Articles from AdWeek Advertising and branding

Another veteran of TBWA is exiting the agency. Carisa Bianchi, who has worked at the shop for 24 years, most recently as president of its largest office in Playa del Rey, Calif., is stepping down. Her exit comes nine months after global chief marketing officer Laurie Coots left TBWA after 29 years.

If you can't wait for Mad Men to return for part one of its seventh and final season this Sunday, and you're itching to declare your intention to watch it to all your social media friends, AMC would like to offer you a special opportunity to advertise on its behalf by customizing a picture of Don Draper so your name appears next to his face. You can choose one of seven other characters, too. It's a fun tool for die-hards, and a smart way to drive the natural symbiosis between TV and social media.

You probably remember popsicle stick jokes as a fun, charming, innocent part of your childhood. Jason Kreher and Matt Moore are here to wreck those memories. The pair of creatives at Wieden + Kennedy in Portland, Ore., have made a fake product called Schadenfreezers—popsicles with the most depressing jokes you can imagine. (For now, at least, they're just animated GIFs.) The tagline is: "The strawberry, blueberry and lemon-flavored joy derived from the suffering of others." When you read them, your sense of happiness drips away much like the sad melting treats themselves.

Wheat Thins revisits the golden age of ballooning in this weird spot from Being NY for the cracker brand's new air-popped snacks. Why they went with cops trying to pull someone over, I have no idea; the concept doesn't really need them, and neither does the visual gag they're setting up (being outpaced by a slow-moving bird). But I suppose the randomness is part of the charm. I suppose Wheat Thins probably should be a controlled substance, though. They taste too good to not be drugs somehow. Credits below.