• by Richard Whitman , Columnist, August 17, 2014

Oops. The frequent and outspoken Fox News guest and Rooster Chief Creative Officer Gavin McInnes has been asked to take a leave of absence from the agency following comments he made in an article entitled “Transphobia is Perfectly Natural” which was followed by an angry backlash on Twitter. Of the leave, a Rooster representative said, "Gavin's views are his own and do not represent those of the company or its members. We are extremely disappointed with his actions and have asked that he take a leave of absence while we determine the most appropriate course of action." Here's part of what he wrote that got him in hot water: “We’re all transphobic. We aren’t blind. We see there are no old trannies. They die of drug overdoses and suicide way before they’re 40 and nobody notices because nobody knows them. They are mentally ill gays who need help, and that help doesn’t include being maimed by physicians. These aren’t women trapped in a man’s body. They are nuts trapped in a crazy person’s body.” And that's just the tame part. Read the whole article for the full frontal onslaught.

Bruno Lee Ribeiro, an art director at Brazilian ad agency Hasan & Partners decided it was high time that the ad agencies of the world have football uniforms designed for them. And so he took it upon himself to do just that. He designed soccer uniforms for agencies such as BBH, TBWA, DDB, Grey, Wieden+Kennedy and others. The agency uniforms were tailored specifically for the agency's heads, Amir Kassaei, Tor Myhren, Nizan Guanaes, John Hegarty, Lee Clow and Dan Wieden. You can check out all the designs on the Advertising FC Tumblr. He plans to continue creating branded uniforms for even more agencies.

As if Universal McCann didn't already have enough to contend with after President Sarah Personette left for Facebook and Mediabrand's Jacki Kelley bailed to become COO at Bloomberg. Now the agency is faced with the possibility of losing the Brown-Forman account, the distillery brand it has worked with for ten years. A media agency review has been launched with External View Consulting Group handling. Universal McCann will participate in the review for the $53 million account which will conclude late in the year.

Surely you've heard of Craigslist, right? Surely you've noticed it's quite bare bones and lacking any notion of creativity. Three creatives hope to change that. The trio have launched Classify, an ad agency for Craigslist ads. The founders, including former Saatchi & Saatchi account manager Nick Smatt and Brazilian creative Pedro Sampaio, aim to "transform Craigslist posts from boring, ineffective ads into dynamic cash cows. Cows that you can milk -- for money." Will the business go anywhere? Highly unlikely. But it is a nice bit of work for the portfolio.

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