Agencies came through on innovation and collaboration big time this week, with activations spanning from conferences to university partnerships to creative automation amplification. Let’s dive in to see who brought the most interesting ideas into reality.
American Advertising Federation
The American Advertising Federation (AAF) recently held its annual four-day, in-person event, Admerica. It was announced that Tiffany R. Warren, evp, chief diversity and inclusion officer at Sony Music Group, will serve as board chair for a second year in 2022-2023. In addition, Helen Lin, chief digital officer at Publicis, was named vice chair. The event also hosted a national student advertising competition. This year’s client, Meta Quest, challenged students to develop a campaign that would make Quest 2 a coveted, essential product for college students and those preparing for college. Texas Tech University was named the winner, with Liberty University placing second and the University of California at Berkeley third.
Brunner
Brunner was selected as agency of record for Goodwill of North Georgia. The marketing firm will lead overall media planning, creative strategy and digital strategy, inclusive of paid social, digital display and digital video.
Crosby Marketing
Crosby Marketing partnered with Anne Arundel Community College to launch a $100,000 scholarship program for underrepresented students at its school. The partnership will repeat annually, offering four students at the Crosby Marketing Scholars Program a two-year scholarship with financial support for classes in marketing, public relations, graphic design, multimedia/video production and web design—each year.
Dept
Global digital agency Dept launched its creative automation practice, a service that helps brands supercharge creative output through technology. The practice focuses on delivering creative assets at scale, dynamic advertising and conversational marketing and chatbots.
DPAA
Global trade marketing association DPAA opened nominations for its first annual DOOH-E Awards. Powered by digital media and promotions technology company Quotient, the award ceremony will showcase the best recent campaigns that have integrated adtech, target and dynamic creative approaches in its omnichannel strategy.
DP+
Fusion92 brand DP+ was named the advertising and analytics agency of record for the Stephen M. Ross School of Business at the University of Michigan. The agency will assist the school in identifying and securing new enrollees for its portfolio of MBA programs and one-year master’s degrees.
EP+Co
EP+Co secured two new business wins with leading brand clients. John Deere Construction named EP+Co its agency of record, and Sonoco tapped the agency for marketing asset production to position its brand’s products for buyers seeking premium materials.
H&L Partners
H&L Partners brought in six awards at the 43rd Annual Telly Awards—including two first-time golds. The awards recognized the brand’s visual storytelling campaigns, with gold awards in visual effects in regional TV and use of 2D animation.
Hill Country Group
Hill Country Group unveiled its plans to build a state-of-the-art creative production studio in Texas. The studio will have the capacity to house two virtual production stages and 12 sound stages, as well as provide over 1,400 industry jobs to Texas residents.
Miroma Group
Miroma Project Factory, the digital development arm of Miroma Group, expanded to the U.S. with a new location in Los Angeles, California. The group recently became the largest independently owned collection of global agencies with a handful of recent acquisitions, and is aiming to replicate its success in the U.K. and APAC in the U.S.
Nail Communications
Nail Communications joined the Providence, Rhode Island outdoor arts festival PVDFest as its promotional partner. For the event taking place this weekend, June 10-12, Nail Communications was tasked with building audience excitement and increasing event attendance.
Pencil
Creative AI company Pencil partnered with Adobe to bring AI-generated video ads to brands’ and agencies’ creative teams. The partnership is powered by Adobe After Effects, which enables creative teams to tap into Pencil’s AI platform directly through its application.
Plural
World-class minority-certified content production hub Plural is now launching as an independent company. Having originally began as the community’s post-production studio, The Makers Lab, the brand will now relaunch as Plural under the leadership of José Mollá, co-founder and CCO, with the goal of creating content that keeps up with the ever-changing landscape of the industry and world.
Sage Growth Partners
Sage Growth Partners, a Baltimore-based healthcare firm, was selected by ProgenyHealth, a tech-enabled women’s healthcare company dedicated to maternity and NICU care management, to provide public relations and media relations services. Sage Growth Partners will manage proactive public relations, develop thought leadership content and execute on national press strategy.
SRW Agency
SRW Agency, a natural foods agency, signed nine new household names in the CPG industry to its client list in the first half of 2022. Clients include Greenleaf Foods, Nonni’s, Catalina Crunch, Outstanding Foods and Panos Brands.
UTA
UTA acquired software and data analytics company UTA with the goal of accelerating data analytics capabilities and driving more value for agency clients at scale. The agency’s research, data analytics and digital strategy division, UTA IQ, will tap into MediaHound’s technology to produce actionable insights and fuel user recommendation engines.