Razorfish's Return; Squarespace Back in the Super Bowl: Wednesday's First Things First

Welcome to First Things First, Adweek’s new daily resource for marketers. We’ll be publishing the content to First Things First on Adweek.com each morning (like this post), but if you prefer that it come straight to your inbox, you can sign up for the email here. Exclusive: Publicis Groupe Is Reviving Razorfish Less than a year after retiring the name, Publicis Groupe is bringing Razorfish back as its digital marketing agency, to be led by Josh Campo. A quick recap: Founded in 1995, Razorfish was acquired by Publicis Groupe from Microsoft in 2009 for an estimated $530 million. A little over three years ago, Publicis merged Razorfish with fellow digital network Sapient Nitro to create SapientRazorfish. Publicis then folded SapientRazorfish into Publicis Sapient, one of the holding company’s four “solutions hubs,” which includes Sapient Consulting. Last February, Nigel Vaz arrived as Publicis Sapient CEO amid a rebranding that officially brought an end to the Razorfish name. Razorfish’s services continued to be offered without a formal name distinguishing it over the following year. And now, it's back. Campo described bringing back the Razorfish name as “bringing the focus of Razorfish and the impact of marketing transformation back into the light and a bit closer to some of the communications work and agencies that we have” as well as addressing “a gap we see in the market” while providing “a comprehensive view of the customer journey.” Read more: The decision to reintroduce the Razorfish name now is partially connected to the rising importance of data to Publicis Groupe’s offering, explained Publicis Communications East CEO Jem Ripley. Squarespace Will Make Its Super Bowl Comeback With Sixth Big Game Ad The New York-based company, an all-in-one solutions platform for website building and hosting, is running a 30-second spot between the first and second quarters of the game. Following its Super Bowl debut in 2014, Squarespace was a regular Big Game advertiser until taking a timeout last year. Both the company’s in-game ads and general campaigns have typically relied on star power, featuring familiar faces like Keanu Reeves, Jeff Bridges, Idris Elba, John Malkovich, comedy duo Key & Peele and Oscar the Grouch. This year's ad was developed and executed in-house, and full details will be shared later this month. Read more: The company's 2017 ad starring Malkovich won an Emmy Award for Outstanding Commercial. Google Chrome Will Phase Out Third-Party Cookies by 2022 In a move that many in the ad world have been fearing for the past year, Google announced yesterday that it will be phasing out support for third-party cookies in its popular web browser, Chrome. The tech giant laid out a two-year timeline for the transition, which comes in response to increasing pressure to shore up privacy standards across its online advertising platforms and freely available web tools. The initiative, which Google calls Privacy Sandbox and was first announced in August, will affect more than half of all web users. It will likely be welcomed by consumer-privacy advocates. Justin Schuh, director of Chrome engineering at Google, confirmed the timeline in yesterday's statement, vowing that Google will seek “privacy-preserving and open-standard mechanisms” that will maintain “an ad-supported web.” Read more: Some observers are calling this the beginning of a new era for online marketing that will challenge a lot of companies, especially in the short term. Post-NBA, Dwyane Wade Begins His Marketing Era as Chief Culture Officer for CAA Sports Although NBA legend Dwyane Wade retired in 2019, there’s little downtime in his future. The 13-time All-Star is launching a new company with powerhouse talent agency CAA to help marketers connect with diverse audiences. “Work doesn’t stop when the ball stops bouncing,” he said. “I want to do everything, and I would, if I could, clone myself. With CAA, I want to add value to this conglomerate. I don’t just want to be part of something—I want to leave an imprint.” Wade, who will soon celebrate his 38th birthday and have his Miami Heat jersey retired during a three-day ceremony, said he’s motivated in part by being “extremely competitive” with his wife, actress-businesswoman Gabrielle Union, and setting an example for his family. Read more: Wade, a Chicago native, lists Amazon Fashion, Away, Budweiser, Gatorade, Stance and other marketers on his endorsement roster. Best of the Rest: Today's Top News and Insights After a Second Stint at CPB, Alex Bogusky Exits the Agency He Co-Founded Digitas Appoints Head of Design and West Coast ECD With Arrow Ending, The CW Readies Next Wave of Superhero Series Bob Cohn Heads to The Economist as President Holiday Comparable Sales Results Continue to Roll In, Showing Modest Growth Visa Is Acquiring Fin-Tech Firm Plaid, Which Powers Venmo and Robinhood P&G Is Making Sure No One Sees Its Ads Too Often Ad of the Day: Man Ends Up in Billboard Ad for ‘Laxative Yoga’ After Fantasy Football Loss While most fantasy leagues simply deny you a beer or torment you within the safety of your friend group for losing, there's one league in Chicago that takes things a little more seriously. Yesterday morning in Chicago, the evidence of Ryan Stew's fantasy football shortcomings were displayed for commuters' viewing pleasure in a 4-by-5-foot bus stop personals ad touting "laxative yoga" with their dear friend. "Woosah your bowels with Stew, an unlicensed fantasy football loser," the ad reads, overlaying a picture of Stew in a psychedelic desert, surrounded by goats with an outhouse visible in the background. The ad's completed with the hashtag #Namastew, directing interested parties to email him at TrySomeStew@gmail.com. [kickout id="1"] Read more: The prank was born years ago, when Stew's first very public personal ad described him as a “2016 fantasy football loser” who “perspires ambitiously.” Agencies Share How They Promote a Healthy Work-Life Balance "We believe that when you are healthy and happy you create great work and that’s why we don’t have a one-size-fits-all approach to our policies. There is life outside of work—family, exercise, pets, friends—and we acknowledge that we’re all at our best when every part of our life is functioning. We don’t measure people from hours spent in the office. We trust everyone will do their very best and get their things done, whether it is within office hours, during the night shift or at home after dinner with family or friends." —Mike Densmore, CEO, Forsman & Bodenfors New York "We really do try to keep reasonable hours, and we're fortunate enough to have long-term, very stable relationships with some marquee clients, which affords us a pace of work that's more sustainable. Our senior leaders are great about modeling the behavior, too—leaving to take kids to doctor's appointments, not sending late night emails, things of that nature." —Laura Small, vp, people director, RPA "Generally, our culture is one of hard work with respect for life outside the agency. While there are times when client or new business demands require significant overtime, the owner and senior leaders constantly remind us to head home at the end of the work day. If there is more work to be done, 'come in early, but don't miss dinner with your family.' Staffing a business correctly also helps to keep work-life balance in check, and our agency is good at doing that. " —Matt Butcher, brand planning director, The Richards Group More of the Latest: Post-NBA, Dwyane Wade Begins His Marketing Era as Chief Culture Officer for CAA Sports Retailer Media Networks Are Coming, but Where Are They Coming From? Taco Bell Fans Can Use Instagram to Find Out Which Menu Item They Are Grindr, OkCupid and Tinder Among Popular Apps That Sold User Data: Report Under Armour’s Founder Kevin Plank on the Brand’s New Vision