Portland-based marketing agency Creative Media Development (CMD) announced this week that it has initiated a strategic repositioning that will see it spin off Hijinx, a brand new division of the company that focuses on “consumer advertising” and marketing for the gaming, sports, and lifestyle industries.
The Hijinx division’s biggest client is Microsoft and its official partners, and the team that has been working with the company under the auspices of CMD on various campaigns will lead the charge. That team includes Managing Director and Executive Creative Director John O’Connell and MDs Adam Poe (who will be in charge of client services) and Marie Hirsch (in charge of operations). Andy Cale will serve as creative director.
Hijinx will continue CMD’s long-standing, 10-year partnership with Microsoft, handling its partnerships with the NFL and Netflix, among others. Some of the Hijinx team’s past work includes a campaign for Xbox All Access, with the maturing members of the boy band All-4-One singing about how “It’s All There” in a reimagined version of the classic hit song,”I Swear;” a multi-part campaign created with the NFL to promote Microsoft’s Surface lineup of tablets and laptops featuring notable players such as JuJu Smith-Schuster, Marshawn Lynch, and many others called “Anything But Ordinary;” and a campaign to promote season 3 of the Netflix hit show Stranger Things and Microsoft Windows.
While not emphatically stated in the announcement, this move by CMD is likely meant to give Hijinx the space and autonomy it needs to grow its business and clients in gaming, sports, and lifestyle brands—and perhaps enter into other emerging markets such as esports, influencer marketing, the metaverse, etc.
CMD will continue representing its more traditional clients such as ASUS, JELD-WEN, Banner Bank, Gates Corporation, Seagate, Schwinn Fitness, and many others.