercialism that is so prevalent during the holidays. The two came up with Bawx, a website--complete with intentionally stupid copy--on which cardboard boxes are sold. All the boxes are the same but are sold at different prices ranging from $29.99 to $499.99 allowing people to decide how much they want to donate. The two agencies funded the entire operation themselves and will donate all proceeds to two children's charities; Boulder-based Blue Sky Bride and Boston-based Charley Davidson Leukemia Fund. 

Our favorite whipping boy, Long Island-based fishbat, is up to its idiotic press release shenanigans again. This time they've sent out a release with a header that reads, "In response to an article published by Mashable, fishbat, a leader in Long Island advertising, discusses Facebook’s creation of a research lab dedicated to artificial intelligence research." Which, of course, sets us up to believe it’s going to be a bitch-fest filled with witty retorts and counterpoint. But no. The entire press release is basically a rehash of the Mashable article with fishbat VP of Client Relations Justin Maas basically saying he agrees with everything in the article. Just stop. Please stop.

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