AdFest has announced that Prasoon Joshi is joining AdFest 2019 as jury president of the Audio Lotus and Film Lotus categories. Joshi is one of India's most respected creative luminaries, and he completes AdFest's line-up of Jury Presidents for 2019.

As CEO and chief creative officer of McCann Worldgroup India and chairman of McCann Worldgroup Asia Pacific, Joshi says: "I'm delighted to be overseeing two of AdFest's most intriguing categories: Audio, which in the midst of a major revival, and Film, which reflects the richness of local cultures in the Asia Pacific and Middle East regions. AdFest is one of my favourite shows and a proud advocate of creativity that's inspired by local insights - it will be an honour to return to Thailand next March."

The epic journey of the ADC Cube draws to a close, as the entry deadline for the ADC 98th Annual Awards is only eight days away, ending on Thursday, January 31.

This Australia Day, Smith's is calling for Aussies to get back to the classic "Snag" and "Sauce" with the release of its new Smith's Snag & Sauce chips. The brand has partnered with PHD to launch its limited-edition chips ahead of the public holiday with a new ad campaign.

Dentsu Aegis Network (DAN) has today announced the appointment of Anthea Kane to the role of chief financial officer (CFO), Australia and New Zealand.
 
Kane joins DAN from ANZ Banking Group where she has held multiple roles across more than 17 years, most recently as the CFO global technology, services and operations - a division of the Bank spanning 33 countries with more than 20,000 people.
 
Additional roles during Kane's career extend to several global businesses including Shell, Coopers & Lybrand, and KPMG.

The Leading Edge has today announced senior leadership changes at The Leading Edge with APAC CEO Gillian O'Sullivan (left) becoming global CEO, leading the business from Sydney.
 
EMEA CEO Chris Paxton is moving internally to sister agency Hotwire Communications taking up the position of chief strategy officer at the start of February and will build the strategic communication capabilities for the PR and Communications agency. Both Hotwire and the Leading Edge are owned by the Enero Group.
 
Isobel Smyth, managing partner, will take the lead for the EMEA region and will report directly into O'Sullivan.
 
O'Sullivan joined The Leading Edge in September 2018 from Ipsos Marketing in Sydney where she was managing director.

The premium tuna brand is feeding the people of Melbourne for the launch of its newest product. With creative from Akkomplice agency and digital and activation strategy from Online Circle Digital, Sirena Tuna is taking over Southern Cross train station in Melbourne with it's Ready to Eat meal Station Activation.

The activation will see the Sirena Tuna team giving away thousands of Ready to Eat meals to the public for free on on Friday 25th and Saturday 26th January.

Rio Tinto has appointed Zenith to its media planning and buying account following a competitive pitch. The account is being handled out of Zenith's Melbourne office, with the appointment effective immediately. Billings are undisclosed. The win comes after a number of new business wins for the agency in 2018, including Lactalis, Chinese ride-sharing company DiDi and the Australian College of Psychology.

The partnership between the AMI and VETASSESS is bringing together industry and education providers to ensure that the current assessment criteria for occupations across advertising, marketing and market research in Australia install confidence and meet expectations for employer groups and organisations Australia-wide.

The Prescribed to Death campaign raised awareness of prescription opioid overdose in the US with an innovative live experience supported by a multimedia campaign. Prescription opioids contribute to the deaths of more than 22,000 Americans each year. An NSC survey on drug abuse revealed that one in three Americans taking prescription opioids don't even know they're taking opioids, so the campaign targeted household health decision-makers and pain-sufferers.

You knew this date was coming, didn't you? You always knew that whatever masterpieces you and your agency have been creating, you needed to get them into The One Show 2019 by the end of the month for a chance to win a coveted Gold Pencil.

Guess what? The end of the month is almost here. Thursday, January 31, 2019 is the last day to enter The One Show before late fees kick in. After this date, each late submission is subject to a $75.00 USD penalty.

To be eligible for submission the work must have been live between March 1, 2018 and

Creative agency Clemenger BBDO Sydney has been selected to lead the development of Australia's nation brand following the conclusion of a competitive global open tender process.

The head of Australia's Nation Brand at Austrade, Fiona de Jong, said the agency, one of Australia's largest, would create an authentic, compelling brand to drive preference and choice of Australia, its people, goods, services and thinking.
 
Says de Jong: "We are delighted to appoint Clemenger BBDO after an extensive and competitive global search."

New York Festivals International Advertising Awards has announced Aussie expat Matt Eastwood, global chief creative officer of McCann Health as the 2019 executive jury president. For the first time in the 9-year history of NYF's executive jury, a President will preside over this elite panel of chief creative officers from around the globe who will assemble in New York City this April for 5 days to select the world's best advertising.
 
Says Eastwood: "It is an incredible honor to be asked to be the first ever Jury President of the prestigious New York Festivals. As the Jury President I want to encourage the judges to award work that not only actively engages consumers but also achieves results. But my hope is to go even further than that. Bill Bernbach once said, 'All of us who professionally use the mass media are the shapers of society. We can vulgarize that society. We can brutalize it. Or we can help lift it onto a higher level.' We'll be looking for work that works. But, more importantly, we'll be looking for work that lifts creativity and, indeed, society to a higher plane."

Marks & Spencer Australia and Oath's RYOT Studio launch the online retailer's first Australian consumer content campaign "Life Isn't Uniform".

Continuing to enhance its offering in the customer experience (CX) space, MercerBell has announced the appointment of Brad Bennett (left) as executive strategy director. The news follows the hire of Jo Gascoigne (right), who joins the expanding team as the new Melbourne-based strategy director.

Bennett arrives at MercerBell, part of Publicis Communications, with extensive digital and strategic CX experience under his belt from previously held roles, including strategy director and head of digital at independent creative agency The Hallway. Here, his work for Google won an AC&E Award Grand Prix and Pinnacle Award for Innovation. He was also director of production at The White Agency.

What do a mermaid, a bikie, a crane-driver, and a State gymnastics team all have in common? They all love eating a perfect bowl of Kellogg's cereal.
 
They also feature in a new Kellogg's campaign, created by J. Walter Thompson Sydney, launching this week, featuring a diverse group of real life Australians sharing the unique way each one enjoys 'My Perfect Bowl'.
 

 

At Mike Chandler's funeral and wake on Friday, Campaign Brief had many requests to create a poster reproducing 'The Incompleat Angler', Lionel Hunt's touching ode to Mike, plus as many of the record amount of comments about Mike that appeared on the CB blog and on various Facebook posts.

After departing the Asia-Pacific ECD position at FCB last year James Mok has made a surprise career move, taking the managing director role at VMLY&R, Auckland.

Now in its third successful year, the 2019 MOP NEXT internship program is now open.

WATCH THE FILM

NIVEA's agency partners Richards Rose, OMD, FORWARD Agency and VMLY&R have united to create a new brand campaign for NIVEA's key charity, SISTER2sister, which helps at-risk teenage girls, termed 'Little Sisters', by pairing them with Big Sisters in a mentoring program across 12 months.

VIEW THE POSITIVE SPOT
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Telstra remains Australia's most valuable brand despite its brand value subsiding 7% to $14.7 billion, according to the latest report by Brand Finance, the world's leading independent brand valuation and strategy consultancy. Woolworths (brand value up 23% to $11.2 billion) and Coles (brand value up 31% to $11.0 billion) both jumped two places to 2nd and 3rd, respectively. The two Australian retail giants have grown their brand values strongly this year despite the threat of online competition from Amazon.

Emmy award winning director Patrick Clair has joined Sedona Productions for representation across Australasia.

Best known for his iconic title sequences for series including True Detective, Westworld and The Crown, Patrick Clair is a director who works at the intersection of storytelling and design.

Visa, together with Colenso BBDO & Clemenger BBDO Sydney, has today launched Urban Survivalist, a branded entertainment series starring one of Australia's most successful comedic exports, Ronny Chieng (The Daily Show, Crazy Rich Asians).

Urban Survivalist puts one celebrity contestant, in one foreign city, for 24 hours with the intention of seeing how he survives with no warning and no wallet. What the producers don't realise is that he is carrying his mobile phone.

VIEW EPISODE THREE

The One Club for Creativity, the world's foremost nonprofit organization whose mission is to support and celebrate the success of the global creative community, has promoted Lauren Cole to lead its wide-ranging One ID inclusion and diversity department.

In her new role as senior diversity program manager, Cole will oversee all of The One Club's global inclusion and diversity programs and events.  She joined the club two years ago as program manager, and previously held HR and talent recruiting positions at iCrossing, Hill+Knowlton Strategies and MSLGROUP.

Clemenger BBDO Melbourne and the Australian Football League (AFL) have today launched a new brand positioning for AFL Women's ahead of the sporting code's NAB AFLW Competition opening round on Saturday February 2.

GenW has been created to showcase the diverse group of people that form the AFLW's growing and incredibly passionate fan base.   

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VIEW THE SPOT

Zenith has launched a global culture initiative to support local communities and charities on the saddest day of the year - the third Monday in January (21st), typically known as Blue Monday. In Australia, Zenith will work with Youth off the Streets, SecondBite and Youngcare.
 
The idea to transform Blue Monday into "Zenith Monday" stemmed from an agency-wide competition. To celebrate Zenith's 30th anniversary this past October, a global contest 'If I were CEO for a day' asked employees to come up with ideas on how they want to see Zenith evolve. Zenith Mexico won with their idea of Zenith Monday, which sees more than 6,000 employees in the agency's global network encouraged to participate in team building activities that promote good causes and benefit their community. 

Introducing the all new Cerato GT in a bold and playful way, Kia Motors Australia has unleashed 'Get Mean', a fully integrated campaign, developed by Innocean Australia, to promote the sporty prowess of its new turbo-charged Cerato GT. Launching at this year's Australian Open, the campaign leverages Kia's lead sponsorship of one of the country's most anticipated sporting events.
 

At a time when Australians are feeling uncertain and disillusioned about health insurance, Australian not-for-profit health fund, HCF, is reminding its members in a new campaign via Integer, that after more than 85 years of service, it is still considered Australia's most trusted health insurer.

HCF has launched its latest advertising campaign today, called 'HCF Trust', across Australia in celebration of the health fund receiving the top score as Australia's most trusted health insurer in the 2018 Roy Morgan Net Trust Score Survey.

Sydney-based independent creative agency, The Idea Shed, has begun the year with the appointment to handle Westholme, a premium Wagyu beef brand. The agency was involved in a competitive pitch against a US agency and three Australian agencies to secure the full-service win.  Billings are undisclosed.

Westholme are Australian producers of "the world's finest" wagyu, owned by the almost 200-year-old Australian Agricultural Company (AACo).  Owning 1% of Australian land, they supply select fine dining restaurants in Australia, the Middle East, Asia and the US.

The Idea Shed will be responsible for integrating the Westholme brand through all digital, social and content work as it tells its story to top global chefs and the foodie community around the world.