Advertising may not be rocket science, but WPP Group, in its new name for a roll-up of retail marketing shops, likens a slice of it to math.

Geometry Global is the new name for the company's merger of G2, JWTAction and OgilvyAction. Collectively, the operation employs some 4,000 staffers in 100 offices located in 56 countries.

Beyond retail marketing, the shop will create events, and trade and digital marketing.

Geometry will be run by CEO Steve Harding, the former CEO of OgilvyAction; COO and CFO Matthew Schetlick, who held the same dual role at G2; and chairman Toby Hoare, the CEO of JWT Europe and chairman of JWT London. 

Hoare retains his JWT roles and will continue to be based in London. Harding and Schetlick will work out of New York.

As if to underscore the value of shopper marketing, Grey Global Group, in the wake of its split with G2, is looking to develop its own capabilities in the space, with a search under way for an executive to lead the charge.

Geometry Global, the entity resulting from the merger last June of WPP Group’s G2, JWTAction and OgilvyAction retail marketing operations, has rung up an impressive early win, according to sources: Unilever’s shopper marketing business in the U.S.

The below-the-line business would be comparable to a $400 million media account or $40 million in revenue, sources said. Unilever is one of WPP’s largest clients.

Advantage Sales and Marketing, Irvine, Calif., appears to be the incumbent. The agency also works for companies like Mars, J.M. Smucker, Ralcorp/Post Cereals, Energizer and GlaxoSmithKline.

Execs at Geometry, Unilever and Advantage could not immediately be reached for comment.

Geometry claims to be the world’s largest activation network with more than 4,000 people in 56 countries.

Shopper marketing is one of the industry’s fastest-growing practices, and WPP chief Martin Sorrell has described it as the next big battleground for retailers in mature markets. That importance was underscored at Grey Global Group, which in the wake of its split with G2, hired Joe Lampertius to work on behalf of clients with his initial focus on Procter & Gamble. Last month, Grey said Lampertius had joined the WPP agency as CEO of its new global shopper marketing practice, after the agency recruited him from Interpublic’s Momentum Worldwide where he was svp, shopper marketing.

When most great spec projects make the rounds among the Internet's creative community, it's assumed the work will never see the light of day. Here's a notable, wonderful exception.

Late last year, Italian designer Marco Sodano received global praise for his creative pixelation of famous paintings remade with Legos. At the time, he said he wanted to convey "the belief that every child with Lego can become a great artist like Da Vinci and Vermeer."

This month, he posted a new gallery, this time empowered to call it simply a "campaign for Lego." The official versions (largely similar but for the word "Imagine" embedded at the top left) were produced by agency Geometry Global in Hong Kong, with Sodano as art director.

Check out the four official executions below:

Via The Inspiration.

Ahh, the morning paper. You've just settled into your seat on the train, or perhaps a park bench, to enjoy the morning light and digest the news of the day. But there are two things missing: your cup of morning joe, and another person to enjoy this peaceful moment of solitude with you.

Yes, the folks at Nescafé France have deemed reading a newspaper to be "a rather lonely moment." As a cure for this intolerable isolation, they've invented branded newspaper wrappers that come with pop-up paper mugs, apparently with coffee powder in them. If you happen to be near some hot water, well you're in luck! Instant coffee!

There are two mugs: one for you, and one for the person you are now sharing your Metro newspaper with! 

See below as actors convincingly use these paper advertisements as actual mugs, filling them with scalding liquid. And note the relief on their faces as they once again avoid another moment of being totally and inescapably alone. 

Via Ads of the World.



CREDITS
Client: Nescafé
Agency: Geometry Global, Paris
Chief Executive Officer: Reza Ghaem-Maghami
Executive Creative Director: Yvan Hiot
International Creative Director: Patrick Sullivan
Art Director: Nicolas Gagner
Copywriter: Romain R. Nonis
Account Manager: Margaux Delacommune
Art Director: David Lin
Art Buyer: Annette Hallum
Chief Creative Officer, Worldwide Creative Director: Michael Kutschinski
Designer: Olivier Brechon
Print Manager: Karine Prigent, Redworks
Media Planner: Severine Bernelin, Neo
Production: Ateliers Marina, Marsellus

Plenty of agencies describe themselves as full service, but one really wants to take that commitment to the next level.

At least, that's the premise of a video Geometry Global Paris made as an uncomfortably literal love note to marketers, celebrating the new year. In the clip, staffers at the agency are informed that, in 2015, they'll be required to pucker up and French kiss their clients—because what better way to show the agency's French-ness and devotion to its work?



Naturally, the whole thing is all a joke, but the reactions are pretty excellent. Some employees register, as you might expect, bewilderment. Others blurt out the sort of desperation for intimacy that can only come from marathon late nights in the office working on mind-numbing campaigns. Others still get indignant, which might be most surprising, given agency staffers are basically paid to debase themselves for clients on a regular basis.

The smartest guy by far starts bargaining for a bonus. At least he understands the terms.

Via Design Taxi.

Would you strap on an Oculus Rift headset at your favorite bar? In the latest example of how marketers are embracing virtual reality, alcohol brands are taking branded entertainment to a new level with tech-aided events at local watering holes.

Jim Beam, Dos Equis and Fire Eater are all examples of brands that are using technology like Oculus Rift and Samsung Gear to win over consumers at the moment when they're most likely—and perhaps under the influence—to try out new liquors, particularly with of-age millennials.

"In this day and age, it's really hard to capture the full undivided attention of your consumer and it's especially hard to capture that in a crowded, busy bar," said Rachel Harris, Jim Beam's U.S. director of brand activation.

Geometry Global just kicked off a campaign promoting Jim Beam Devil's Cut, a bourbon named after part of the bourbon-making process. Typically, a portion of bourbon escapes through the walls of the barrel while it is made—dubbed Angel's Share. Devil's Cut is the portion of bourbon that gets trapped in the barrel.

To show that experience first hand, the brand is setting up Samsung Gear headsets at 250 bars in 16 U.S. markets like New York, Chicago, San Francisco and Orlando this year that will be used during 750 sampling events.

"It's like a 3D roller coaster ride through the process," Harris said. Indeed, a minute-long video transports bar goers into a flowing river of bourbon inside of a barrel. The video then swirls folks around to replicate the aging process, ending in eventually being catapulted out of the barrel. Meanwhile, Jim Beam representatives waif a piece of paper soaked in bourbon under people's noses to further hammer home the product.

"The virtual reality piece was a way to add a bunch of shock value and make sure that as they walk away, they're talking about the experience," Harris explained.

The Most Interesting Man in the Bar
For Dos Equis, lead agency Havas Worldwide and experiential shop Mirrorball set up virtual reality activations in 21 bars in eight markets last year as part of a Halloween-themed masquerade campaign.

Participants could try on Oculus Rift headsets to watch a three-minute video showing a party scene with the brand's Most Interesting Man in the World spokesman (played by actor Jonathan Goldsmith).

Sales of Dos Equis shot up 18 percent during the Masquerade campaign, and the live events and online video generated 27 million views.

Jason Musante, a managing director and group executive creative director at Havas Worldwide in New York, said that some people waited in line for three hours to test the VR activation.

"Alcohol brands are often unable to control the environment where they are consumed or purchased," Musante said. "VR offers these brands an opportunity to create a more controlled brand experience and world. That's what drove the thinking behind The Dos Equis Masquerade experience: take people from the bar they are in, to the incredible world of the Most Interesting Man."

A similar thought drove Brown-Forman's decision to set up virtual big top circuses in English bars last year. Working with Critical Mass, the company used Oculus Rift to launch a cinnamon-flavored liquor called Fire Eater.

Can Digital Replace Traditional Beer Marketing?
Besides the obvious headache of regulations and rules that alcohol marketers must heed, this new spin on entertainment-geared advertising makes the brands stand out in the realm of testing new technology. That said, experts don't expect such tactics to replace the coasters, signage and posters that typically plaster bars.

"I don't see it replacing the social side of wanting to be in a bar in the first place," said Mike Woods, a global ecd at Framestore. "As an engaging, entertaining few minutes at your friends' expense, it could be a lot of fun."

Also, there's a potential for pitfalls when using headsets around boozy people, said Vincent Au, vp of experience design at Rokkan.

"I think that VR could be the next form of in-bar entertainment for liquor brands but I hope it isn't, mostly from a personal standpoint due to the risks involved with having folks with a few drinks in them using new VR technology and not being aware of their real-world surroundings," Au said.

CANNES, France—The most low-tech product imaginable, a simple lump of iron, won the Grand Prix in the Product Design Lions contest here tonight. But while it looks unassuming, this fish made tens of thousands of Cambodians healthier.

As the case study below shows, Geometry Global in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, approached the problem of iron deficiency in Cambodians by trying to find ways to add more iron into their diet. One way, they found, was to simply put a piece of iron into skillets and pans while cooking. But Cambodians were reluctant to do so … at first.

Check out the video for more.

Meanwhile, R/GA won three Product Design Lions for high-tech work for Hammerhead, Diagenetix and Equinox. (Unlike most categories at Cannes, this one does not award gold, silver and bronze prizes. They are simply called Design Lions.)

Check out all the winners below.

—All the Product Design Lions
• R/GA New York for Hammerhead Navigation
• R/GA New York for Diagenetix's BioRanger
• R/GA New York for The Pursuit by Equinox
• AIAIAI Copenhagen / Kilo Design Vlaby for Aiaiai's TMA-2 Modular Headphone System
• Maruri Grey Guayaquil in Ecuador for Panasonic's ACH2O
• Grey Group Singapore for Talwar Bindi's "Life Saving Dot"
• Publicis Colombia Bogotá for Cirec Foundation's "Funtastic Hand"

Jim Carlton has long struggled to characterize what it is, exactly, he does for a living.

"It's a question my parents have often asked me," he tells Adweek, adding, "Design was hard enough to explain to them!"

Carlton started his career as a graphic designer, and he has worked in brand activation marketing for more than 20 years. In February he will become North American chief creative officer of one of the sector's largest agencies, WPP-owned Geometry Global.

Rebranding a Long-Overlooked Practice

Jim Carlton, incoming CCO of Geometry Global

Though activation has been around in some form for decades under different names, it has largely failed to explain itself to a public that defines "advertising" as TV/digital video spots and out-of-home work like giant, can't-miss-'em billboards.

Throughout Carlton's time in the field, one of his goals has been "to take it from this perception of schlock or 'below the line' to something more high-end. I always preferred to call it 'at the line.'"

Traditionally, activation agencies create in-store signs and other impulse-oriented sales materials you might encounter in a Starbucks, McDonald's or Walmart. Most often that means banners or other displays highlighting a new or discounted product, but agencies such as Geometry have been working to expand the category with big, bold ideas that turn everyday objects into potential sources of PR and social buzz.

One such idea was Arc Worldwide's "Beautiful Hair, Whatever the Weather" campaign for Pantene. The work, which geotargets consumers and recommends hair care products based on Weather Channel forecasts for their zip codes, is currently in its fourth year and still going strong after winning an Effie, an Ogilvy Award and a Digiday Retail Award, plus inspiring a partnership with Walgreens.

The reason that this sort of work has so often been misunderstood is that multimedia campaigns and Super Bowl ads are more likely to "stick" with viewers, while consumers and trade media alike assume that activation work is less valuable because it is less visible.

The reality of the equation is more nuanced. As Carlton puts it, "Our work is a bunch of things that add up whereas, with TV, you get it when you see it."

He sees his new role as a "once-in-a-lifetime opportunity" to help highlight the sort of work done by retail/shopper-focused teams like those in Geometry's 10 North American offices, which stretch from Toronto to San Francisco.

On that note, Carlton tells Adweek that the responsibilities of an activation agency's creative leader go well beyond designing in-store displays. He describes his day-to-day as "a conveyer belt of work" ranging from the aforementioned print materials to banner ads, e-commerce environments and even product design projects (like his work on "Adidas concept sneakers that never got produced").

One recent buzz-worthy project from Geometry Global was "Animal Instincts, Pet Condoms," created to promote the San Francisco SPCA in 2013.

Activation Goes Mobile in a Big Way

The end goal of almost all advertising is sales, but retail/brand activation marketing aims to reach consumers at the moment they make their purchasing decisions. For that reason, the mobile revolution has had an even more dramatic effect on this form of marketing than it has on "traditional" creative agencies as more clients recruit activation shops to target consumers where they browse and shop: on their phones.

Carlton says, "Because of our expertise on shoppers, our clients have naturally gone from giving us their paper merchandising requests to mobile, which is an extension of the shopper experience. We've started to deal with motion, movement and ideas beyond print."

For that reason, the worlds of creative and activation have begun to overlap. "I have had great success in hiring traditional agency folks to work in our space," says Carlton, adding, "The winners will be brands that can embrace both approaches."

So will retail work grow as paid media budgets shrink? "TV is always going to be important," Carlton says, "But clients are realizing that some of their money is better spent at the point of purchase, be it in the store, at a concert, at a football game, or on my phone while I'm sleeping."

New Day, New Agency

In the new role, Carlton will report directly to Geometry North America CEO Carl Hartman, who calls him "a unique blend of a world-class, inspirational creative thinker and a savvy businessman who understands intimately how to sell our clients' products and services."

Before being recruited by Hartman in late 2015, Carlton spent nearly two decades at Arc Worldwide, the Publicis/Leo Burnett unit he describes as "an amalgamation of several entities oriented around promotions or shopper/retail merchandising." He handled creative duties for all of Arc's clients including McDonald's, Procter & Gamble, Coca-Cola and Walmart.

Regarding press coverage, he says, "I think that's something our industry is learning to do better: after you've done the great work, how do you get people to talk about it?"

In the meantime, he just wants to make a good impression at Geometry. "The first thing I'm interested in is being respectful, getting to know the people, observing, listening big time, then starting to figure out where the opportunities are."

Here's the funny thing about Dick and Jane books: We're aware they existed but don't actually remember reading them as kids (probably because their social high point was between the 1930s and 1970s). If they remain impactful today, it's probably more because of the spin-offs they inspired than because of the originals ... which is amazing when you think about it.

This time, the nostalgic throwback is being used to encourage more women to run for office. For organization She Should Run—whose title lends itself suspiciously perfectly to a Dick and Jane tribute—ad agency Geometry Global created a downloadable PDF called See Joan Run.

The 14-page book follows a woman called Joan—whose name carries extra weight for Mad Men lovers—in a world full of Dicks (we liked that joke, and also its Mad Men echoes). One of our favorite passages follows thus:

Bob says, "There are too many Dicks in office."

"Run, Joan, run!" says Sue.

The rest follows Joan running, winning and encouraging other women to run. The last few pages include facts about women in office—when women run, they get elected at the same rate as men do, but fewer than one-third of elected American leaders are women—and how you can help change the ratio (for example by sharing the book). 

Per a 2013 study, the U.S. ranked 98th in the world for the percentage of women in its national legislature—down from 59th in 1998. At the current rate of progress, "women won't achieve fair representation for nearly 500 years," said Cynthia Terrell, chair of FairVote's Representation 2020 project, at the time the study came out.

This is a shame for all of us. Women elected to key national leadership offices yield better economic performance for ethnically diverse nations—sometimes up to a 6.8 percent rise in GDP growth compared to nations with male leaders only.

Similar findings were found in a 2015 MSCI study of company boards: Generally, companies with strong female leadership at the very top saw a return on equity of 10.1 percent more per year, versus 7.4 percent for those without. Companies that lack board diversity also suffer more governance-related controversies.

These stats have been floating around for a while, though, so if a simple-as-dirt nostalgia-driven storybook is what's necessary to galvanize more ladies (and hopefully dudes), we're all for it.

You can download the book, tell a woman to run (at the bottom of the page) or make like Shonda Rhimes and tweet all about it. An accompanying letter to influencers also provides useful stats and even a script for spreading the word:



She Should Run claims that, since the campaign went live, it's enjoyed 2.1 million impressions across 11 countries and a 300 percent rise in nominations. That's a start ... and it's certainly better than investing in The Business Bulge.

MediaCom is the new North American planning and buying agency for BRP, the Quebec-based manufacturer of recreational products.

The WPP shop was awarded the business after a review which included OMD, Carat and Havas. Geometry, the incumbent, declined to participate in the search process.

Media spending in the North American region is about $50 million, according to sources.

Bombardier Recreational Products—BRP—went public in 2013 and its products are now sold in more than 100 countries. Among BRP's brands are Sea-Doo watercraft and Ski-Doo snowmobiles, one of Canada's most iconic consumer brands.

"Innovation and passion are at the heart of our business and both came through strongly in MediaCom's pitch and client experience," said Louis Levesque, BRP's vp, global marketing and consumer experience. "We look forward to working with MediaCom on the development of a fully-connected market strategy.