Free at last! Tony Granger may be free at last!

Ad Age is reporting that Tony Granger may finally be emancipated from his cell at Saatchi & Saatchi to finally take that job he signed on for over at Young & Rubicam. (You know, the one where he's the creative chief?) True, Granger had a contract, and Saatchi CEO Kevin Roberts seems to have been hell-bent on holding him to it. On the other hand, at a certain point, it's just time to settle, particularly with his replacement, fromer TBWA/Chiat/Day CD Gerry Graf walking the halls. Can't be good for the smooth running of an agency to have a guy who's made his intentions clear to get out of there hanging around.

At TBWA/Chiat/Day, they're going away

You'd expect some reshuffling to go on at TBWA/Chiat/Day upon the departure of Gerry Graf (at right, with minimal hair) from the agency, but an exodus? And so soon? That's what appears to be going on, with Scott Vitrone and Ian Reichenthal leaving for Young & Rubicam and Isaac Silverglate and Jeff Anderson going to Droga5. (I'm sure some of you would dispute that four people equals an exodus, but let's put it this way: it's still a bunch of bodies.) But all these shifts leave important questions unanswered. What I really want to know is how Hamish McLennan sells candidates on joining Y&R when his newly-appointed creative director, Tony Granger, is still forced to cool his heels at Saatchi & Saatchi working on creative projects until his contract is up where, of course, Graf is the new creative chief. Does Granger get to meet with his future employees? And what happens when Granger and Graf meet in the hallway? Someone please clear this up. I'm getting a headache.

Skeleton new Craftsman spokes-creature

Don't know that I'll be walking through Times Square this Halloween season, but if I did, supposedly I'd see a 22-story version of this ad—an ad for Sears Craftsman made entirely out of the brand's tools. There are other components to this campaign—including the alleged selling of skeleton t-shirts at the Web site (I couldn't find it)—but surely, a 22-story ad is the most noteworthy. Would be really cool if it was carrying a chainsaw. Created by Young & Rubicam.

Old brands like Sears sure love old media

Perhaps it's really fitting that this press release for the new Sears campaign, "Where It Begins," from Young and Rubicam, Chicago, reads like a release from about 1987, save for an oblique reference to the existence of Sears.com. Old brands still love old media, it seems. Let's quote: "The new brand spot (:30 and :60 versions) tells one couple's story and illustrates the role Sears plays in it through the years. Every turn of the page in their book from Sears marks a new chapter in their lives, as they move into a new home, their family grows, and they celebrate family occasions." After that, there's a long list of all the places where Sears bought super-expensive time, including "American Idol," "Desperate Housewives," and, naturally, the Sears-sponsored show "Extreme Makeover: Home Edition," but I tried to find the campaign on YouTube this morning—thinking maybe, just maybe if the company was that serious about spreading the word it would've posted the spots—but no. Meanwhile, the Sears Web site, which is supposed to use the same book theme of the commercials, showed no signs this morning that it knew the expensive TV campaign existed.


To contrast, another campaign launched yesterday. This one from Orbitz, in its first effort since moving from Young and Rubicam Chicago to Mullen. Now the commercials, aren't great—in fact the Chicago Sun-Times' Lewis Lazare gave the campaign an F—but at least Orbitz has posted them all to the Web.