INSTITUTE, the commercial production company founded by Lauren Greenfield, has expanded its leadership team with the addition of Sean Lyness as executive producer. Lyness previously worked with INSTITUTE as a freelance line producer on notable projects including Greenfield’s recent WhatsApp campaign “A New Era of Privacy,” Pamela Adlon’s Thinx campaign “How a New Generation Thinx,” and Karyn Kusama’s “Your Voice” PSA for Planned Parenthood.
Lyness brings a versatile, energetic attitude to any project, with extensive producing experience across documentaries, commercials, and branded content. He worked as a field producer on the Academy Award-nominated feature documentaries Life, Animated and Abacus: Small Enough to Jail, and has collaborated with brands ranging from Nike and Adidas to Intel and Bose. Following INSTITUTE’s recent brand evolution and tighter integration with its sister companies, Lyness will also work closely with INSTITUTE’s documentary division Girl Culture Studios, which produces film and episodic content. Originally from New York City, he is now based in Los Angeles.
“Sean’s background across advertising, documentary, stills, and entertainment really complements the INSTITUTE approach of telling authentic stories and straddling artistic mediums,” said Tori Palmatier, managing director at INSTITUTE. “Sean played a key role in several of our biggest projects of 2022–including the first-ever commercial shoots for both Pamela and Karyn–so we know and admire his inventive and creative approach to producing every project, and we’re excited to make it official!”
“The world of advertising is influenced so much by culture, often originating from underrepresented communities, but it’s still rare for those communities to have a seat at the table. I deeply believe in the INSTITUTE mission of uplifting underrepresented voices in advertising and actually doing the work of breaking that cycle,” added Lyness. “I’ve had so many positive experiences working with INSTITUTE as a freelancer, when they offered me the EP position it was a no-brainer to come in-house.”
INSTITUTE is repped by Pop Arts on the West Coast, Samuel Guthrey in the Midwest, and Champion on the East Coast.
Forsman & Bodenfors Shifts Its Singapore Group Creative Director Ivan Guerra to Its NYC Hub
Forsman & Bodenfors (F&B) has expanded its creative leadership in New York by relocating longtime group creative director Ivan Guerra from the Singapore office to the Big Apple to support a quickly growing list of new client wins.
As a group creative director in Singapore, Guerra racked up numerous accolades and participated in a myriad of new business wins that fueled the agency’s growth year over year. He explained why now was the right time to come back to the states, adding more nuance in the process. ”Singapore is the business hub of Asia, New York is the business hub of the world,” he said. “Our office in Singapore was small when I arrived. Since then, we’ve more than tripled in size, and became the [number one] most creative agency in the country, and work with more and bigger clients than ever before. There’s always more to be done, but the agency I’m leaving behind is in fantastic shape and ready to take on the world, as I know they will.”
For Guerra, there’s an opportunity to replicate in New York the success he had in Singapore. During his career, he repositioned and promoted businesses and products across a wide variety of markets and industries including P&G, Coca-Cola and Booking.com. Some of his well-known work includes a campaign that increased Samsung’s sales in the Middle East by almost 200%, one of the most iconic films in the history of Converse, Verizon’s most successful sports partnership program “Data Dunk” with the NBA, and a “Proud Whopper” campaign in 2014 that reignited Burger King and garnered 13 Cannes Lions and a Grand Clio.
Coming back to New York after 15 years in the business, including a stint where he spent time at the likes of top-shelf agencies like R/GA,... Read More