•JWT GLOBAL CCO CRAIG DAVIS TO DEPART IN 2009> JWT worldwide CEO and chairman Bob Jeffrey announced on Monday that Craig Davis, the agency's global CCO, has decided to step down sometime in 2009 to move his family back to his native Australia. "This was a long-debated decision that Craig and his wife began to discuss with me last year," Jeffrey wrote in a company-wide email on Monday. "However, it wasn't until very recently that [they] came to the conclusion that they wanted to return to Sydney to raise their children near their family, after being away for more than 10 years." Davis joined JWT in 2005 and this past June, he was president of the film and press juries at the Cannes Lions International Advertising Festival. Jeffrey assured staffers that Davis will stay on board for an "extensive transition plan" until next year.
http://www.jwt.com

•KOSINSKI'S GEARS OF WAR 2 TRAILER HITS WEB> Anonymous Content director Joseph Kosinski and San Francisco-based agency T.A.G. have followed up 2006's much-loved "Mad World" spot for the Microsoft Xbox game Gears of War with "Rendezvous", hyping the game's sequel, Gears of War 2. Created using Epic Games' gaming environment Unreal Engine the follow-up strikes a similarly emotive tone, undercutting the outlandish violence with somber music by electro-rockers Trans Am and a voice-over reading of "Rendezvous", a World War I-era poem by Alan Seeger.

•EMMY NOMINEES FOR BEST COMMERCIAL ANNOUNCED>The Academy of Television Arts and Sciences in Los Angeles announced the nominees for "Outstanding Commercial" last week. This year's contenders are Hallmark "Brother of the Bride", by Leo Burnett; FedEx "Carrier Pigeons" by BBDO, New York; Travelers "Delivery" by Fallon; Coca-Cola "It's Mine" by Wieden+Kennedy and Bud Light "Swear Jar" by DDB Chicago. The winner will be announced at The Nokia Theater in LA on Saturday, September 13.

•TWENTY120 TAKES OFF> Twenty 120 second films, each dealing with the theme of Change, make up this year's collection of work showcased at the 2nd Annual Twenty120. As with its debut year, which featured a Truth vs. Deception theme, the idea behind Twenty120 is to allow directors, TV creatives, designers, art directors and fine artists the creative freedom to make short films using any medium and without the usual constraints of work created for commercial use. This year the program features work by MK12's Ben Raditz, Grow Design Work's Bran Dougherty-Johnson, Dstrukt's Chris Hewitt and Curious Pictures' man vs magnet (aka Matt Smithson). The site went live last Thursday with an opening screening presented by PromaxBDA at Cinespace in Hollywood.
http://www.twenty120.com

•RUSHES SOHO SHORTS KICKS OFF> The 10th edition of the Rushes Soho Shorts Festival takes over cinemas in London's West End beginning tomorrow and runs for three days. The program is a mix of short, documentary, animated and music video work by established and unknown filmmakers alike.
http://www.sohoshorts.com

•FALLON HOOKS UP WITH MIAMI AD SCHOOL> Fallon, Minneapolis has partnered with the Miami Ad School to create a 10-week work experience program called AdKare. Final year students will work full-time on special projects and on regular accounts.
http://www.fallon.com

•ONEDOTZERO DEADLINE>The deadline to submit work for onedotzero's touring "Adventures in Motion" festival has been extended to July 31. The festival will kick off in Buenos Aires on September 8 and then head to Zurich in October and London in November.
http://www.onedotzero.com/submissions

JWT, New York has hired Paul Bichler, previously of BBH, New York, as ECD and promoted Justin Crawford to ECD.
http://www.jwt.com

Ogilvy & Mather Worldwide Chairman-CEO is reportedly stepping down as CEO, with Miles Young, current chairman of Ogilvy & Mather Worldwide Asia-Pacific slated to take the role, effective Jan. 1, 2009.
http://www.ogilvy.com

Y&R, New York has hired former TBWA\Chiat\Day, New York producers Lora Schulson and Nathy Aviram as co-executive directors of content production, effective August 1.
http://www.yr.com

Editors Jason Macdonald, formerly of Cosmo Street, and Chan Hatcher, formerly of Rock Paper Scissors, have opened up NumberSix Edit in New York and Los Angeles. Crissy DeSimone, previously of Rock Paper Scissors, is the company's LA-based EP.
http://www.numbersixedit.com

LA/London-based The Viral Factory has hired Glenn Sanders, ex-ACD at TBWA\Chiat\Day\Tequila, as creative director.
http://www.theviralfactory.com

WPP has hired John O'Keefe, formerly ECD at BBH as worldwide creative director.
http://www.wpp.com

London-based Coy! Communications has signed The Shammasian Brothers, formerly with Therapy Films.
http://www.coy-com.com

Final Cut's Los Angeles office has added editors Matt Murphy and Dean Gonzalez to its roster.
http://www.finalcut-edit.com

Bicoastal prodco GO Film has signed directing duo Rad-ish (aka Moritz Friedel & Cristoph Chrudimak) for exclusive US spot rep.
http://www.gofilm.com

Toronto's Spy Films has signed director Alexes for international spot rep.
http://www.spyfilms.com

LA's Looking Glass Films has signed director David Nutter.
http://lgfilms.com

London's Red Bee Media announced that CEO Pam Masters will step down on December 31, 2008 to take on the newly-created role of Vice Chairman on the Board.
http://www.redbeemedia.com

Pulse Films, London has hired Roz Houchin, previously of Home Corp, as executive producer.
http://www.pulsefilms.co.uk

Santa Monica-based Rock Paper Scissors has promoted Carol Lynn "CL" Weaver to EP, added Damion Clayton to its editorial roster and promoted assistant editors David Brodie and Terence "Biff" Butler to editors.
http://www.rockpaperscissors.com

Toronto's Circle Productions has signed director Sean Michael Turrell, as well as Outsider directors Ric Cantor, Henry Littlechild, Scott Lyon, Jorn Threlfall and Pedro Romhanyi for Canadian rep.
http://www.circleprod.com

The Joneses, LA has signed director Richard D'Alessio for US spot.
http://www.thejoneses.tv

Los Angeles-based DUCK has signed director Simon Blake to its roster.
http://www.duckstudios.com

Boston agency Gearon Hoffman has hired Darcy Doyle as senior art director.
http://www.gearonhoffman.com

House of Cool Studios has acquired Toronto-based animation and commercial prodco Red Rover Studios. Executive Producer Danielle Araiche will head up production for Red Rover and Cal Brunker is House of Cool's animation director.
http://www.redrover.net

LA's Workhorse Media has signed director Ryan Smith for spot rep on the East Coast, in the Midwest and on the West Coast.
http://www.workhorsemedia.net