Four local agencies win 7 social media Shorty Awards

FOUR CHICAGO AGENCIES — DDB Chicago, Leo Burnett, DigitasLBI, and Havas Worldwide — are among the 66 category winners of the 8th Annual Shorty Awards for content on Snapchat, YouTube, Instagram and every other conceivable social platform.

DDB Chicago won three prizes: Best Mid-Sized Agency recognition (which makes one wonder what the criteria would be for Large Agency, won by R/GA) and its “Lovin’ the Super Bowl” campaign for McDonald’s won Best in Food & Beverage and Best Use of Platform/Twitter.

Leo Burnett Toronto / Chicago’s Always Unstoppable won for Best Multi-Platform Campaign and DigitasLBi won Best Mobile Campaign for Taco Bell Mobile Ordering Application. DigitasLBi, Whirlpool and Crowdtap won Best Social Media Tool.

Havas Worldwide won Best Multi-Platform Campaign for “Endless Table” for Reynolds.

The awards ceremony will be held April 11 at the Times Center in New York.

TWO OF CHICAGO’S best-known and enduring entertainment reporters will be honored for their work by the 52nd Chicago International Television AwardsJanet Davies, reporter, host and producer at WLS/7 will receive the Chicago Legend award and  Bill Zwecker, the Sun-Times entertainment columnist for 24 years and film critic for Fox/32, will receive the Chicago Award.

Actress / director / playwright Regina Taylor will receive the Career Achievement Award, while HBO will be recognized with the Commitment to Excellence in Television Productions Awards.

TV news anchor Dan Ponce and former Fox anchor Robin Robinson will host the awards at the AMC River East theatres following three days of special screenings and panel discussions celebrating television. 

Sidebar:  Reel Ruth was honored as first Chicago Legend in 2010.

THREE NEW AT LEVIATHAN. Associate producer Erica Grubman, editor Kirill Mazor and creative developer Chris Hall have joined the concept design studio.

Grubman comes from design agency Otherwise; Mazor formed Imago Collective in 2013 and creates interactive installations for the Electric Forest Music Festival and Hall operated Patchy Projects to develop interactive installations.

A PHONY STORY about a Harry Potter spinoff filming in Schaumburg here was spun by a satirical online publication called “The McKenzie Post.”

The purported spinoff movie was supposed to be called “Quidditch through the Ages,” which was J.K. Rowley’s first Harry Potter book way back in 2001. The story reportedly garnered more than 3,260 likes and made its way through the industry rumor mill.

Many “McKenzie Post’s” “articles” are about A-List movie stars moving from their palatial homes in Beverly Hills to such scenic spots as Oklahoma City (Scarlett Johansson) or Berea, Kentucky (Bragelina).

EVER EVOLVING LEO BURNETT has formed a single integrated PR organization with by melding its Reputation & Communications Practice with MSLGROUP, Chicago-based consumer and corporate public relations specialists. The new combo will service clients of both companies and manage strategies and execution.

SPRING HAS SPRUNG with many newsworthy activities, so scoop yours up and send them to ruth@reelchicago.com or phone 312/274-9980,