By: Adnan Arnautlija
HOWtoWOW WORKSHOP ON PROCESSES OF CREATING DIGITAL INNOVATIONS UNDER PRESSURE
The upcoming HOWtoWOW workshop on the digital innovation process will be held by Media Monks Andy Hopkinson and Matthijs Leendertse, tomorrow, 6 February 2018, at HUB385 in Zagreb.
The “Digital innovation process” workshop is designed for digital professionals who want to offer something more than classic Facebook campaigns and banners. The workshop will focus on innovation as an everyday job description, which implies a carefully managed process in which the agency and client work together to achieve the desired innovative solution.
Lecturers will talk about the innovation process of Media Monks, based on design thinking principles, which consists of several important stages that ultimately lead to innovative digital campaigns. Initially, based on an analysis and understanding of the context of innovation, goals, research, and operational and performance constraints (budget, organizational or technological capacities), this process does not end with the materialization of ideas, but continues with managing results and continually optimizing digital campaigns.
More information on HURA’s website www.hura.hr/howtowow
PUBLICIS CREATIVES IN CANNES LIONS JURIES
At the end of last week the Cannes Lions Festival of Creativity announced the names of its jury members, and some of the names stirred some controversy. Namely, the roster of the Cannes Lions Juries in 2018 includes three high-ranking creatives of the Publicis Groupe.
Mark Tutssel of Leo Burnett, Kate Stanners of Saatchi & Saatchi, and Nick Law (who is still referred to on the list as the chief creative officer of R/GA) will sit in the juries, although Publicis Groupe last year shook the industry by announcing that they will sit-out the festivals this year, wanting to save money and focus on developing their Marcel AI platform.
However, Publicis quickly issued an explanation, which clearly states that last year’s decision to abstain from the festival ring was really geared towards saving. The statement that came from Publicis said: “Since the beginning of our 12-month pause from industry awards, festivals and events we’ve always been very clear: This decision was taken so we could invest in our platform.” The company’s spokesperson also added: “We’re very happy for our people to participate in any kind of jury or panel as long as the festival concerned covers costs and expenses,” the spokesperson continued. “We’re delighted to say that Mark, Kate and of course Nick are participating in Cannes under these conditions, and we’re looking forward to coming back to the awards circuit with a bang in September 2018.”
CP+B FIRES CHIEF CREATIVE OFFICER RALPH WATSON
Crispin Porter + Bogusky has fired Ralph Watson from his role as vp, chief creative officer.
“I can confirm that Ralph Watson is no longer with CP+B,” a spokesperson confirmed. The representative declined to elaborate, saying, “We do not comment on the details of any individual personnel decisions at the agency.”
Watson is the latest in a series of agency executives to abruptly leave their jobs in recent weeks with little explanation. That list now includes Joe Alexander of The Martin Agency, Andrew Christou of Publicis Seattle, Paul Colman of Wieden + Kennedy London and Droga5’s Ted Royer, who was fired last Thursday.
PUBLICIS HEALTH NAMES ITS FIRST FEMALE CEO
Publicis Health, a division of Publicis Groupe, announced the appointment of Alexandra von Plato as CEO. She previously served as the global group president for Publicis Health’s worldwide communications and media agencies.
Von Plato will now be responsible for leading all of Publicis Health’s businesses worldwide. She is the company’s first female CEO.
The incoming CEO replaces Nick Colucci, who had been CEO since 2007. Colucci will now serve as chairman of Publicis Health until the end of 2018 and take on the new role of chief operating officer of Publicis Communications North America.
This is the second major Publicis leadership hire in recent weeks. In January, the company poached R/GA veteran Nick Law to serve as its global chief creative officer.
ALPHABET Q4 REVENUES HIT $32BN, WHILE AMAZON’S AD BUSINESS UNIT GROWS 60%
Share prices in Google-parent Alphabet dropped by as much as 4% in the immediate aftermath of the company making its latest earnings disclosure, as Wall Street analysts had expected a more impressive performance for the quarter.
Meanwhile, Amazon also posted its latest quarterly results, with net sales of $60.5bn for the quarter, up 38% year-on-year, with the company reporting that its voice assistant service Alexa exceeded expectations, while the unit that houses its emerging advertising offering grew 62% year-on-year to hit $1.735bn.
Both of the online behemoths published the results on February 1, with Alphabet announcing revenues of $110.9bn for 2017, representing a 23% year-on-year rise, with the Google-parent closing the year with $32.3bn in revenue for the final quarter of the year, an increase of 24%.
Google’s aggregate cost-per-click continues to slide – 6% year-on-year, see image – while advertising revenues from Google-owned and operated properties came in at $27.2bn for the quarter.
PRO/LAWYER CONSULTING JOINS NEXTLAW GLOBAL PUBLIC AFFAIRS NETWORK
Pro/Lawyer Consulting, the Hungary based legal communications agency announced last week that it has joined Nextlaw Global Public Affairs Network. The global network includes 60 public affairs and public relations firms spanning 100 countries. In addition to connecting leading public affairs firms with one another, the platform will also connect over 25,000 lawyers across 475 law firms that are members of the Nextlaw Global Referral Network. The new Public Affairs Network is designed to become the largest, most versatile network of its kind in the world. The Network is sponsored by Dentons, the largest law firm in the world.
Mate Bende, managing partner of Pro/Lawyer Consulting said, “We are happy to join a global network of PR and public affairs firms, especially in this close connection with the legal industry. As part of this innovative platform I believe we can add more value to our law firm and legal network clients as well.”
