We’re pleased to announce that Tena Hermance has rejoined Doner as senior VP, brand leader.  In this position she will be responsible for the direct response brand positioning and strategic planning for several of our accounts in addition to playing a role in the agency’s new business development.

Click here for more from the press release.

The 2011 National ADDY Awards Show took place on Saturday, June 4th in San Diego. Our spot for Avery, "Draft," brought home a Silver award for the National TV/Consumer Products category. "Draft" was recognized alongside the best work in the country including Old Spice's "The man your man could smell like," Allstate's "Mayhem" and Snickers' "Betty White."

The ADDY Awards represent the true spirit of creative excellence by recognizing all forms of advertising from media of all types, creative by all sizes and entrants of all levels from anywhere in the world. We're more than thrilled with the outcome!

Click here to view the winning spot and a picture of our trophy

The first Dunkin’ Doner party went off without a hitch yesterday afternoon, even with all the rain! We kicked off summer and the upcoming long weekend with great music, delicious food and thirst quenching drinks!  We were honored to have entertainment from The Sights, a well-known Detroit blues-rock-pop band that Rolling Stone called “a new Detroit-garage band that comes in colors.”  It was great to take a break from the day to mingle with co-workers and play a little “throw the hula-hoop around the Sheep” for a chance to win a limited edition Dunkin’ Doner t-shirt!  It’s going to be a great summer with many more opportunities to mingle, eat, drink and dance.

Happy Memorial Day!

Everyone was dressed in their finest T-shirt and blazer for the 2011 One Show last night. Happy to announce that Doner’s work for Chrysler was awarded as a Finalist. Great to represent Detroit amongst the world’s greatest work. See you next year One Show.

We’re thrilled to be launching a new integrated campaign today for Pennzoil. The campaign, “Pennzoil Pride,” taps into the consumer’s emotional connection with the brand through the idea that Pennzoil® is more than just a motor oil. It’s part of peoples’ lives. The campaign leverages real-life stories and the tremendous heritage of America’s trust in the Pennzoil® brand to show its importance yesterday, today and tomorrow. Pennzoil® Pride generates excitement around the brand, a sense of community and an invitation to belong.

Click here for more from the press release.

Click here to view the campaign.

Rob Strasberg – co-CEO, Chief Creative Officer
Justin Smith – EVP, Executive Creative Director
George Levy – Copywriter & Creative Director
Steve Osterman – Art Director & Creative Director
Angelo Patrona – Art Director
Brett Willis – Copywriter
Joe Knisely – Agency Producer
Raymond Bark – Director
Gartner – Production Company
JoeyL – Photographer
“Shine” by Collective Soul – Music

Thursday, March 24th was a very good night for Doner Newport Beach at Gothic Moon Studios in Orange, California.

Attending the OC Ad Federation’s 23rd Annual OC ADDY Awards Gala, we took home six awards; two Gold, two Silver and two Bronze.

The list of work judged by the advertising community included client campaigns for Avery, Del Taco and Mazda all of which were recognized with an award.

All in all we were proud to be a part of such a great event that recognizes some of the best work in our industry.  As our spot for Avery played during the ceremony we received much laughter from the audience and the crowd’s enthusiastic applause for the work we did for Mazda made us feel great about what we accomplished for the brand.

Great job to all of our talented employees who were involved in the development of all of these amazing pieces of work.

Mazda2 Campaign
– Gold – Mixed Media, Regional/National Campaign

Mazda2 Inner Driver Guy Print
– Gold – Consumer or Trade Publication, Spread, Multiple Page or Insert

Avery “Draft”
– Silver – Regional/National TV, Single Spot

Mazda2 Brochure
– Silver – Collateral Material

Del Taco Super Special Show
– Bronze – Interactive Online Media Campaign

Mazda2 Inner Driver Girl Print
– Bronze – Consumer or Trade Publication, Spread, Multiple Page or Insert

Click here to view the winning work.

Beginning this week, we launched first work for one of our newest accounts, OhioHealth Corp.  The multimedia advertising campaign kicked off on Monday and debuted the brand's new "Believe in We" theme, which reflects the system's work to build and reinforce a collaborative culture.  The campaign positions the brand as a system that is working together with its 8 hospitals and 40 cares sites to make the community healthier. This new approach replaces ad messaging that focused on each individual hospital in the OhioHealth network.

The campaign includes television, print, radio, out of home and online.

Check out a few elements of the campaign here.

People are saying it's "We" cool.

They help NCAA basketball teams win. But they don’t play. They work tirelessly. They solve problems with creative solutions. But most of all, they inspire people. They’re the Team Logistics Managers, the student managers for NCAA basketball teams. UPS and The UPS Store help consumers with their Logistics expertise. And we’re helping The UPS Store celebrate these Team Logistics Managers with documentaries featured on the Facebook page for The UPS Store. The documentary with the most “likes” on Facebook will win a $10,000 donation to the general scholarship fund for their school in the name of the winning Logistics Manager. These documentaries began with a national search for the most compelling stories. And once the managers were selected, we shot, produced and directed these short films. We were given access to team’s locker rooms, team practices and got to interview the coaching staff at some of the most storied college basketball programs in the country. The result is a group of stories that are truly inspiring.

Click here to see the films and to vote for your favorite!

Craig Conrad has joined Doner as executive VP, brand leader where he will be responsible for directing the strategy development and daily operations on the agency’s Chrysler account.  Conrad will also play a role in the agency’s business development efforts.

Click here for more from the press release.

(Southfield, Mich.) – Laura McGowan has joined Doner as senior VP, strategic planning. In this position, she will be responsible for the business analysis, brand positioning and strategic planning for several of the agency’s accounts while also playing a role in the agency’s new business efforts. The announcement was made by David DeMuth, Doner co-CEO, president.

“Laura’s depth of experience in consumer research and brand planning along with her strong digital strategy background is a real asset to the agency and our clients,” said DeMuth. “Finding a strategic planner who is well versed in all of these areas is rare and we’re thrilled to have her as part of our team.”

McGowan comes to Doner with over 15 years of strategic planning and corporate research experience. She has held a variety of positions including, but not limited to, director of research, digital strategist, marketing brand strategist, and supervisor of training and development. She spent 10 years of her career at Organic, Inc., Bloomfield Hills, Mich., as the company’s director of customer insights where she was responsible for bringing customer insights and understanding to clients’ e-commerce, communications, and branding efforts. Starting her career at J. Walter Thompson, Detroit, McGowan held a variety of positions in the agency’s digital group, Ford automotive operations department and human resources department.

Throughout her career, she has done work for a wide range of clients including Bank of America, Benjamin Moore of Canada, Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Michigan, Center for Creative Studies, Chevron, DaimlerChrysler (Chrysler, Dodge and Jeep), Domino’s Pizza, Dow Automotive, eBay Motors, Ford, Jaguar of Europe, Unilever, McAfee, Sprint of Canada and Telus.

In addition to her corporate experience, McGowan has over 18 years of full-time and adjunct university teaching experience. She has instructed courses in advertising, business communications, copywriting, interpersonal and public communications, markets and marketing, nonverbal communications, organizational communications, principles of marketing, and public speaking.

McGowan has a doctorate in marketing and communications from Wayne State University, Detroit, along with a bachelor’s degree in English from Albion College, Albion, Mich.

Our winning streak continues with the most recent addition to our list of clients, Choice Hotels! Choice Hotels has named us as their lead creative agency. In this role we’ll help to lead a whole new branding initiative for their full list of hotels which include Comfort Inn, Comfort Suites, Quality, Sleep Inn and Clarion just to name a few. We’re excited to see what’s to come for the brand and look forward to helping to move their business forward.

For more details from the press release click  here.

For an article from Adweek click here.

We’re thrilled to announce that Chrysler has awarded us its dealer and retail advertising business where we will be responsible for producing all retail and dealer oriented ads for the Chrysler, Dodge and Jeep brands as part of the year-end effort. Today is a great day for Chrysler, Detroit and all of us here at Doner!

Click here for more from Adweek!

This summer, in support of our client, Komen Northeast Ohio, our Cleveland office put together a team for the Northeast Ohio Race for the Cure. Employees were challenged with fun, team building activities to help raise money to support the cause which resulted in surpassing the $10,000 goal and raising over $12,600! Komen Northeast Ohio demonstrated their appreciation for all of Doner’s hard work with a great mention in the Komen newsletter, Pink Ink. Check it out below!

When Komen Northeast Ohio interviewed new advertising agencies, each prospect was asked to explain how they would support Komen’s mission and be “authentically pink.” In their new partner, Doner, Komen found an entire team of powerful, passionate and authentically pink people! Since taking Komen as a client, Doner has made many introductions to potential partners, created a fresh look for the 2010 Race for the Cure® marketing materials and even created a Komen Corner in their office. This sitting area, painted Komen Pink, gives Doner’s creative team a place to be inspired by Komen’s mission.

Doner also went above and beyond when creating their team for the Northeast Ohio Race for the Cure. General Manager Jennifer Deutsch challenged her staff to create fun ways to engage their staff, vendors and clients in the Komen event. The results were a summer filled with fundraising, team building and a whole lot of pink.

Kicking off their efforts in June, Doner held a “shorts day,” a Texas Hold ’Em tournament, and a Pink-Pong tournament. Then in August, as a way to engage their entire office building, Doner hosted a “Komen Carnival” in the lobby of their office building with all proceeds going towards Team Doner’s 2010 Challenge pledge of $10,000. The Komen Carnival featured a clown, balloon darts, a duck pond, pink treats, a 50/50 raffle and more. The day concluded with an office party which featured a Chinese auction and pie toss where a $5 donation provided the chance to toss a whipped-cream pie at a co-worker. The Komen Carnival raised $1700 for Team Doner and Deutsch said it was the best team building event that they had ever held.

To date, Team Doner has surpassed their $10,000 goal and has raised over $12,600, placing them in the top 10 teams for the 2010 Northeast Ohio Race. For a team of 55 people, that’s authentically pink!

View photo from Komen Carnival here »

We’re excited to announce that Helen Boutorwick has rejoined us as VP, associate media director. Helen returns to the agency from Campbell-Ewald, Warren, Mich., and will use her traditional and direct response experience to oversee the media planning and buying of our Owens Corning, Things Remembered, Agri-Fab and HoMedics accounts.

Welcome back to Doner Helen!

Click here for more details from the press release!

In less than two weeks we’ve picked up another award for the “33 Keys” ARG we created for Mazda3. This time it’s a MIXX Award. Last night, at the MIXX Awards Gala held in New York, the agency won Bronze in the Cross-Media Integration category for “33 Keys.” The MIXX Awards honor interactive work that sets new standards of creativity and innovation for the medium. Congratulations to our entire team involved, it’s looking like we’re going to need a bigger trophy case!

From Japanese sketch comedy to King Kong, aka Hairy Barry, the latest episode of the Del Taco Super Special Show has it all. We’re happy to say that this is our funniest yet.  Tell us what you think about it on Facebook.

Client: Del Taco
Spot Title:  Super Special Show Episode 6
Agency: Doner
Chief Creative Officer: Rob Strasberg
Creative Directors: Brian Born & Chuck Meehan
Agency Producer: Dan Barbieri
Account Director: Heidi Rogers
Production Co: Moo Studios
Director:  Chad Einbinder
Animation Director: Shaun Sewter
Producer: Rebecca Donaghe
Line Producer: Rich Payne
DP: Michael Pescasio
Editor:  Martin Wilson
Music Company:  Beacon Street
Composer:  Andrew Feltenstein
Animation Company:  Moo Studio
Sound Mix Company:  POP
Sound Mixer:  Mitch Dorf

How do you bring a new automotive nameplate to a generation of digital natives that is connected, and lives and buys like no other? You do it in a smart, new, engaging way and enable consumers to author their own brand experience. 

Beginning July 28th Mazda North American Operations (MNAO) will launch the 2011 MAZDA2 in North America with a branded social game on Facebook.

Click here for more from the press release and for a direct link to the game.

Co-CEO, Chief Creative Officer: Rob Strasberg
Executive Creative Director Interactive: Justin Smith
Executive Creative Director: Steve Chavez
Associate Creative Director: Jason Jakubiak
Contributing Art Directors: Samuel Conant, David Wysocki, Cristina D’Aristotile
Contributing Writers: Lori Bender, Lukasz Sokolewicz
User Experience: Andrew Heaton
Production Company: FRIMA
Account Director: Kerrin Kramer
VP, Group Account Director: Dan Keefe
Account Director: Katrina Fraze 
SVP, Integrated Production: Kurt Kulas
Account Manager: Peter Corsello
Senior Business Manager: Jeanne Webber
VP, Director of Digital Project Management: John Hoinville 
Production Operations Manager: Amy Swain
Digital Strategist: Rachel Leith 
SVP, Director of Operations SVP, Director of Operations: Ann Wood

We were honored to present a retrospective of our work celebrating 70 years of “Changing the Destiny of Brands” at The One Club gallery in New York. The exhibit showcased beloved work of our past alongside the pioneering campaigns we’re creating today. Here’s a brief look at the opening night reception. 

• Timex – “Takes a licking. Keeps on ticking.”
• Tootsie Pop – “How many licks does it take to get to the center of a Tootsie Pop?”
• Klondike Bar – “What would you do for a Klondike Bar?”
• Vlasic – The Vlasic Stork • Colt 45 – “Works every time.”
• Scrubbing Bubbles – “We do the work so you don’t have to ooo oooo.”
• The Coca-Cola Company – Santa Packs
• Serta – Serta Counting Sheep
• Ballpark Franks – “They plump when you cook ‘em.”
• Mazda – “Zoom. Zoom”
• Cox – “Your friend in the Digital Age.”
• Amazon Kindle – Launch
• The UPS Store – Cardboard World
• The Coleman Company – “The original social networking site.”
• Mazda – 33 Keys alternate reality game
• The Detroit Zoo – “Vitamin Z. Part of a complete childhood.”
• Del Taco – Super Special Show
• Minute Maid – “Put good in. Get good out.”

Tennis king Roger Federer has an incredible feel for the game.

But who knew he had great comedic timing?

We did.

So we created a multimedia campaign to promote the new Wilson BLX racquets that puts Roger in the role of sports psychologist so anyone can have a better feel for the ball and better feel for the game.

The campaign goes live June 21 to coincide with Wimbledon. But the first spot is so funny that Wilson posted it on Roger’s Facebook fan page so his 3.5 million-plus fans could see it first.

It’s already drawn more than 11,500 thumbs-up likes and 1,350 overwhelmingly positive comments.

Check it out here www.facebook.com/Federer, become a fan and help cheer him on at Wimbledon next week.

Lastly, it’s no secret David and Rob are passionate and competitive tennis players, so the opportunity to work with Wilson and Roger has been an honor and a blast.

Creative Credits:
Creative Agency: Doner
Chief Creative Officer: Rob Strasberg
Executive Creative Director: Murray White
Creative Director: Murray White / Glen Hilzinger / Bob Veasey
Writer: Murray White / John Grammatico / Glen Hilzinger
Art Director: Murray White / Bob Veasey
Executive Producer: Brian Dooley

Brand Leadership: Kevin Weinman
Project Manager: Laura Neville / Jaclyn DiCicco

Production Company: Supply & Demand
Director: Greg Popp
Executive Producer, Managing Partner: Tim Case
Executive Producer, Managing Partner: Kira Carstensen
Head Of Production: Rika Osenberg
Line Producer: Henri Dragonas
Cinematographer: Wyatt Troll
Post Production Company: Pluto Post
Editor: Sarah Fisher
Sound Design: Tim Kelly
Mix: Tim Kelly
Online/Vfx Artist: Zack Jacobs
Vfx Artist: Eric Litwin
3d Graphics/Design: Dave Corbett
3d Graphics/Design: Dave Fotherby
Post Producer: Eric Tremonti
Telecine Facility: Ringside Creative
Colorist: Rick Unger – Ringside Creative
Performers (Court Couch): Roger Federer, Jeremy Glazer

Avery Dennison Office Products Group Selects Doner as Agency of Record

(Southfield, Mich.) – Avery Dennison Office Products selected Doner as its agency of record for its Office and Consumer Products group following a competitive review with four finalists.

Doner will provide a full spectrum of integrated marketing communications, including strategic planning, creative development, media planning and buying for the Avery brand and key products. Spending wasn’t disclosed. The account will be served out of the agency’s Newport Beach office.

Avery conducted the review through Select Resources International to help find an agency partner that could help make its brand more distinctive and differentiated and support specific product stories.

“Doner showed us that they could embrace our brand and consumer insights to create a compelling brand platform with breakthrough creative to support the Avery brand holistically, build awareness and drive demand for key products,” said Todd Thompson, VP Marketing and R&D Worldwide, Avery Dennison Office and Consumer Products.

“Avery Dennison truly understands its brand, its consumers and their needs and offers outstanding products for the modern home and office,” said David DeMuth, Doner co-CEO, president. “We’re very excited to help this company take its brand to the next level.”

About Avery Dennison Office Products

Avery Dennison Office Products group markets products under the well-known Avery brand name and is one of the world’s leading manufacturers of self-adhesive labels for laser and ink jet printers, labeling software, binders, sheet protectors, index and tab dividers and other office-, home- and school-related supplies. Avery Dennison Office Products, a business unit of Avery Dennison Corporation, is based in Brea, California.

For more information about Avery-brand products, consumers can visit the Avery Dennison Worldwide Office Products Web site at www.avery.com or call the Avery Dennison Consumer Service Center at 1-800-GO-AVERY (1-800-462-8379). Avery and all other Avery brands and product names are trademarks of Avery Dennison Corporation. 

About Doner

Doner, based in Southfield, Mich., is one of the largest independently owned advertising agencies in the world, with approximately $1.5 billion in combined billings. The agency has offices throughout North America, as well as in London, and does business in more than 30 countries for clients including Mazda, Amazon.com, The Coca-Cola Company, ADT, DuPont, The Coleman Company, Shell Oil and Sherwin-Williams. A full-service, performance-driven agency, Doner focuses on creating ideas that change the destiny of brands through creativity.

Contact:
Andrea O’Donnell
248/827-8446
aodonnell@doner.com

We’re pleased to announce several promotions within our brand leadership and project management ranks. These employees have embraced our new agency vision, continue to perform at an elevated level, and demonstrate a commitment to making important contributions to our clients’ businesses. 

The first of these promotions includes Jennifer Deutsch who has been elevated to executive VP-general manager from senior VP-general manager.  This is a well-deserved promotion as Jennifer has demonstrated great leadership in expanding client business and bringing in new clients like the recent addition of OhioHealth.

Jennifer has a track record of building business.  Throughout her time with the agency she has helped to secure several new accounts, including Eaton, Things Remembered, University Hospitals, Susan G. Komen for the Cure, and Agri-Fab.

As executive VP-general manager, Jennifer will continue to be responsible for the day-to-day operations of the agency’s Cleveland office and will remain dedicated to the agency’s new business efforts.

Over the past 20 years, Jennifer has remained a true supporter of Doner, serving as an agency client for four different brands prior to coming on board as senior VP-general manager. She puts 110% into everything she does and loves the career path she’s taken. As an involved mother Jennifer is proof that you can have it all. 

Secondly, Larry Deangelis advances to senior VP-brand leader from VP-brand leader. He also has been a strong contributor to expanding services with existing clients and has played a role in winning new accounts on behalf of the agency.  Since joining Doner in 1998, Larry has worked on a wide range of accounts in categories including home products, travel, motor oil and medical.  His promotional expertise has helped reinforce the Cleveland office’s position as the center of excellence in retail activation.

Finally, Beth Lazarro becomes brand leader from senior project manager. Beth currently leads the Things Remembered account and has been at Doner since 1997.

Please join us in congratulating Jennifer, Larry and Beth.

David, Rob & Tim

Following recent new business wins, Doner has added three employees to its creative and brand leadership departments in its Cleveland office. They include Mark Masterson as senior VP-creative director; Julie Krebs as VP-brand leader and Kelly Flower as senior project manager. Read More

One of our strategic goals for the agency is to further integrate our interactive and studio production teams. The more integrated all of our operations become, the more value we’ll provide to our clients. 

To help us do that, we’ve promoted Joe Caruso to executive VP-director of integrated production to oversee all of the agency’s production activities. In this new role, Joe will add oversight of the broadcast operations in addition to continuing to lead and expand the internal studio functions for video, print and interactive development. 

He will lead the charge to promote our integrated content studio operations as a business unit to current and prospective clients. And he’ll develop a creative services unit to help manage and balance creative resources and procure talent–something he also does juggling the arts-loaded schedules of his four sons and the not-for-profit athletic program he runs between Tigers and Red Wings games. 

It wouldn’t be an overstatement to say Joe has grown into this job. He established our print studios here 16 years ago after a 10-year stint as a graphic arts sales rep for TPH Graphics. Over the years, he added print production, then video post-production, then all the interactive development to his responsibilities. At the rate he’s going, we all eventually may report to him. 

We’re also pleased to announce that Jane Huetter has joined the agency as senior VP-strategic leader on our media team. She’ll have primary responsibilities for our clients, The UPS Store and The PGA TOUR.

Jane has held senior media roles at PHD Detroit, The Media Edge and Yaffe & Co., and has expertise in local and national media, digital and multi-cultural media. And she’s a crack strategist who’s lead large teams on some of the most successful campaigns for Chrysler, Dodge and Jeep.  As an adventurous world traveler her favorite vacation included sailing around the Tahitian Islands with her husband Jim.

Please join us in congratulating Joe and Jane.

Today, under the new leadership of David DeMuth, Rob Strasberg and Tim Blett, Doner unveils its vision for the agency, including a fresh creative approach, modern visual identity and a redesigned website. The changes have already sparked new business momentum. Read more here and visit www.Doner.com for a look at the New Doner.

Download – Old Logo
Download – New Logo
Download – Doner.com – Home page
Download – Doner.com – About page
Download – Doner.com – Work page
Download – Doner.com – People page
Download – David DeMuth Head Shot
Download – Rob Strasberg Head Shot
Download – Tim Blett Head Shot

We've had two great bits of news on the awards front this week.

Our Kindle print campaign is a 2010 One Show Merit Award winner. This campaign continued the magazine story after the jump onto the Kindle e-reader in the adjacent ad. The ceremony takes place on April 13 in New York City during Creative Week.

If that wasn't exciting enough, our Effie Award streak continues. We've been notified that our "The Original Social Networking Site" campaign for The Coleman Company will be an Effie Award winner this year. Of course, to find out exactly which award it won, we'll have to attend the June 8 gala in New York City.

Congratulations to our teams and clients who worked on these campaigns.

Amazon Kindle - Cont'd onto Kindle

Chief Creative Officer - Rob Strasberg

Executive Vice President, Executive Creative Director - Steve Chavez

Creative Director - Glen Hilzinger & Bob Veasey

Print Production Supervisor - Doug Thomson
 

Coleman - "The Original Social Networking Site"

Chief Creative Officer: Rob Strasberg

Creative Directors: Karen Cathel & Jimmy Kollin

Art Directors: Darrell Credeur & Jeremy Moy

Copywriters: Derek Clark & Alanna Kulas

Agency Producer: Jill Prost-Ray

Voiceover Talent: Sam Elliott

Music Producer: Jon Moshier

Music: Gomez

We're excited to share that we've been invited to do something very special, very rare: a retrospective in the gallery of The One Club for Art & Copy celebrating 70 years of changing the destiny of brands through creativity. For those in the advertising creative community, the One Club is one the most revered advertising societies in the world. Its Creative Hall of Fame is filled with the greatest names in the business from David Ogilvy to Lee Clow. The One Club only hosts retrospective shows every couple of years. And only with those whose work it deems as the best in the industry. We are thrilled to accept this special opportunity. You can read more here: Doner Retrospective at The One Club

We said it last week, anything is possible during March Adness, and here's proof that we weren't lying. Our reigning champ, Mike Rykalsky has moved up from 47th place to sharing third with Deidre O'Reilly and Sharif Lee, (good news for Deidre and Sharif, Mike picked Kentucky to win it all). Lesley Schofield and Lindsay Fritzer are holding steady in first and second hoping Sparty goes all the way. Who will prevail in the final days of competition? With one of the craziest tournaments in years on our hands, anything could happen.

We have collaborated on a masthead takeover interactive banner that gives MySpace visitors five free downloads from a Mazda-curated list of seven emerging, unsigned bands. The interactive banner operates like a web music-online app and will run on the MySpace homepage all day on March 23.  It not only rewards music lovers with free music but also provides coveted mass exposure for seven unsigned artists. The target is young and trendsetting, but they’re growing up, telling the world they’ve arrived (that’s why they didn’t buy Corolla or Civic). Since these young trendsetters choose their car as much on the sound system as the style and driving features, the banner reinforces the Mazda3’s why buy: a 10-speaker Bose audio system that plays MP3s.

Click here for more from Brandweek

High-fives, victory clasps and elbow bumps. Celebratory gestures have evolved over the years with the fist bump being favored at today's White House. As we start a new chapter here at Doner we've sharpened our focus on hiring and developing the best and brightest employees (sparking thumbs-ups throughout the agency). So we're happy to welcome Michael Reneau, who joins us as senior VP, general manager, to lead our Canadian offices. We also promoted several people within our Brand Leadership and Media departments and we want to give a shout-out to:

Jessica Perry, VP, strategic planner

Jessica (Bejin) Tobin, VP, brand leader

Jennifer Quenville, senior VP, strategic leader

Alicia Lingenfelter, VP, associate media director

Suzanne Perry, digital media supervisor

Please give them a handshake (or your favorite friendly gesture) to congratulate them on their new posts.

Click on the links above for more details.

What do you get when you cross ambitions of rock grandeur, killer chops and cutting-edge gaming technology? You get Doner's first annual Xbox 360 Guitar Hero Competition to celebrate the launch of our newest stage, the Emerging Media Lab, a place to highlight the latest in advertising technology in the digital space.
 
The event was represented by eight makeshift bands with names only a mother could love, while Microsoft and Massive gaming were on hand to keep the festivities moving along with Xbox 360 prizes and great eats.
 
BAMM, 2-Day Turnaround, No Sweat, NBF, Traffic Trio, Whammy This, Rodrigo Rodriguez 366 and Itchy Brains competed for a chance to win cold, hard cash, bragging rights and the satisfaction of being the headliner on a digital frame outside the media lab for a year, by each playing their rendition of Bon Jovi's Living On a Prayer. Everyone was great (in a don't-quit-your-day-job kinda way), but solo act, Whammy This! featuring Michael Rykalsky and the band No Sweat featuring Will McAlister, Kathleen Muccino, Andrew Copenhaver and Laura Camburn were the clear winners. Congratulations, guys. You rocked the hardest - THIS time.

Check out the pics below for a sneak peak of what is sure to be the next Rolling Stone cover:

AdFreak By: Brian Morrissey, 1-15-2010...
 

Taco Bell is clearly trying to reach beyond its young-dude appeal with its implausible new Taco Bell Diet campaign. But rival pseudo-Mexican-food purveyor Del Taco is going a much different route with a bizarre skit show, "The Del Taco Super Special Show,"which is clearly aimed at the bro demo. The first episode is chock-a-block with Honeyshed-like oddities, double entendres, scantily clad babes and oddball animations and puppetry. Users can vote for their favorite parts of the show over at Del Taco's Facebook page. I'm casting mine for Timothy Taco Hands. (See below.) At the very least, this should help Del Taco push down the results for its most popular YouTube video, a clip showing three men scamming the chain out of free food, a stunt that eventually landed them in jail. Doner and Mekanism created the show.

Three years ago I created a vision of how the Agency should evolve so it would continue to compete successfully and grow in the coming decade.  It was a vision based on our long history of changing the destiny of brands through creativity. It meant bringing on new capabilities, new strengths, and investing in new tools. Most importantly, it meant establishing the right leadership team.

Today, we have that team in David DeMuth, Rob Strasberg, and Tim Blett. Each of them has been focusing his energy, intelligence, and creativity on re-imagining the Agency.

Today, we are living the vision from three years ago. We truly create ideas, not just advertising. Ideas that live in all media forms: traditional, digital, and social. Ideas that excite and incite as never before.

Today, the Agency has the strongest team in my memory of Doner, which spans 43 years.

The next chapter is ready to be written.

David, Rob, and Tim are purchasing the Agency. They are committed to continuing our heritage of creativity, our culture of independence, and our entrepreneurial spirit.

While I am moving on from the Agency this month, I am staying in Ann Arbor. I will continue to lead our very successful pro bono efforts for the Detroit Zoo and the American Kennel Club. Of course, I will always be available as a sounding board, consultant, or Agency historian for David, Rob, and Tim.

This is a very exciting time for all of us. I’ll cherish the friends I made at Doner and at our clients. I was always very fortunate to be surrounded by people I liked, respected, and thankfully, made me look good. I leave the Agency knowing it has never been in better hands, never been more capable, never been more creative, and never been more driven to succeed.

Thank you for everything you have done to make the Agency what it is and what it will be. I will miss all of you.

South of the border the CMAs, usually means Country Music Awards. But this close to the land of the Maple Leafs, we know it means the Canadian Marketing Association Awards, which is even better, at least in our line of work.
 
While our US counterparts were noshing on the Thanksgiving leftovers last Friday, November 27th, our team in Toronto took home a bronze award at the 2009 Canadian Marketing Association Awards Gala for our "33 Keys" Alternate Reality Game we created to launch the 2010 Mazda3.
 
The CMAs are Canada's most distinguished marketing awards and are revered by both clients and agencies alike. Our campaign was recognized in the automotive category, behind Subaru and Midas.
 
The CMAs are put on by Marketing Magazine, the top marketing magazine in Canada. So, these awards are entered by every creme de la creme agency and marketer across the country. 
 
Like all awards, this was truly a team effort. We are proud of our team for all of the hard work they put into making "33 Keys" a success, including Kyle Lin, Patricia McGregor, Brad Clarkson and the rest of the Toronto media team; Kathryn Long, Mike McGee and Dave Collis from the Brand Leadership Team; Justin Smith, Jason Jakubiak, Jim Ward, Laura Squillace and Rebecca Krug on the Creative and Interactive teams. Of course, we couldn't do this without great clients like Mike Collinson and Domenic Santucci.

Watch out, next year we're going for the Gold!