Up & Down the Avenue

GLANT COHEN, Leo Burnett’s SVP/associate director of TV production, retired from the agency after “23 spectacular years” at the agency. He joined Burnett in 1981 to work on McDonald’s and was named an executive producer five years later. “My joke for years has been to retire before anyone asks ?is Glant still there?'” he joked.

Led by head of production Jonathan Davis, Burnett has a massive production department; a total of 80 persons include 30 odd producers. “It’s a great place for a new producer today,” he says, “because has a chance to work on many great accounts.”

The only industry-pursuit Cohen continues is serving on the Hugo Committee. He can be reached at glantc@comcast.net, or 847/945-2731 or 847/912-4301.

A NEW PRESIDENT for Coil Counts Ford & Cheney. Karyn Rockwell returns to the agency after spending 14 years at Leo Burnett. Former president Kirk Boland moves over to strategic planning for the health care specialty agency.

A PROBE of minority-owned R.J. Dale & Associates’ history of vendor payments is the fourth time the agency has been investigated since winning the $19 million Illinois Lottery account last June. “This is all about harassment and intimidation,” said CEO Bob Dale. Lottery superintendent Carolyn Adams awarded R.J. Dale the general market lottery account despite allegations that lottery advertising targets African Americans, a claim she denied.

NEW BUSINESS arriving in Chicago. BBDO was named creative agency of record for Dial Corp.’s $25 million personal, home and laundry care products account. Dial is a wholly owned subsidiary of Henkel Group/Germany.

ANOTHER BRIT JOINS JWT. She’s Julia Kenyon from WPP Group’s JWT London, managing director of client Kraft USA’s $11 million business (Philadelphia Cream Cheese, Kraft Singles, Oscar Mayer and Nabisco Ritz crackers). Prior to JWT, she worked at Lintas in London, overseeing Unilever’s Europe frozen foods, Rover cars and Compaq computers.

RADIO ICON Steve Dahl, who never attended a day of college, was elected to Columbia College’s board of trustees.

BUSY MONTHS AHEAD FOR IRMA P. HALL, who has a healthy spate of awards shows to attend. First up is the Feb. 24 Movie Guide Awards in L.A. as the only woman acting nominee for “The Ladykillers,” co-starring Tom Hanks. March 11?induction into the Texas Hall of Fame. Introduction by directors Ethan and Joel Coen and a videotaped tribute from Hanks. Harrise Davidson, her agent of 15 years, will accompany her to all events.

FIVE NEW AT INTERSPORT: Jim Bloom, VP/marketing, from the Oakland A’s and the Toronto Blue Jays; Matt Carstens, senior coordinator, programming and production, from ESPN, ESPN Zone at Disney; Chuck Johnsen,VP/event marketing, from Mercedes Benz’ sports marketing; Alan Smentana, director/operations/corporate hospitality, formerly VP/marketing, Field Museum; Josh Wine, senior coordinating producer, from Fox Sports as executive producer.

MULTI-AWARD WINNER Jon Kaplan, producer of Richard Roeper’s Ch. 2 movie reviews, has written “191: The Hack Wilson Story,” a play about the Cubs star who was the Sammy Sosa of his day and who also wore out his welcome. “191” will be performed in a public reading Feb. 12 at 4 p.m. at the Bailiwick Repertory, 1229 W. Belmont.

THIRD TIME’S THE CHARM for director Noam Murro of Biscuit’s Filmworks winner of the 2004 DGA Best Director Award. He had been nominated three times earlier. Dante Ariola of MJZ was another three-time nominee, and first-time nominees were Frederik Bond, Andrew Douglas, Anonymous Content and Jim Jenkins, Hungry Man. Murro’s win was based on commercials for Starbuck’s/Fallon/New York and Adidas, TBWA/Chiat/Day and eBay for Goodby Silverstein, both San Francisco. The sell-out awards dinner was held Jan. 29 at the Beverly Hilton hotel.

IFO’S LATEST HIRE is production assistant Lori Banks from the Goodman Theatre, bringing the IFO staff number to eight.

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