San Francisco-based T.A.G. is parting ways with McCann Worldgroup after three years to become a full-service agency and strategic think tank called agencytwofifteen.

The new venture is led by partners Scott Duchon, Mike Harris, and John Patroulis, all formerly of T.A.G., and is owned by the Interpublic Group. The new name is a reference to the agency's address in San Francisco: 215 Leidesdorff Street.

"People were always confused who we were," says Duchon, who is also executive creative director. "Were we youth marketing experts, which is kind of what that venture was? We tried to call ourselves ‘T.A.G.' and people would still call us ‘tag'. We wanted to start anew with a new brand and do it the right way."

T.A.G. formed three years ago as a unit of McCann to handle creative and strategic work for Xbox. In 2008, it's global launch for game title Halo 3 won several industry awards, including film and integrated Grand Prix awards at the Cannes Lions International Advertising Festival.

As part of Interpublic, Agencytwofifteen will continue to work through McCann to localize and distribute global work.

The break from McCann and name change does not impact T.A.G.'s 50 staffers, all of whom will continue to work at agencytwofifteen. However, the move will give the agency more freedom to pursue non-traditional partnerships and projects outside the world of advertising.

Rosa, the star of agencytwofifteen's social media campaign for Microsoft Kin.

Patroulis points to the agency's launch documentary-style social media campaign for Microsoft's newly-launched Kin smartphone as an example of the kind of creative work agencytwofifteen hopes to create.

"It's a good reflection on the kind of worlds we want to be working in," he says. "It's a very alive campaign and a little bit unpredictable."

The campaign idea springs from the phone's interface, which aggregates social media feeds from sites such as Twitter, Facebook and MySpace into one feed.

Through a series of reality-style webisodes directed by filmmaker Jennifer Vittadini (Billy The Kid), the campaign explores how social networking is changing the meaning of the word ‘friend'. It follows 24-year-old Brooklyn resident Rosa (billed as the world's first ‘socialologist') as she sets out on a cross-country journey to visit several of her online connections in person.

Two episodes will premiere on Facebook each week for eight weeks leading up to the May 3rd product launch. Consumers can also friend, follow and interact with Rosa during her journey.

"It was the idea we pitched the account with," says Duchon. "We thought it'd be really interesting if someone could take an analogue journey through their digital life and meet these people face to face to figure out what kind of relationship they really have."

TV/cinema ads for Kin will start airing in early May and the agency's latest work for Xbox title Gears of War is set to begin airing this week.

agency215.com