Ninety years after John Orr Young and Raymond Rubicam opened up Y&R with a single client, the agency is celebrating its 90th year in business as one of the world's largest, iconic and most dynamic advertising agencies.

To commemorate this milestone and an industry Y&R has continually helped transform, the agency is inviting people around the world to post what advertising means to them in a social conversation that will culminate on a interactive digital billboard in one of the world's busiest crossroads, New York's Times Square, from 2 to 3:30 PM on May 23rd (NYC Time).

On Thursday, from 2 to 3:30 PM, the event will be live streamed here on yr.com.

BEING has extended the fully integrated brand communications consultancy to China.
 
BEING is the newest offering in a micro-network that exists within TBWA. It is headquartered in Paris, with additional offices New York, Los Angeles, London, Doha, Seoul, Lille, Lyon, and now Shanghai.
 
Shel Liu (pictured on right) joins the agency as General Manager and Colin Lee (pictured on left) is appointed Group Creative Director, both based in Shanghai. BEING China launches as an integral part of the TBWA\Greater China Group, initially staffed with 35 people and an impressive list of both global and domestic clients including AIA, Bosch, Vivo and Tsingtao.
 
BEING leverages the power of multidisciplinary thinking, focusing on innovative and integrated solutions for brands. By developing big creative ideas that guide brand behavior across all media channels, the agency leads brands to a better way of being.
 
"I am thrilled to announce that we're officially opening BEING in Shanghai," said Nicolas Bordas, President of BEING Worldwide. "As a world-class agency network, a strong presence in China is a priority for us."

UM Singapore is hosting Music Matters' Green Room in their offices and partnering with the music festival in a completely different way. Pat Lim, MD of IPG Mediabrands, Singapore explains:

This wasn't just any Wednesday event celebrating getting over the hump party; it was the day when UM Singapore let their hair down put some music on and gave Music Matters a cheery start to their 3-day music festival that ran from 22-24 May. As the official "Green Room" at Clarke Quay, UM offices played the nerve centre from where the music festival will be live streamed to international audiences on You Tube as well as play host to the up and coming bands to conduct interviews and prep themselves before doing their gig on the stage.

From the very first day, the offices were abuzz with activity with artists milling around, lights and camera equipment, control panels for sound, light and vision, intermixed with fun and laughter. The team got into the swing of things dressing up as rock stars with make-up, hairdos, accessories and all that jazz. Yes, we do take fun seriously and have fun in whatever we do. We are after all such a very diverse bunch with so many nationalities, backgrounds, languages and cultures that fun is the only thing what binds us together. It is an integral part of our 'happiness culture', a value we hold dear across our various agency brands.

Grey Singapore has collaborated with the Workplace Safety Council Singapore (WSH) to develop a new public education campaign. This campaign aims to change mindsets about safety issues at the workplace, to help employees and employers realise the importance of workplace safety. A 30-second TVC drives home the message "This Could Be You" and will run on local free-to-air channels, cable TV and in cinemas from May to July.

The campaign drives home the fact that work accidents can happen to anyone, especially if they take safety for granted and neglect safety practices. The TVC reinforces this with statistics: Every day, 30 people are injured at work and every week, one dies.

VIEW THE SPOT

After almost two years with the company, Mitos Borromeo (left), current head of the Bates CHI&Partners Philippines office, is leaving the company to pursue a new career outside the advertising industry.

"We would like to thank Mitos who, with her senior team, has built Bates CHI&Partners in the Philippines into one of the most recognized offices for the Network", said network CEO David Mayo.  

Under Borromeo, the agency has produced famous work for clients such as Wyeth, HSBC and Avon, and has developed a reputation for creativity that drives results across all media disciplines.

Borromeo says that leaving Bates CHI&Partners is bitter-sweet: "I loved working at Bates CHI&Partners - it is one of the most respected agency brands in Asia. It has a progressive philosophy, and the staff are the best group of people I know."

Borromeo is joining Solar as its COO. Prior to Bates CHI&Partners, she was the CEO of GroupM Philippines. An announcement on her replacement will be made shortly.

Lowe has appointed Allan Fraser-Rush as Global Planning Director, based out of Singapore. He will take responsibility for the agency's Unilever brand partner Clear and a yet to be announced new brand, working in both a Global and a Regional Strategic capacity.
 
Fraser-Rush (left) joins the agency from his role as Global Planning Director at Lowe Brindfors, Sweden. Educated in USA and his native Australia, he began his career in banking and finance, before switching to agency roles at EuroRSCG and McCann Ericsson in Australia. Prior to joining the Lowe network, Fraser-Rush spent eight years with TBWA\, TBWA\GGT & TEQUILA\London, which he headed up as Managing Director. He has been recognized at multiple industry awards including D&AD and Cannes.

The Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity and the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation are pleased to announce nine projects that have been selected as part of the second Grand Challenges Explorations initiative. Each project will develop an innovative communication approach to changing the global conversation about the impact of development aid.

The creators of the nine projects will each be awarded up to US$100,000 to work on their communications idea and will be mentored by a Cannes Chimera panel made up of representatives of each of the 2012 Cannes Lions Grand Prix winners. The Cannes Chimera will work with the grantees to help develop and hone their initiatives. Grantees are then invited to apply for up to US$ 1 million of additional funding from the Gates Foundation to implement their ideas.

London International Awards 2013 is now accepting entries. Entries submitted must be broadcast, published or released in a commercial environment with client approval between 1st July 2012 and 31st July 2013.

See LIA website for details.

This year's all-star jury will convene at the Encore Hotel in Las Vegas in early October.

Getty Images, a leading creator and distributor of award-winning still imagery, video, music and multimedia products, today announced the launch of its inaugural Contour by Getty Images Portrait Prize, which aims to recognize excellence in portrait photography by an emerging photographer with fewer than five years industry experience. 

The winning photographer will receive a $10,000 grant and have their work exhibited at the prestigious Polka Galerie in Paris throughout the month of October. 

Ad Stars Busan International Advertising Festival 2013 call for entries has been extended until May 31. Entry is free and two grand prix winners will be awarded with a US $10,000 cash prize.

Ad Stars 2013, the biggest advertising festival in Asia which had entries of 10,431 works from 57 countries last year, is now calling for entries through the website and the deadline is now May 31. This year Ad Stars has altered categories for entries in order to meet the changing advertising industry.

Twenty-seven judges are named for final judging and nearly 160 judges are selected for the preliminary judging. Five executive judges will lead the judging including Jacques Seguela, Founder of RSCG Worldwide.

Beacon kk/Leo Burnett, Tokyo created this concept for the Wada Elementary School to help people in the community bond again with local shops and help people to cope with the natural disasters that have been affecting Japan.

The agency reached out to local artists to create originally crafted birds made of folded ribbons and commissioned a well-known composer to create a song.

VIEW THE CONCEPT

Michael Beecroft is to transfer from the London office of MEC to take up the role of Head of Trading for MEC Asia Pacific.
 
Beecroft (left) will report to Stephen Li, CEO for Asia Pacific and Keith Tiley Global Head of Trading.  He'll be based in Hong Kong. Beecroft was previously Global Head of Digital Trading, based in London. He replaces David Primmer who moves into a key regional role on Colgate Palmolive.
 
Stephen Li, commented on the appointment: "Asia Pacific remains a critical growth region for many of our international clients and trading is a fundamental cornerstone of our business. Michael's appointment enables us to develop a strong, integrated trading competency within Asia Pacific. Michael is an accomplished professional with a unique background.  His deep expertise in digital, trading and business development will be invaluable for our teams and we look forward to his innovative solutions for our clients and agency partners."

In the lead up to next month's Cannes Lions Festival, Campaign Brief Asia will be showcasing work from some of Asia's top agencies that we hope will impress the judges...

ShopElseWhere
Ogilvy & Mather Hong Kong
ShopElseWhere is a movement where independent brands collaborate and recommend each others items. They work together to mix and match designs. When customers shop they can scan a QR code which gives them access to matching items from other small designers.



KFC
Ogilvy & Mather Hong Kong
Ambient idea that shows that KFC Hot & Spicy really delivers on heat. Hong Kong people love spicy chicken. The agency used 1 empty bucket and 60,000 soda cups to grab people's attention.

Australia - Kia Australia and Innocean have taken their Cerato 'never an uncomfortable moment' theme and created the campaign's first live stunt.

The stunt took place in front of 30,000 footy fans at the recent Essendon vs Greater Western Sydney AFL match.  This follows on from the earlier TVC launch on April 29.

VIEW THE STUNT

Integrated digital and social media agency, Yolk, a Grey Group company, working in partnership with local animal welfare groups has launched PawfectPets.sg, an interactive website that aims to create public awareness about puppy mill cruelty. The campaign seeks to change public mindsets from purchasing animals at pet stores to adopting them from animal shelters.

At the core of the campaign is an innovative website that takes on the appearance of an online pet store called PawfectPets. The recently launched campaign specifically targets people looking to buy a dog as a pet. Ads placed online and in local newspapers promoting 'puppies for sale' direct prospective dog owners to the website. Visitors to the online site are not only able to see the profiles of the puppies, but are also engaged to play with the puppies through an interactive video that turns into a series of pop-up windows that gives a peek into the puppy's life journey from puppy mill to pet store front. The campaign strategy is to intercept the shoppers' journey to make them pause for a moment to consider where these cute pet shop puppies are coming from. By getting their attention where it matters most, the campaign seeks to have potential dog owners leave with a message they will not forget and to help put an end to the cruelty and inhumane practices in puppy mills.

In Thailand Café Amazon is known as the traveler's buddy with 650 coffee stops at gas stations nationwide, helping to keep travelers and drivers fresh and awake during their journeys.

Café Amazon wanted to find a way to help their traveler buddies to arrive at their destinations safely - with no dozing off and no accidents.

Café Amazon decided to be the traveler's buddy on the road. Turning the drivers' Smartphone into sleepiness trackers and alarms!

VIEW THE IDEA

JWT Singapore has teamed with global fragrance house Givaudan to create a first of a kind bespoke "Smell a Memory" kit - a unique innovation that harnesses the power of scent to evoke emotional memories among Alzheimer's and dementia patients.

Alzheimer's and memory loss caused by dementia affect 35.6 million people worldwide.

"Our sense of smell is one of our most visceral instincts. It has an instant and powerful connection to memories, especially emotional ones," said Juhi Kalia, JWT Singapore ECD. "We thought, 'What if we can use smell to bring evoke memories and emotions in these patients?"

Adrian Sergovich has joined Song Zu Sydney as their newest composer. Sergovich originally hails from Melbourne where he studied jazz guitar at Monash University. Soon after his studies, a desire to compose began to overtake the aspiration to become a performing guitarist. So he assembled a studio and began establishing himself around Melbourne as a talented tune-smith, cutting his teeth on short films, documentaries, theatre works and commercials.

Sergovich (left) has been working as a regular freelance composer for Song Zu over the last two years and just recently made the move to Sydney to become a permanent member of the team there.

Song Zu Partner Ramesh Sathiah said: "Song Zu already has a formidable team and for a freelancer to cut through and make a real impression is no mean feat - Adrian has done this and he's a perfect addition to our Sydney Team".

In Sergovich's first week as a permanent composer he completed the soundtrack to Leo Burnett's Coke 'Small World Machines' campaign.

Lowe Malaysia has created the countrywide activation for Unilever deodorant  Rexona's regional campaign theme Do: More. The campaign will support underprivileged children in Malaysia.
 
The campaign launches this month under the banner "Rexona Move. Sweat to Change Lives". The aim is for Malaysian women to collectively complete a journey of 10,695km - the length of West and East Malaysia, in what could be the world's longest virtual relay race.
 
Lowe's task was to localise the regional campaign message of "Do More" and make it relevant to what Malaysian women want. Their solution offers consumers the chance to sweat for social good. Using a mobile app, social media and microsite, smart- and non-smart-phone users can register and Sweat to Change Lives. Every movement spent walking, running, dancing, cycling will be converted into kilometres by the app or can be logged online. For each Malaysian state completed, Rexona will partner with a local children's home.

Australia: BMF has announced that top UK adman Dominic Stinton will be the agency's new CEO, taking over from Jeremy Nicholas, who departed earlier this month.
 
Stinton joins BMF from international creative agency VCCP, where he served as group managing director and a joint founder of VCCP Share, a specialist social media agency with clients including Oasis, MoreThan Insurance, JellyBelly and Unilever Food Solutions.
 
Stinton brings a wealth of experience from a career spanning some of the industry's most renowned agencies including nine years at BBH, where he was a board director and head of account management in London and he also helped establish the Singapore operation. Stinton also spent four years at HHCL & Partners after beginning his career at Still PriceLintas.

Cannes Lions' programme of academies offers the opportunity for young professionals across every communications discipline to hone their craft in a unique environment. Taking place during the Festival, each course is curated and led by an expert in their field and features a handpicked speaker line-up drawn from the industry's highest ranks.

Click here to find out more information.

Isobar has hired Liberty Hsu as Executive Creative Director of their Taiwan office, effective immediately. Isobar's latest creative hire follows the recent appointments of Graham Kelly, Regional Executive Creative Director of Isobar APAC and Nick Bailey, Executive Creative Director of Isobar in the UK.

Reporting to Freda Shao, Managing Director of the agency, Hsu (left) will lead the creative teams and take responsibility for the quality of the creative product across various client brands. She will also work closely with Peter Shen, Chief Creative Officer of wwwins Isobar China/Taiwan. Having previously worked as Creative Director for DDB and McCann Erickson and also held senior creative roles at Saatchi & Saatchi and JWT in Taiwan, Hsu has over 20 years' experience in the advertising industry, working across renowned clients such as Coca-Cola, HSBC, Unilever, Taiwan Tourism Bureau, Johnson & Johnson and KLIM (Nestlé).

OMD Singapore has promoted Elisa Chua to Business Director with immediate effect. Chua is now a part of the senior management team at OMD Singapore and her expanded remit in the senior leadership role includes growing OMD Singapore's business, team and enhancing its culture.

Formerly, a media director, working on the accounts of Health Promotion Board, Base Entertainment, Carlsberg (to name a few), Chua is credited with facilitating recent new business wins like Workforce Development Agency, and SilkAir and shortlists at industry award platforms like the SMAs. Prior to OMD, she was working with MEC as Media Director. Chua started her career with Omnicom Media Group, having worked with OMD in 2000 and PHD in 2003 and rejoining OMD in 2011.

Each week Bestads picks the very best advertising in the world, in every medium - which is reviewed by a top creative director or team to select their own personal favourites.

This week's guest judge is Jeremy Craigen, global executive creative director VW, DDB London.

READ HIS REVIEW

Rayan Karaky (left) has been appointed Chief Digital Officer at Starcom MediaVest Group MENA and Emerging Markets, based in Dubai.

"As in other parts of the world, digital strategy and innovation is driving growth across the Emerging Markets," said Matt Blackborn, President, Emerging Markets. "Rayan brings with him tremendous knowledge and a proven track record of brand building and aggressive growth in the digital space. He is a true innovator, and I'm looking forward to working closely with him." 

"Digital convergence is reshaping our industry on a daily basis.  I'm tremendously grateful to Matt for the opportunity to use my expertise in adopting new capabilities and driving integration across a wider geography," said Karaky.

This year, Cannes Lions is to honour YouTube CEO Salar Kamangar with the Media Person of the Year Award.

Kamangar (left) leads the video community that 1 billion people across the globe use to access information, share video, and shape culture.

Founded in 2005, YouTube was acquired by Google the following year. Since taking the role in 2009, Salar has overseen the expansion of YouTube into a global broadcast platform.  Under his leadership, YouTube's site design and its investments have been reshaped to focus on channels and the emerging content creators behind them. YouTube's usage has been increasing at tremendous rates, to six billion hours of video watched each month, a 50% increase over the past year. YouTube has also launched TrueView, the advertising format whereby advertisers only pay for ads watched, and has doubled the number of advertisers using it in the last year.

Coke, Leo Burnett Chicago and Leo Burnett Sydney has unveiled a new initiative aimed at breaking down barriers and creating a simple moment of happiness between two nations at odds - India and Pakistan.

Protoleaf is a Japanese gardening soil brand. Concerns about nuclear radiation from the Fukushima accident had caused consumers to question soil safety - even in store-bought products.

TBWA Hakuhodo Tokyo wanted to let stakeholders, including consumers and trade, recognize the surprising quality and safety of the product. What if the soil was so safe, you could actually eat it?

To showcase the soil quality and safety, TBWA Hakuhodo opened "The Soil Restaurant" with a Michelin 3-star chef who created a full course meal using Protoleaf Soil as the main ingredient. The restaurant was open to the public and charged $110 per person.

VIEW THE CONCEPT

The final qualifier for the World Cup was a must-win to earn Japan a World Cup berth.

As an official sponsor and supplier, adidas Japan K.K. wanted to turn the event into an opportunity to make a connection with its audience using the unifying theme of football.

The objective was to create an event that unites and engages football fans throughout Japan in support of their national team and generate dynamic connections among football fans in support of their team.

To achieve the object, TBWA\Hakuhodo Japan created an event that was both impactful live but could also be shared and engaged with via smartphone. The solution was an interactive projection 200 meters above the ground in Tokyo on the day of a crucial game for the national team.

VIEW THE CONCEPT

From 2008 to-date the divorce trend in Thailand shows no sign of slowing, while the marriage rate continues to drop. In 2010, the number of marriages was 285,944, and the number of divorces was 108,842.

The main concept of this BBDO Proximity Thailand campaign is to create and maintain long-lasting relationships, urging lovers to show their love every single morning.

The Dentiste' Toothpaste spot features various ways of expressing love in the morning to start a meaningful day.

VIEW THE SPOT
 

The internet has everyone trapped in its world wide web. People are so busy trying to connect with our online acquaintances, that we're disconnecting with those who really matter: our family.

As a brand that has always supported bonding between families, Vicks Throat Drops finds an insightful take to the good ol' product benefit of bringing voice back. Agency: Publicis Singapore.

Credits - Worldwide Chief Creative Officer: Erik Vervroegen. Executive Creative Director: Ajay Thrivikraman. Copywriter: Sonal Chhajerh, Nikhil Panjwani. Art Director: Tam Ivy San. Agency Producer: Annie Ang. Photographer: Jeremy Wong. Producer: Jasmine Ho. Account team: Rakesh Hinduja, Ambba Kuthiala.

CP+B announced today that it has hired Andy Grant as Associate Creative Director, to be based out of the agency's Los Angeles office.
 
Grant joins CP+B from BBH, where he spent the last five years at their offices in both New York and Singapore.

During his 13 years in advertising, Grant has worked across the globe in over five countries at places like TBWA\Hunt\Lascaris, WCRS, Leo Burnett and Ogilvy, where he created campaigns for Google, Axe, Levis, British Airways, Audi and Vaseline.

His work on the "Prescribe The Nation" campaign for Vaseline, which saw the brand conduct a social experiment in a small Alaskan town, was covered extensively by major national press in the US and won the Grand Prix at the Jay Chiat Awards. His work has also been honored at The One Show, Clios, Cannes and The Loerie Awards.

Dumb Ways to Die continues to gather pace with an app game for iPhone and iPad, developed by McCann Australia in collaboration with game developer Barrel Of Donkeys, claiming the number one free app spot in Singapore for a full week.
 
The game is charting in 79 countries, and is the number one free app in Australia, New Zealand and Singapore, and the number one game in those three countries as well as The Philippines, Malaysia and Indonesia.

GET THE APP

UPDATED - Delegates at this year's Cannes Lions festival are set to join an MMOG - a 'massive multiplayer online game' - with the launch of the official Cannes Lions app, announced today.
 
The festival will see attendees awarded points called Pings. Pings are gathered via the app for a range of activities including attending seminars, networking with other attendees, collecting work to take home and much more.

The Pings collected via the app translate to points on a leaderboard, with only the top ten leaders displayed. And of course, 'points mean prizes'!
 
Each day (Monday to Friday) the individual at the top of the leaderboard at 17.00 hours will receive a prize. The person to get the most Pings on Saturday at 12.00 hours will be named the ultimate 'Win Cannes' victor and will win a delegate pass for Cannes Lions Festival 2014.  

WATCH THE VIDEO
GET THE APP

Visit the Win Cannes website for more information.

This week, six young students descended upon TBWA\Chiat\Day New York as part of their three month 'alternative internship'. The Hyper Island students, who are studying Interactive Art Direction, chose to approach the standard three-month internship by launching The Pop Up Agency: an agency that challenges the traditional ways of working.

The idea is that the students work for 48 hours with start-ups, companies and agencies around the world. After working for 48 hours, they deliver a concept or a strategy focused on a clientʼs need. Then the team folds up and moves on to the next challenge. Their goal is to do 15 jobs in 15 countries in 15 weeks. TBWA\Chiat\Day New York is their 11th week in their 11th agency.

Jaguar reveals the global advertising campaign for the launch of its definitive sports car - the F-TYPE. As Jaguar's first new true sports car model in 50 years, the new F-TYPE represents a return to the company's heartland: a two-seater, convertible sports car focused on performance, agility and driver connection.  

The campaign with the intriguing invitation: "Your Turn", is spearheaded by a TV/Cinema ad which breaks mid-May, and will run through to July 2013.  Using motion, sound and design queues the campaign invites prospective owners to experience the new Jaguar F-TYPE.

The multi-channel campaign will include integrated activity across TV, Cinema, print, outdoor, digital, mobile and tablet, as well as experiential and social media.  The campaign will roll out across the UK, Mainland Europe, China, North and South America, EMEA and Asia Pacific.

VIEW THE SPOT 

Leagas Delaney Shanghai has been selected to partner with QQ after a four-way pitch. QQ is China's most popular instant messenger with over 780 million active users. Leagas Delaney's mission is strengthen QQ's brand image in the era of mobile Internet and to reinvigorate its leading position in the domestic instant messenger market.

Tencent's Marketing Director, Lisa Yang spoke about the appointment, "QQ's brand proposition is 'Happy Communication' emphasizing the happy experience of each user in the communication process. So we want to work with an agency that can deliver humorous ideas. We found that Leagas Delaney has a very good portfolio in this area. In the pitch, their accurate consumer insights and great creative ideas really impressed us."

GyooYong Oh has been promoted to Chief Creative Officer of JWT Korea, rounding out the agency's new leadership team. Oh will work in partnership with Junghwan Kim, who was promoted to role of Managing Director of JWT Korea in April.

Oh (left), who joined JWT in 2008 as executive creative director, has created campaigns for a range of blue chip companies, including AIA Insurance, Korea Tobacco, Samsung, Hyundai and Kia Motors. He was won continued recognition for his work in Korea, bringing home dozens of creative accolades over the last three years.

"JWT Korea has benefitted hugely from GyooYoong's creative talent, drive and leadership qualities. His confidence and growing passion to do the right thing for brands, coupled with his straight-shooting and down-to-earth nature, make him perfect for his new role. It's a well-deserved promotion," said JWT North Asia Executive Creative Director Yang Yeo.

PHD Singapore has been appointed by Transitions Optical to head its regional digital and social media account, following a recent pitch. As per the win, Singapore will serve as a regional hub, managing 4 markets in the region - Singapore, Malaysia, Philippines and Hong Kong - for Transitions Optical.