Recently in Energy BBDO/Chicago Category

Energy BBDO/Chicago and Deerfield-based Beam Global Spirits & Wines have ended a six-year relationship. The parting of the ways comes as Energy BBDO was just releasing a new TV campaign for the Jim Beam brand with the tagline "Guys Never Change; Neither Do We." The departure of the Beam business from Energy BBDO also comes just a month after Kevin George, a former Unilever executive, was named Beam's new global chief marketing officer. George replaced Rory Finlay, who had been with Beam for three years. Over the past number of years, Beam Global Spirits has seen considerable churn in its executive suite, including the marketing department.

Despite Energy BBDO's award-winning work for the Beam bourbon and Canadian Club whiskey brands, the Beam company was prone to testing the relationship between client and agency. Sources say Beam quietly put the Beam and Canadian Club business into review almost a year ago, and Energy BBDO was forced to compete with Goodby Silverstein & Partners/San Francisco and Droga5/New York to hold on to the accounts. Energy BBDO prevailed in that review with the "Guys Never Change" work that is now hitting the air.

Sources say Energy BBDO had not budgeted much or any income from Beam for 2010, so massive layoffs are not expected as a result of the loss of the Beam account.

The secret is out. Longtime Chicago advertising creative Kevin Lynch is the brain behind ChicagoansForRio.com, the Chicago Olympic bid naysayer Web site that has been the subject of numerous media reports in recent days.

Since June, Lynch has been the top creative at Proximity, the digital advertising arm of Energy BBDO/Chicago, whose clients include Wm. Wrigley Jr. Co and the Illinois Lottery. Prior to joining Proximity, Lynch was for many years a top creative at Hadrian's Wall/Chicago, which was bought out by a Toronto ad agency and rebranded as Zig/Chicago.

Crain's Chicago Business reported Lynch was behind the site after a technical expert traced the Chicagoans for Rio Web registration to Lynch, who also has his own blog at blog.15-ideas.com.

Today Lynch posted on the blog a Q & A with himself explaining his reasons for creating the anti-Chicago bid site. He offers numerous reasons he thinks the International Olympic Committee should vote for Rio de Janeiro over Chicago. Lynch said he never expected his connection to the Chicagoans for Rio Web site to remain a secret. He said he's been wearing a Chicagoans for Rio T-shirt for several months.

He's back. One of Chicago's most gifted advertising creatives very soon will be back in business. And -- we're happy to reveal -- he'll be back in business at Energy BBDO/Chicago, where starting Monday, he will be on board as creative lead at Promixity/Chicago, the agency's digital unit. Energy BBDO clients include chewing gum behemoth the Wm. Wrigley Jr. Co. and the Illinois Lottery. Lynch will report to Andrew Kaspryzycki, managing director of the Proximity division at Energy BBDO.

Lynch exited Zig/Chicago last February after sources said he and Zig co-founding partner Steve Carli clashed -- a dust-up that Lynch at the time emphatically denied took place. For a while, Lynch was hanging on the west coast while he mulled what he wanted to do next in his career and where he wanted to do it. But with his long ties to the Chicago ad community, Lynch apparently decided he wanted to maintain those ties, and Energy BBDO was apparently happy to help him do that.

Energy BBDO Chief Creative Officer Dan Fietsam said Lynch has "a unique blend of outstanding creative taste, a macro and integrated approach, entrepreneurial savvy and leadership." Sources who know Lynch said his new agency and job should be a good fit for him. "Kevin will be with a lot of like-minded people at Energy BBDO," said one source. Lynch was known for doing work at Zig that was both quirky and smart -- and often wickedly funny.

Meanwhile, Zig/Chicago's new creative leader Stephen Leps arrived from Zig's headquarters office in Toronto in February to pick up where Lynch left off. Leps has said he intends to work hard to take the small shop to the next level.

The Illinois Lottery has awarded Burrell Communications/Chicago a $6.4 million contract to provide public relations and advertising aimed at the African-American community.

Burrell won the business in a review that included three other agencies, including Flowers Communications Group, E. Morris Communications and Carol H. Williams Advertising. According to Sarah Cummins, marketing director for the Illinois Lottery, Burrell Communications stood out in the review. "They (Burrell) have a long and distinguished record of results and have worked with a host of top-named companies," said Cummins. The lottery contract was awarded to Burrell for an initial term of two years, with two one-year renewals possible.

Energy BBDO/Chicago is the general market agency of record for the Illinois Lottery, a state agency with annual sales of over $2 billion. Since its inception, the Lottery has contributed more than $14 billion to the Common School Fund to assist the state's public schools.