-Saturday Night Live directors Hannah Levy and Adriana Robles, known for comedy shorts that have gone viral, have signed as commercial directors with Tool of North America. Levy’s hits include “Boomers Got the Vax” and the lauded “Pelotaunt,” (if you didn’t see it yet, play the video above) while Robles directed “NFTs” and “IBS Medicine Ad spoof.”
–Walter Geer is calling out the ad industry. In a LinkedIn post, the executive creative director of experience design at VMLY&R formally asked his boss and CEO Jon Cook to join him in a public conversation today at noon ET, “to discuss what VMLY&R is doing to create a more diverse, equitable and inclusive environment for people that look like me.”
This is part of Geer’s push for accountability, transparency and honesty in the industry to create lasting change. Geer similarly called out Gary Vaynerchuk, after the VaynerMedia head said he intended to add two Black leaders to VaynerMedia’s C-suite by the first quarter of 2021, ideally by Jan. 1. When the deadline passed, Geer posted Vaynerchuk’s words on social media.
-David has hired Rafael Donato as CCO in its flagship Miami office. The five-year veteran of David São Paulo, will now lead David’s creative operations in the U.S., a responsibility previously handled by David global CCO Pancho Cassis.
-Verizon has announced that it’s selling Yahoo and AOL to the private equity firm Apollo Global Management for $5 billion, about half what it the bought the platforms for in two separate deals, last decade.
-Harmon Brothers, with client Olive, wants to talk with you about your car’s extended warranty, in a new social campaign.
-Adweek takes a look at Dentsu Health, which Dentsu introduced recently, connecting expert healthcare marketers to clients. One of its first client relationships involves working on a Covid-19 vaccination campaign.
-22Squared released a “Count Me In” resource guidebook to DEI initiatives.
-Captain Obvious goes back to the ’90s in a video series that takes its cues from cringey classroom instructional videos, PSAs, after-school specials and cheesy sitcoms, telling people to “practice safe booking” through Hotels.com.
-Adweek talked with chief true officer Alvin Stafford about his unique moniker and how he leads with purpose at multicultural agency Think TRUE.
-Muse by Clio’s Tagline podcast season one finale explores Procter & Gamble’s trilogy of spots about racial bias: “The Talk” from 2017, “The Look” from 2019, and “The Choice” from 2020.