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Once again, our tipsters were spot on as we’ve received an internal note sent from Mullen chief creative officer Mark Wenneker to staff today regarding rumors about the Boston-based agency opening up shop in San Francisco. Well, as Wenneker says, it’s no longer rumor. We’ve been hearing about the Bay Area expansion since Friday, and from what we know, that instead of just being referred to as an office per se, the Mullen camp is calling it a “talent hub.” The agency is currently finalizing space and recruiting said “talent” for the new SF “hub,” which we’ve been told should hopefully be operational at the beginning of next month. Anyhow, check out Wenneker’s full memo, which should clarify matters, after the jump.

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New Career Opportunities Daily: The best jobs in media.

-Publicis Groupe aligned Saatchi & Saatchi and digital shop Duke in France to create, you guessed it, saatchi&saatchi duke. link

-IPG-owned shop AFG& hired Tom Goodwin to take on the newly created role of director of growth and innovation.

-Digital Pulp redesigned Dartmouth’s website. link

-Let’s wind things down today with a vinyl trick montage from Conscious Minds (above). Shaun and Ed from Shaun of the Dead are no match.

-First Facebook’s out and now the Super Bowl for General Motors. What’s Joel Ewanick up to? link

-Saatchi & Saatchi’s Team One brought over Fabio Simoes Pinto from its LA office to serve as creative director on Lexus, as well as Chiat/Deutsch alum Justin Mitchell as integrated art director on the automaker’s account as well as Heather Parke as senior copywriter for general accounts.

-Organic and Constellation Wines teamed up to encourage young wine enthusiasts to play “social sommelier.” link

-Starz Entertainment hired Erin Dwyer as executive director, digital marketing for originals and Joe Salvati as executive director for brand and digital sites. link

-In case you didn’t know, you can now embed or view Art & Corny in full. link

New Career Opportunities Daily: The best jobs in media.

Sure, it’s got a name that can be easily confused with bands young and old, but Urban Airship is actually a three-year-old mobile tech company that’s joined forces with fellow Portland-based operation Wieden + Kennedy to define what the hell a “good push” is. From what we gather, there’s good and bad mobile engagement that could be created via push notifications including social push, news alerts, geo-based, or traffic/weather events.

Well, W+K and Urban Airship, the latter of which was actually developed in the former’s Portland Incubator Experiment (why are we itching to watch the Prometheus trailer again?) and has now evolved into an agency client/partner, aim to illustrate what positive push entails. How else? Animation, of course, and the parties involved regale us with “Tales of Good Push” via a handful of clips featuring a variety of cartoon characters who, without the help of narration, can perhaps better explain the whole message here.

New Career Opportunities Daily: The best jobs in media.

We’ve seen numerous ways to add personalized messages to products ranging from chocolate bars to cookies to cans of soup, but recently we came across one that has an interesting new twist. Created by Seattle cloud texting company Zipwhip, Textspresso is an espresso machine that can not only send and receive text messages, but can also print those messages on coffee foam using edible ink.

To create the Textspresso device, Zipwhip installed a Jura Impressa Xs90 espresso machine with SMS and printing capabilities using an Android app, servo motors, an Arduino microcontroller and a retrofitted Canon printer. Users can text their order to the device, which will then brew their coffee and keep it hot on a warming plate until they pick it up. Perhaps most interesting of all, though, is that the machine can use edible ink to print text on the coffee’s foam, opening the door to a world of personalization possibilities. For example, the machine can be used to text the last digits of a customer’s phone number, enabling them to easily identify their coffee when they go to pick it up. The video below explains the premise in more detail:

Zipwhip actually created its Textspresso machine as a way to showcase its cloud texting service, and it has no plans to produce more of them, it says. The code and plans for making the device are open source, however, and available to anyone seeking to make their own. Tech-minded entrepreneurs and coffee shop owners worldwide: time to build one for yourself?

Website: blog.zipwhip.com/2012/04/30/textspresso-machine-celebrates-cloud-texting-technology Contact: info@zipwhip.com

Spotted by: Denise Kuperman

During today’s earlier post about Mat Driscoll, we did mention the former Saatchi copywriter-turned-beard seller, JD Beebe. Since we’re horrible with names in our increasingly senile state, we forgot to put two-and-together and realize said person is also behind the GrabSomeGoodby.com effort, which we just discussed a few months ago and was created in order to help find his fellow, laid-off Goodby staffers some new work following sweeping staff  cuts.

Anyhow, rather than do more unintentional disservice to Beebe and just post an update to the Driscoll item, might as well take a minute to bring you up to speed on his seemingly whirlwind career path since our original “beard” post. He hit us up just a couple of hours ago, and here’s his note verbatim:

“Life after Saatchi has been a blast. I came east to run headlinecostumes.com, a halloween costume site that focused on topical/celebrity-driven outfits. That spun into a freelance gig at HUGE in Brooklyn, which bankrolled a trip to South America. Upon returning, I made it into the city (NYC) fulltime. Before starting back in the ad world as a Sr. Copywriter at Noise, I pursued a few side projects. Namely HammoGram.com, a site where I’d postmark and mail anyone a picture of Jon Hamm with an attached love note for Valentines Day. Afterwards, I made GrabSomeGoodby.com to help my former colleagues at GSP who were affected by their layoffs. Additionally, I’ve been continuing my work as CMO for a new dating site startup and developing quick-to-turnaround digital projects such as lhunch.com (coming soon). Beards (and Princess Beatrice Hats) are still selling as are a line of Peruvian shoes I’m producing that were brought back for my girlfriend during the aforementioned S.A. trip.

Life is busy but good!”

Phew. You can check out more, if interested, about Beebe’s projects, current or in production, here.

New Career Opportunities Daily: The best jobs in media.

A couple of tipsters were raving to us over the weekend about this new, five-minute ditty from The Marketing Arm for PepsiMax, which we’ve has garnered nearly 1.3 million views since its Friday debut. So, what happens when a college-turned-NBA star decides to go undercover and take part in a little game of street hoops in Bloomfield, New Jersey?

Well, look no further than the clip above starring NBA Rookie of the Year Kyrie Irving, the former Duke standout and current Cleveland Cavaliers guard, who goes incognito and decides to do some hustling in a pickup game. If you feel like watching “Drew” really take off and talk smack in the process, just fast-forward to around the 2:00 mark. Or, stick through the whole clip and see how Kyrie transformed into character for this PepsiMax piece, which, to be specific, was concepted/produced out of the Omnicom-owned Marketing Arm’s L.A. office. Now, if you’ll excuse us, we’ll go figure out how Irving’s game compares to the pickup battle that Kevin Durant engaged in and destroyed last year.

New Career Opportunities Daily: The best jobs in media.

It’s been an ongoing theme here at Springwise over the years that there are very few product categories that can’t benefit from a style-infused upgrade. Case in point? Japanese Umino Seaweed Shop’s rolls of nori that are laser-cut in designer patterns.

Sales of nori reportedly took a downturn following the Japanese earthquake and tsunami of 2011. In response, international ad agency I&S BBDO created for Umino its new line of designer nori: seaweed for sushi that’s laser-cut into artistic, designer patterns. Five precut designs are available — including “sakura,” featuring cherry blossoms, and “mizutama,” or water drops — each reportedly based on an element of Japanese history or symbology.

Umino’s designer nori was on exhibition earlier this year at the Mitsubishi Ichigokan Museum in Tokyo, according to a Design Boom report; and pricing on the nori rolls is reportedly JPY 840 each. How could your brand infuse its products with a similar splash of style?

Website: www.isbbdo.co.jp/#/showcase/3 Contact: www.isbbdo.co.jp/#/contact

Spotted by: Denise Kuperman

Before we dive into episode 5 of AMC’s The Pitch, I’d like to address two articles posted on Ad Age in the last week. The first, by PJA Advertising and Marketing’s CEO, Phil Johnson, seeks to address what he feels is the show’s biggest problem: That it portrays an outdated business model. Johnson argues that the show reduces the advertising industry to a caricature saying, “Senior people fret and worry, while junior teams do all the work. Worse yet, in some cases those junior teams get pitted against each other while those senior people condescendingly dismiss their ideas. Consistently, the client gets the least value from the most experienced and presumably expensive staff.”

Now, I don’t necessarily think that this is a problem with The Pitch. This is a problem with the industry as a whole, and no matter how many agency CEOs mug in front of the camera and talk about how their company’s processes are “different,” you’ll find that their employees say something quite the opposite. Scan our comment section sometime for validation.  Instead, I would argue that The Pitch‘s biggest problem is that it’s mind-numbingly boring for anyone outside of the industry. As my girlfriend said during last night’s episode, “I love reality shows where two teams compete. I mean, I’ll watch and enjoy Storage Wars. But, I can’t watch this.”

The second big problem, of course, is that no one is actually watching The Pitch. Ad Age ran the numbers, and found that a mere 148,000 people in the all-important 18-49 demo watched the show last week. However, due to AMC’s slim amount of original programming, the show will most likely complete its entire eight-episode season instead of getting pulled from the air early. I guess they figure re-running Breaking Bad season four isn’t going to top a regular viewership the size of Joliet, Illinois. So, how is AMC hoping to attract viewers, aside from moving the show’s timeslot so that new episodes air right after Mad Men? Well, why not bring back The Ad Store, the losing agency from just three episodes ago? (Like always, spoilers ahead!)

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New Career Opportunities Daily: The best jobs in media.

In your latest bit of life-after advertising-news (speaking of, whatever happened to the Saatchi copywriter-turned-beard seller?), we’ll tell you on this dreary Monday about a new venture brought to you by one Mat Driscoll, who gave up his full-time art directing gig at Mother a couple of years ago and moved to Maine to study furniture-making. Now, the learned craftsman has returned to New York and while he still dabbles in freelance creative work, Driscoll’s main focus is on his own Brooklyn-based “collective wood shop” dubbed Bellboy. Sounds so Brooklyn, doesn’t it?

Anyhow, Driscoll unveiled some of his handiwork at the Wanted Design gallery over the weekend like the chair above, which we’ve been told is made of reclaimed California Redwood from a Park Avenue water tower. Driscoll’s chair, which is part of an exhibit for 12×12 Design Week, is being auctioned off to benefit woodwork education and job training here in NYC. As for his agency career, Driscoll spent three-and-a-half years at Mother, working on accounts including Spike TV, Dell and K-Y.  Check out more larger water tower chair images and Bellboy info here.

New Career Opportunities Daily: The best jobs in media.

Those of you ad folks who’ve been playing in the Twitterverse for the last few years have probably grown familiar with Midwest creative director/writer Jason Fox, or perhaps more so with his Twitter alter ego, @leeclowsbeard. Well, Fox, who has been tweeting out pearls of wisdom under the guise of said TBWA legend’s famous facial hair since 2009, has grown popular enough (25,000+ followers and counting) to merit bitter knockoffs and most significantly, both a book and an app. The title? You guessed it, @leeclowsbeard, which will hit bookshelves on June 12.

To promote the app and book, which you can pre-order here, Mr. Fox offers a slideshow that gives you the history of his Twitter effort. We’ve been told that Lee Clow himself flew Fox out to meet in person before deciding to go ahead and publish the title under the banner of TBWAChiatDay LA’s content innovation studio, Let There Be Dragons.

New Career Opportunities Daily: The best jobs in media.

BDDO San Francisco’s Dan Hofstadter and Ricardo Valero are on the move as the creative team has left said agency after less than a year to take on similar ACD roles at fellow Bay Area operation, EVB. During their brief stint at BBDO SF, copywriter Hofstadter (pictured) and art director Valero, who joined last summer from Goodby and DDB Milan, respectively,  worked together on accounts including Mars’ Cesar and Whiskas brands, Gallo wine and Harrah’s.

Now at the Evolution Bureau, the pair will work directly under ECD Stephen Goldblatt and with a shop that counts clients including Facebook, Firefox and various Mars/Wrigley brands such as Skittles, Altoids, Juicy Fruit and Orbit. Along with his ACD stint at Goodby, Hofstadter spent three years in Chicago as a creative at Leo Burnett while Valero worked in his native Spain at Euro RSCG Madrid as well as Y&R Milan before heading to the States.

New Career Opportunities Daily: The best jobs in media.

-Former Mother art director April Mathis Lauderdale, who worked on the Method Man “World Gone Sour” video for Sour Patch Kids among other things while at said agency, has assumed the same title at Raleigh, NC-based Baldwin&.

-NASCAR and Twitter play let’s make a deal. link
-Appshaker and BBC Home Entertainment take their show on the road with a U.S. augmented reality tour (above).

-Ogilvy U.K. chief exec Hugh Baillie has decided to move on…but where to? link

-Facebook stock is continuing to drop this morning. link

New Career Opportunities Daily: The best jobs in media.

Swedish home products retailer IKEA has appeared on our virtual pages many a time, and recently we found cause to cover it again. The innovation this time? Something the company calls “the smallest store in the world” — namely, an entire IKEA store packed into a 10.5cm x 8.8cm web banner.

“With city populations on the rise, living spaces have become increasingly limited,” the company explains. “IKEA believes that no matter how cramped your space, there’s always a solution.” To demonstrate that belief, the company — generally known for its oversized retail spaces — has packed a full store with 2,800 products into the space of a small web banner. Shoppers who visit the diminutive store by hovering their mouse over it can then browse by department, choose what they want, and buy it online. “We targeted people looking for studio flats as well as one/two bedroom apartments by placing our tiny stores in the real estate section of community websites,” IKEA notes. The video below explains the concept in more detail:

Who says there’s no room left for innovation in the retail world? Certainly not us — particularly when that innovation can span the online and offline worlds. Brands around the globe: be inspired!

Website: www.smalleststoreintheworld.com Contact: www.ikea.com/ms/sv_SE/customer_service/etrack.html

-Indie darlings Beach House respond to getting apparently ripped off by Volkswagen in a new ad (above). link

-As a shock to no one, Facebook set trading records for IPO volume. link

-Hey, BSSP is hosting an NYC confab next week starring PepsiCo’s Shiv Singh among others. link

-Another Mediabrands network, you say? link

-MyxTV, an Asian-American entertainment network, launched something called Mashbox. link

-A couple of soccer nuts/NYC creatives have launched the Euro 2012 Score Censor. link

New Career Opportunities Daily: The best jobs in media.

While many video games are designed to distract from the gamer’s everyday life, we have recently seen some developers instead try to incorporate real-world activity into the virtual world, with last year’s Tweetland being one example. Now New York-based creative Tyler DeAngelo has built 5th Ave Frogger, which takes real-time traffic data and feeds it into a homage to the classic arcade game.

DeAngelo struck upon the idea when his favorite 1980s video game – in which users had to safely guide a frog across a busy road – was omitted from the Smithsonian American Art Museum’s The Art of Video Games exhibition. The developer decided to create an updated version of the game, hacked to receive input from a webcam located above 5th Avenue, which translates real traffic into digital obstacles for the game’s character. Using similar technology to the Pimkie Color Forecast recently featured on Springwise, cars on the road are isolated from the background and their position mapped in real time. The game’s difficulty level depends on the time of day – nighttime is the easiest, while the morning rush hour might be best left to experts. In a twist that brings the real and virtual worlds even closer, DeAngelo has presented the game in its original arcade console format on the sidewalk of 5th Avenue for passersby to play. The game was also demonstrated at the NYC FUNHAUS 2012 event in Brooklyn at the end of April, but there is no word yet if there will be further outings. The video below shows the game in action, as well as the technology behind it:

5th Avenue Frogger merges real life and video games in a simple, but entertaining way. Developers: could you take this concept to the next level?

Website: www.5thavefrogger.com Contact: tylerdeangelo@gmail.com

Now that we’ve seen automotive tires that can adapt automatically to changing road conditions, it’s not surprising to come across an acoustic ceiling for concert halls that adjusts in real time to the music being played. Resonant Chamber is a new innovation from Michigan design firm RVTR that “deploys the principles of rigid origami to transform the acoustic environment through dynamic spatial, material and electroacoustic technologies,” in the company’s own words.

Similar in appearance to the classic fortune teller created through origami, Resonant Chamber is built to be able to contract and expand its many folds to make the most of the sonic conditions of the moment. “The goal is not ‘perfect’ acoustics, but rather variable acoustics for different applications,” RVTR’s Geoffrey Thun told Co.Design recently. “To enable a single venue to provide ideal conditions for a range of music performance and audience configurations would be fantastic.” Toward that end, a mix of reflective, absorptive and electroacoustic triangular panels are suspended from a track and can reportedly shift positions as needed to enhance the sounds emanating from below. The video below explains the premise in more detail:

RVTR is currently working on a custom software interface for Resonant Chamber that will add additional capabilities; the company also aims to scale up its prototype into a 1,000-square-foot installation, Co.Design reports. Architectural entrepreneurs: one to get involved in?

Website: www.rvtr.com/research/resonant-chamber Contact: www.rvtr.com/contact

It’s that time again, when we fill the remainder of your day with ad-related videos. Huzzah and you’re welcome. This week, get down with the People’s Car project and, if you dare, take flight in this new hover craft thing. But wait! There’s more: MasterLock got some ‘splainin to do after a 5 year old picked their shit faster than you can say “today, i watched a video where a 5 year old picked a Master Lock…I am useless both because I can’t pick a lock and I spend my time watching videos of children who are more talented than myself.” Say it with me! Enjoy the weekend.

5. Universal Hovercraft! This is a machine that can literally go anywhere. Being enamored with this kind of thing isn’t weird so stop judging.

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New Career Opportunities Daily: The best jobs in media.

-‘The Pitch’ Recap: BooneOakley Battles Conversation for Popchips

-Sad: DDB GCD Sonya Grewal Passes Away

-John Norman Takes Some Time Off

-MARC USA’s Modesto Moves On

-Russell Takes ECD Post at GSD&M

-Arturo Aranda Leaves BBDO

-Yet Another BGF9000 ‘Press Release Announces Employment of Miami Ad School Grad

New Career Opportunities Daily: The best jobs in media.

Time for some good news on the DFCB NY front. After a review, the amusement park brand known as Sea World (here’s to you, Shamu) has picked said agency as its new creative AOR. DFCB NY takes over for Momentum on the Orlando-based company’s account and is expected to roll our work for Sea World next year. In a statement, company president/CEO Jim Atchison says, “We’re excited to tap into the creative and strategic firepower at Draftfcb, as well as their in-depth knowledge of moms and families, to expand recognition of our parks as must-see destinations. We are investing in an extraordinary level of capital expansion and, together with Draftfcb, will cultivate a new level of global consumer awareness for our company.”

From what we hear from sources, Doner might have also been in the mix for Sea World, which has spent about $50 million in measured media.

New Career Opportunities Daily: The best jobs in media.