San Diego and NY-based digital agency Piston has named former Cynergy art director Jessica D'Elena-Tweed to creative director. D'Elena-Tweed has led design efforts for brands such as Fox Sports, H&R Block, DirecTV, Marriott International and Aetna as well as organizations such as The Hammer Museum, UCLA, Lybba, Wondros, Mike Kelley and Morphosis Architects, designing major published works, projects and environments.

Now here's a fun one. Like many other agencies this time of year, Toronto-based Zulu Alpha Kilo is out with a holiday-themed bit of merriment. And as you will find out, it's for a very, very good cause.

As if there weren't already enough reasons that most agencies should just pack it up and call it a day, the trend toward brands going direct to digital production companies for one-off quick hits and even more lasting work continues. Of the shift, Altimeter Group Analyst Rebecca Lieb said: "It's about hiring execution. Agencies do a lot of strategy and ideation, which is sometimes not what you need. Sometimes, you just need to get stuff done."

Yet another ad exec has chimed in on the industry's fixation with awards saying the pursuit of awards in and of itself is "very wrong." However, that very same ad exec, Clemenger BBDO Melbourne Chairman Jim Moser, says awards are important in garnering new business and aiding recruitment.

The Boston Ad Club has launched an online Boston agency directory, powered by Agency Spotter. The partnership aims to make it easy for association members and others across New England to start their agency search from within their local professional network.

Mediacom Australia is under fire from pay TV service Foxtel, Insurance Australia Group and KFC over concerns that the media agency engaged in nefarious media reporting and billing practices. Following the concerns, Foxtel has moved its account to Mindshare.

It's never a great time when a client decides to pull its business from an agency. Unless, it seems, that client is Cadillac and the agency is Lowe Campbell Ewald. The agency, of course, just lost the Cadillac account to Publicis Worldwide. While that's a sizable $279 million loss for Lowe Campbell Ewald, some in the industry think Lowe will be better off.

How can you not love Jordan Zimmerman? The Florida man with an ego the size of Mt. Everest. The man who gives private lunch meetings, agency tours and autographed copies of his book to those who wow him. The man who hires back former CEOs. The man with arms the size of fenceposts! Well apparently all of the man's wondrous achievements have earned him the 2015 Horatio Alger Award which honors success in the face of adversity. Zimmerman is one of 12 people to receive the award this year.

So not exactly an agency effort in and of itself, this teamup between Ogilvy & Mather New York and UPS is still worthy of note. The agency and UPS have launched Your Wishes Delivered, a social campaign designed to encourage the public to share their wishes during the holiday season.

As I may have mentioned before, it's ad agency holiday card season. Sometimes the "cards" are silly. Sometimes the "cards" are dumb. And sometimes the "cards" are actually meaningful and for a good cause. That's the case this year with a holiday card from GSD&M.