An increase in interactive and holistically integrated output kept many agencies on their toes this year as did recent landscape-changing phenoms YouTube, Second Life and MySpace. Still, a dedication to traditional commercials helped keep it real. We perused, sifted through and got involved with many an agency reel. Here's what agencies emerged as the most engaging in '06.

Read about TBWA\Chiat\Day, our Agency of the Year, here: Double vision.

180 Amsterdam
The Big Picture: The World Cup always spells good news for an agency with a sports brand, especially one as tied with football culture as Adidas. 180 Amsterdam had a field day this year with its 10+ Recruitment campaign, in which star footballers were pitted against each other and challenged to source a team of fellow nationals in only two hours. Other notable output includes work for Opel ("Sex Change") and Motorola ("Color Pebl"). This fall, the agency also announced plans to open an office in Los Angeles, on the heels of winning part of the Sony Electronics Consumer Account, which it shares with BBDO, New York. But perhaps the most significant move in 2006 was the late-year news that the fiercely independent agency sold a majority stake to Omnicom, which also owns BBDO and TBWA\Chiat\Day, with which 180 shares the Adidas account.

Key Creative Moves: Creatives John Knect and Don Shelford departed to take up directing with HSI.

BBDO, New York
The Big Picture: BBDO continued its growing commitment to non-traditional advertising with the addition of ex-Fallon director of broadcast production Brian DiLorenzo, who joined the agency as its first-ever executive director of content. While a grand gesture by David Lubars et al, this year's interactive offerings were all over the map. GE's One Second Theatre was cool while Snickers' Instant Def, featuring The Black Eyed Peas, was a trainwreck of co-opted culture to the worst degree. But no worries, because if there's one thing this agency knows well, it's big commercials, of which there were plenty. Super Bowl hit FedEx "Stick" picked up this year's commercial Emmy, while other highlights include Cingular "Battle", Mountain Dew "Master" and more of the affable Sierra Mist Mist-Takes crew.

Key Creative Moves: Craig Duffney was brought in to head up BBDO NY's design studio and Keith Rose joined BBDO Atlanta in the new role of SVP/director of broadcast services.

BBH, London/New York
The Big Picture: 2006 saw BBH make a number of expansions - both virtual and real. First, the London-headquartered agency network launched ZAG in the spring, a company that aims to create and develop brands from scratch, to be sold or licensed to third parties, led by former global brand director of Unilever Neil Munn and Nigel Bogle. Next, BBH further extended its reach into Asia this fall with the announcement of a Shanghai shop, making it the first foreign agency granted license to operate in China. And if two terra firma extensions weren't enough, BBH, along with Leo Burnett, became the first agencies to break digital ground in alternate-reality world Second Life. Amid all the branching out, BBH also managed to turn out a raft of typically top-notch work including Johnnie Walker ("Painting" and "Human"), Vodafone "Work and Play" and Lynx "Millions" from London, and Axe "Gamekillers", Levi's "Straight Walk" and "News Story", and Smirnoff "Tea Partay" from New York.

Key Creative Moves: Paul Bichler joined New York from Strawberrry Frog as digital creative director; New York hired copywriter/art director partners Tim Geoghegan and Caprice Yu from 180 Amsterdam and copywriter Clay Weiner from Publicis, NY; Deputy chairman Guy Murphy left to join JWT.

Crispin Porter + Bogusky, Miami/Boulder
The Big Picture: Crispin Porter + Bogusky's year was most significantly marked by the opening of an office in Boulder, Colorado, a move that was given greater gravitas when partner/creative director Alex Bogusky traded his surf board for a snow board and relocated to the Rocky Mountain town. Along with about 50 Miami staffers, CP+B's nascent Boulder office also boasts a full in-house production facility, no doubt an asset in the agency's quest to push the envelope with interactive and integrated executions. On the work front, the agency made a splash with new work for VW (see Top Campaigns, pg. 20) and continued its burger-in-cheek humor for BK ("Stuff of Legend", "Manthem"). Creative output also included the humorous Man Laws campaign for Miller and the eerie Sublymonal campaign for Sprite.

Key Creative Moves: Matt Bonin was promoted from senior producer to executive integrated producer. Jill Kershaw and Winston Binch both joined as executive integrated producers. Senior copywriter Scott Wild also joined the fold while CD Geordie Stephens left to take up directing with Tool of North America.

DDB Chicago
The Big Picture: DDB Chicago ventured into the world of branded content in a big way with Schooled for OfficeMax, which aired on ABC Family. The hour-long show, which featured teen idol Jesse McCartney and a group of 8th graders convinced they would have to spend their summer in 8th 1/2 grade, ultimately reached over five million viewers. Other integrated offerings included Bud Light's "Ted Ferguson", Office Max "TUL Graphological Initiative" and Tribal DDB's racy "Shave Everywhere" for Philips Norelco. Broadcast hits included McDonald's "Balloon", Ameriquest "Friendly Skies" and Here's To Beer's "Spike Lee and Jackie Robinson". Additionally, the agency launced the DDB Brand Integrity Group to help brands tackle corporate social responsibility.

Key Creative Moves: Paul Tilley was named managing director of DDB Chicago. David Rolfe, originally director of branded production, was promoted to production director, content. Also, Bill Cimino and Diane Ruggie were promoted from CDs to group creative directors.

Fallon, Minneapolis/London
The Big Picture: Fallon continued to weather the storm of high-profile creative turnaround this year, most notably with the sudden firing of North American ECD Paul Silburn in January, who had been with the agency less than a year. That move led to the immediate departure of creative director Mark Taylor, followed by CDs Roger Camp and Stuart d'Rozario and art director Bob Barrie in the summer. Still, amid all the top-level turnover, the agency's creative remained solid. United and Citibank continued down their successful paths while the agency's Holiday Inn campaign offered an insightful and hilarious look into the life of traveling colleagues. Online, Fallon launched a seven-part online reality show for Brawny paper towels, in which slovenly men had their machismo tested by the rugged yet sensitive Brawny man. And of course, not to be outdone, the London office returned with part two of its Sony Bravia extravaganzas with "Paint".

Key Creative Moves: In addition to the departures above, director of broadcast production Brian DiLorenzo traded Fallon for a gig at BBDO, New York as executive director of content and Fallon London ECD Andy MacLeod left to pursue directing. But '06 was not all about losses. Vic Palumbo assumed the director of broadcast production post, Kerry Keuerman of Leo Burnett USA replaced Paul Silburn; Bill Westbrook, former ECD/president of Fallon Worldwide (1993-1999), returned to the agency as vice chairman; Joel Rodriguez joined as GCD from TBWA\Chiat\Day, NY and Brian Tierney was hired as writer/group head. In London, Juan Cabral and Micah Walker were promoted to CDs and Richard Flintham to ECD.

Goodby, Silverstein & Partners, San Francisco
The Big Picture: San Francisco's Goodby, Silverstein & Partners underwent a tectonic shift in 2006 that saw the agency's non-traditional output leap from a mere 17.5% in May '05 to 42% in May '06 before climbing to a whopping 49.5% by year's end. On the work front, the computer became personal again with HP's star-studded and design-heavy campaign and Comcast boasted three stellar campaigns, featuring Mr. T, DSL embodiments The Slowskys and a brilliant one placing kids in adult workaday situations for Comcast VOD. And Got Milk? got a robust online workout with "Brittlelactica: Planet in Need" and "Cow Abduction".

Key Creative Moves: Derek Robinson, ex-GM of BBH London, joined as managing partner; CDs Guy Seese and Jim Elliott joined from Cole Weber/Red Cell; Christian Haas joined as GCD from Organic, SF; and Will Hammond left DDB Canada to join as senior art director. After one year at the agency, CD Mike Maguire returned to directing. Major account wins include HD DVD, Motorola, Rolling Rock, Doritos and HP PSG.

Mother
The Big Picture: Mother continued its tour de force of awesome advertising in 2006. This year started off with a bang as Mother and go-to director Dougal Wilson crafted the jarring "Teleshop" PSA for Amnesty International. Next, Coke "What Goes Around", the much-anticipated commercial debut from Nagi Noda, lived up to expectations. The agency also created a couple of gems for outgoing client Orange ("A Minute", "Portal"). Boots creative ranged from desperate to decadent with "The Great British Summer" and the lush "Boudoirland", and the end of the year resulted in the stirring "Red" for Motorola, part of the international Red campaign against AIDS. 2006 also saw Mother, New York up its creative ante with a slew of ditties for Virgin Mobile, ranging from singing woodland creatures to mimes to various Virgin Mobile call-in lines.

Key Creative Moves: Strategy director Jonathan Mildenhall departed to join Coca-Cola as VP, marketing communications management. Clare Donald, former deputy head of TV at JWT, London, will join in January.

Wieden + Kennedy, Portland/New york
/Amsterdam/london

The Big Picture: Last year we wrote in our Agency Report that "The acquisition of Coca-Cola offers W+K a real opportunity to diversify beyond its position of sports brand powerhouse". It seems that forecast came true. With creative from Portland and Amsterdam that includes "Videogame", "Happiness Factory" and "Parade" (see Clients We Love Watching, pg. 20) as well as several small webfilms, Wieden + Kennedy elevated Coke back to creative leader status. But the W+K story didn't end there. Nike got some mojo back after a year of getting pushed around by Adidas with "Maria", "Defy", its LeBron James campaign, and the Joga Bonito World Cup effort. Beyond TV, Neill Blomkamp created the short film "Tempbot" for the agency. From New York, a pair of spots for Brand Jordan ("Second Generation" and "B Clutch") stood out as did titter-worthy work for ESPN ("Traffic", "Office"). And we can thank London for Honda "Impossible Dream" and "Choir".

Key Creative Moves: Mike Folino, ex-CCO at DDB Chicago, joined Portland as CD. CD Mike Byrne departed for Anomaly. Tom Blessington joined from TBWA\Chiat\Day California as managing director. New York promoted Paul Renner and Derek Barnes to co-creative directors. Amsterdam hired creative directors Eric Quennoy and Paul Stechschulte, as well as Joakim Borgström for the newly created role of interactive creative director. In London, creative directors Frank Ginger and Sam Heath were hired.

180 Amsterdam> www.180amsterdam.com
BBDO> www.bbdo.com
BBH> www.bartleboglehegarty.com
Crispin Porter + Bogusky> www.cpbgroup.com
DDB> www.ddb.com
Fallon> www.fallon.com
Goodby, Silverstein & Partners> www.gspsf.com
Mother, London www.motherlondon.com
Mother, New York www.mothernewyork.com
Wieden + Kennedy www.wk.com