As 2022 continues to fly by, agencies worldwide are upping their respective games week after week, with partnerships, acquisitions and captivating campaign launches. Let’s see who made the biggest moves in this week’s roundup.
American Advertising Federation
The American Advertising Federation (AAF) will induct eight individuals into the Advertising Hall of Fame on Tuesday, April 26 at Cipriani Wall Street. IBM will also be inducted as a corporate honoree. Individual honorees will include Annie Leibovitz, renowned photographer; Nina DiSesa, former chairman and chief creative officer, McCann; Richard Edelman, CEO, Edelman; Judy McGrath, former chairman and CEO, MTV Networks; Wenda Harris Millard, vice chairman, MediaLink; J. Melvin Muse, founder and chairman emeritus, Muse Communications; Andrew Robertson, president and CEO, BBDO Worldwide; and Michael I. Roth, retired chairman and CEO, The Interpublic Group.
9th Wonder Agency
9th Wonder Agency has been named the media agency of record for American Residential Services, provider of air conditioning, heating and plumbing services. The partnership focuses on securing broadcast paid media and offline paid media opportunities to promote local brand awareness.
Austin Williams
Full-service marketing, advertising, digital and public relations agency Austin Williams announced the recipient of the second round of its opportunity scholarship, which helps students attain a degree and career in advertising and marketing. The winner is Leilani Henry Thomas, a student at St. Joseph’s College, who will receive $2,500 in annual tuition assistance, mentorship and an eventual paid internship at Austin Williams in her junior and senior years.
Comprise Agency
Tech-focused public relations, digital marketing and creative services agency, Comprise Agency, earned the technology campaign award from the PR Daily’s Top Agencies Awards. The company is being recognized for its extraordinary campaigns and results for its clients.
Creative Artists Agency
Creative Artists Agency acquired CAA-GBG global brand management group, which was previously a joint venture between CAA and Global Brands Group. The two will be immediately integrated into the day-to-day operations of Creative Artists Agency.
Frameplay
Frameplay, which enables intrinsic in-game advertising, is adding a new attention metric to video game environments, which was validated in a partnership with dentsu’s attention economy team using first-to-market studies. The attention metric is titled “intrinsic time-in-view,” and was double-validated by studies from Lumen and eye square.
Fred & Farid
Fred & Farid launched a newly redesigned website, created to reflect on the industry changes over the past three years and act as an interactive ode to the adaptability that Fred & Farid believes has been the key to its success. Visitors are able to interact with the site using a style button which changes the site’s colors and fonts.
George P. Johnson
As live events continue to make a comeback, George P. Johnson (GPJ), an event and experience marketing agency, announced that it has acquired the German-based boutique design and experience design studio The Sane Company. This latest acquisition shows the agency’s commitment to the German and European markets while also doubling down on expansion. Michigan-based GPJ is also finalizing its move into a brand-new headquarters in Stuttgart, Germany.
Havas Group
Havas Group acquired Search Laboratory, a digital agency dedicated to searching for the truth in data, which has offices in Leeds, London, Austin and New York. Search Laboratory will report into the U.K. business as a core part of its offering in partnership with Havas Media, Havas Entertainment and Havas Market.
Incubeta
Incubeta acquired data-driven marketing specialists Extendo. The partnership aims to expand its global presence into Latin America, increase capabilities to allow clients to grow and build upon a strong pre-existing relationship with Google.
Industrial Color
Creative agency Industrial Color saw a 15% expansion in Q1, primarily driven by new hires in its creative and production staff to align its team with a rapidly growing clientele, requiring more hands on deck for branding, creative ideation, media planning, campaign strategy, production, post-production and social media content management.
IPG Mediabrands
IPG Mediabrands is partnering with HBCU 20×20, a national diversity and inclusion organization, to create a pipeline between historically Black colleges and universities and its company across the country. The partnership will kick off with a Media Immersion Day on April 20th, introducing job-hunting students and graduates of HBCUs to the business through professional development workshops and networking opportunities.
Labelium
Labelium acquired SmartKeyword, an all-in-one platform with a specialty in SEO. With this acquisition, Labelium will now strengthen its expertise in SEO with a powerful new tool to provide to clients in the U.S. and abroad.
R/GA
Professional football league XFL appointed R/GA as its agency of record to support the league’s marketing efforts, covering brand identity, design innovation and campaign activation. With this partnership, the XFL announced a new brand identity that aligns its vision, values and purpose for the 2023 season.
Shackleton
New plant-based protein brand Better Balance selected Shackleton as its global creative agency for its launch in Spain, the U.S. and Mexico. Shackleton will work to position Better Balance as the leading plant-based protein option, as well as implement its shopper marketing strategy to guide consumers at different touchpoints.
Stagwell
Stagwell acquired Canadian multicultural agency Dyversity Communications as part of the Doner Partners Network. Dyversity specializes in Chinese and South Asian communications, and plans with the acquisition to scale the Doner Partners Network’s multicultural capabilities, insights and offerings across Canadian assets.
TRG
Local TV broadcaster Scripps named TRG as its advertising and communications agency for an ongoing campaign that aims to raise awareness and educate consumers about high-quality free TV as a service, and ultimately increase viewership.