Erich and Kallman has hired Rikesh Lal as executive creative director. Lal is the indie agency’s first-ever ECD hire and joins at a time of record business growth for the agency. Lal was previously ECD and partner at Camp + King.
Lal brings over 15 years of agency experience, expertise in building brands, and a track record of award-winning creative work to Erich and Kallman. While at Camp + King, he helped to grow the agency’s roster of brands and oversaw all creative output for clients such as Energizer, Google, RE/MAX, and Papa John's.
“I’ve admired Erich and Kallman’s work for years. They have this innate ability to not only create advertising that captivates but is also smart, respects the audience and drives business. It's something I appreciate and look forward to being part of,” said Lal.
2021 was Erich and Kallman’s strongest year ever. The agency won eight AOR accounts, including Great Wolf Lodge, Friendly’s Restaurants, and Foster Farms, which led to a 40 percent increase in revenue compared to pre-pandemic 2019. The team has delivered an ongoing slew of memorable brand campaigns for clients including Disney, Lucid Motors, Dole Foods, Hershey, Meineke Car Care, Great Wolf Lodge, New Belgium Brewing, Take 5 Oil Change, iRobot, and more. As a result of this business growth and creative momentum, Erich and Kallman’s staff has grown by more than 30 percent, with five out of its six departments run by women.
Throughout his career, Lal has created campaigns for clients such as Nike, Converse, MINI, Sprite, Philips Electronics, and Microsoft. After beginning his career as an art director at Butler, Shine Stern and Partners, he worked at AKQA, DDB Amsterdam, and Publicis & Hal Riney. Along the way, Lal’s work has received top marks from Cannes Lions, the One Show, Effies, the London International Awards, Graphis Design, the Type Director’s Club, and Clio Awards.
Review: Director Morgan Neville’s “Piece by Piece”
A movie documentary that uses only Lego pieces might seem an unconventional choice. When that documentary is about renowned musician-producer Pharrell Williams, it's actually sort of on-brand.
"Piece by Piece" is a bright, clever song-filled biopic that pretends it's a behind-the-scenes documentary using small plastic bricks, angles and curves to celebrate an artist known for his quirky soul. It is deep and surreal and often adorable. Is it high concept or low? Like Williams, it's a bit of both.
Director Morgan Neville — who has gotten more and more experimental exploring other celebrity lives like Fred Rogers in "Won't You Be My Neighbor?,""Roadrunner: A Film About Anthony Bourdain" and "Steve! (Martin): A Documentary in Two Pieces" — this time uses real interviews but masks them under little Lego figurines with animated faces. Call this one a documentary in a million pieces.
The filmmakers try to explain their device — "What if nothing is real? What if life is like a Lego set?" Williams says at the beginning — but it's very tenuous. Just submit and enjoy the ride of a poor kid from Virginia Beach, Virginia, who rose to dominate music and become a creative director at Louis Vuitton.
Williams, by his own admission, is a little detached, a little odd. Music triggers colors in his brain — he has synesthesia, beautifully portrayed here — and it's his forward-looking musical brain that will make him a star, first as part of the producing team The Neptunes and then as an in-demand solo producer and songwriter.
There are highs and lows and then highs again. A verse Williams wrote for "Rump Shaker" by Wreckx-N-Effect when he was making a living selling beats would lead to superstars demanding to work with him and partner... Read More