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New Orange County/L.A. CCO Eric Springer Recruits Former Creative Partner Michael Bryce As ECD

IRVINE, Calif., Jan. 2, 2013 -- In his first major hire since taking the creative reins of Draftfcb Orange County as EVP, Chief Creative Officer on Dec. 10, Eric Springer has recruited creative heavyweight Michael Bryce to help him steward the Taco Bell account in Orange County, and the network’s soon-to-open satellite office in Los Angeles.

Bryce, who partnered with Springer at Deutsch/LA, is joining Draftfcb Orange County on Jan. 2 as EVP, Executive Creative Director. As a former EVP/group creative director at Deutsch/LA, Bryce worked closely with Springer on the successful Volkswagen pitch. He most recently has won accolades for the Samsung GS II campaign during his tenure as creative director at 72andSunny, where he also worked on Activision.

Also at Deutsch, Bryce managed the broadcast and digital creative for PlayStation U.S., and led creative management and new business wins for DirecTV, TGIFridays, and Cici’s Pizza. His automotive experience spans Volkswagen, General Motors/Chevrolet, Mitsubishi and Saturn.

“Mike has one of the most perfectly balanced creative/strategic minds I have ever worked with. He is the consummate professional -- smart, focused, funny and the master of the subtleties. He raises the bar for everyone around him, me included,” said Springer. “I know he will contribute many fresh, eye-opening and business-building ideas on Taco Bell. Mike knows how to tell a brand story like few others in the business. And he will play a key role in pursuing new business and building our operations in southern California."

In addition to Taco Bell, Draftfcb Orange County currently handles the Petco and the Advertising Council’s Wildfire Prevention/Smokey Bear accounts.

“I’m excited to be joining Eric at Draftfcb. We're committed to building a team that will push the creative and to aggressively grow the agency in Southern California with new and existing clients,” Bryce said.

Check out Bryce’s creative portfolio at http://www.krop.com/michaelbryce/#/.

King James Cape Town Earn Grand Midas for Santam Insurance

New York, NY – December 20, 2012: The Midas Awards®, for the World’s Best Financial Advertising™, announced the award winners for the 2012 competition. This year’s Midas Grand Jury awarded one Grand Midas, 26 Gold Ingots, 46 Silver Ingots, and 63 Finalists. The 2012 Midas Awards competition received entries from 28 countries and is the only international competition that recognizes excellence in financial services communications on a global scale.

King James Cape Town earned the coveted Grand Midas Trophy in Investment Advisors for “Back at Ya” for their client Santam Insurance. In 2012, Santam launched an ad featuring Sir Ben Kingsley. Nando´s Fast Food Chicken produced a parody of the ad, which immediately became a massive viral hit. Santam responded within days of Nando’s parody with their own award-winning spoof, challenging the fast-food chain to deliver a party sized dinner order to the Johannesburg Children’s Home with a 4pm Thursday deadline. Exposure for the Santam brand resulted in “Back at Ya” becoming the most viewed South Africa video on YouTube in the 2 days after going viral. It also topped the most mentions on Twitter on the day of launch, trended after the first hour, and remained there until Nandos delivered on the challenge. Satam’s page takeover on News24 – resulted in 940,696 impressions and 11,440 clicks generating a CTR (Click-Through-Rate) of 1.2% - the CTR benchmark in SA is 0.25%.

“I'm on record for often saying that our goal as an agency is to create the best work in the category for our clients. I obviously had our own market in mind, so winning this award is spectacular overkill. We are thrilled. I know our client will also be. Kudos must go to Santam for this. Our response to Nando's was one of those spontaneous bolts of creative lightening that are so easily passed over because they don't fit a media schedule or a broader strategic purpose. This client put a good idea ahead of all other factors and that is rare these days.” Alistair King - Creative Partner, King James Cape Town.

King James Cape Town was honored with 2 additional Gold Ingots for Santam Insurance; “Back at Ya” received the Gold Ingot in Television Commercial, and “Sir Sneaky” for Financial Planning. The agency also garnered a Silver Ingot in the Investment Advisors category for “Time Flies” for client Allan Gray Limited.

U.S. agencies took the lead this year by earning 7 Gold Ingots. Publicis New York was honored with 2 Gold Ingots, the first in the Credit Card category for “Citi JFK/AA” for Citi Executive AAdvantage card, and the second in Customer Service for “Clear Checks” for Citibank. RG/A New York received 3 Gold Ingots for Client MasterCard, 1 Gold Ingot in Place-Based Media for “Check In to the Ballgame,” and “Rugby World Cup” earned 2 Gold Ingots in Sponsorship. The Martin Agency Richmond was awarded a Gold Ingot in the Website category for Morgan Stanley “Follow the Money,” and XO Group Inc. New York was recognized with a Gold Ingot in Credit Card “Get What U Want Out of Life” for client Chase Blueprint.

Belgium’s Mortierbrigad Brussels was awarded 3 Gold Ingots. The agency received 2 in Banking, and an additional Gold Ingot in Recruiting for “What if...” for client Deutsche Bank.

The following German agencies were honored with Gold Ingots: Agenta Werbeagentur GmbH Münster received a Gold Ingot in Sponsorship for “Throw! But Don’t Throw Your Smartphone!” for ING-DiBa; Heimat Werbeagentru GmbH Berlin was honored with a Gold Ingot in Banking for “We Clear The Way” for Volksbanken und Raiffeisenbanken; and Strichpunkt GmbH Stuttgart took home a Gold Ingot in the Annual Report category for “Together We Win - Annual Report 2011” for client Adidas AG.

Australian creative work was recognized with 2 Gold Ingots: Bengar Films Prahran was awarded a Gold Ingot in Sponsorship for “NAB Schools First” for client NAB; and Lavender Communications Group Sydney received a Gold Ingot in Online Advertising for “Car Loans” for Westpac.

Brazil’s Artplan Rio De Janerio garnered two Gold Ingots, the first in Event Promotion/Marketing, and the second in Point-of-Purchase for “The Social Home Tour’ for Carvalho Hosken.

India earned 2 Gold Ingots in this year’s Midas Awards: M&C Saatchi Direct & Digital Communications Mumbai received a Gold Ingot in Direct Mail for “Saptapadi” for Birla Sun Life Insurance; and Radio Mirchi - India was honored with a Gold Ingot in Annual Report for “Reimagining Radio” for Radio Mirchi.

The following agencies were recognized with Gold Ingots for their outstanding work: Rahofer Werbeagentur Salzburg, Austria earned a Gold Ingot in Annual Report for “The Most Flexible Annual Report Ever” for client Palfinger AG; TBWA\Digital Arts Network Auckland, New Zealand earned a Gold Ingot in Public Service for “ANZ Poppyday” for ANZ Bank; Pristop Ljubljana, Slovenia was awarded a Gold Ingot in Banking for “Rhyme with Zlatko” for client Sveta vladar (The ruler of the world); 41? 29! Istanbul, Turkey garnered a Gold Ingot in Electronic Banking for “DenizBank Facebook Banking” for client DenizBank; and Havas Worldwide London, UK received a Gold Ingot in Sponsorship for “Metamorphosis” for Credit Suisse.

The Midas Grand Jury is comprised of client and agency leaders from the creative and marketing disciplines, as well as internationally recognized experts in financial policy and communications. Midas Jury Panels award Gold and Silver Midas Ingots to the highest scoring entries in each category. The Grand Midas Award is recognized as the “Best of Show” by the Board of Judges and Advisors.

All 2012 Midas Awards winning entries

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