Director Marius Holtz has signed with bicoastal RSA USA…. Director Patricia Murphy, best known for her spot work in the U.K., has come aboard Bravo Zulu, Santa Monica, for stateside representation….Word is that director James Dalthorp, formerly of now defunct 1/33 Productions, is headed for Santa Monica-based Area 51 Films….Bicoastal Gartner has added director Raymond Bark….Director Siraj Jhaveri has joined bicoastal Shelter Films….525 Studios, Santa Monica, has entered into a partnership with 3-D/visual effects firm Buf Compagnie, Paris. Via the deal, Buf gains a stronger foothold in the U.S. market. Also, Buf’s technology and workflow methodology are being integrated into 525. Pasquale Croce, a 3-D artist who earlier in his career worked at Buf, has come aboard 525 to spearhead its 3-D division and to train artists to use Buf’s proprietary 3-D database and resources….Phil Price, president and creative director of Click 3X New York, will exit the company effective Feb. 29 to pursue an as-yet-unnamed broadband content venture. Additionally, Click 3X N.Y. executive producer Julie Shevach has assumed the additional title of general manager….Chicago-based animation house Tricky Pictures is disbanding due to the departures of partner/animation director Bruce Alcock, who is returning to his native Canada, and executive producer Harriet Katz, who is relocating to San Francisco. Partner/head of sales Roy Skillicorn said that plans call for some of the equipment and staff to be absorbed into the West Coast office of Tricky’s sister live-action company, Backyard Productions. Skillicorn is considering restaffing the animation shop, although nothing final has been decided yet….Crew Cuts in San Francisco has added editor Mauro Camoroda and executive producer Amy Burlaga….Congrats to the Academy Award-nominated artisans with ties to the spot community including: best director nominees Spike Jonze (of bicoastal/international Satellite) for Being John Malkovich, and Lasse Hallström (of bicoastal/international@radical.media) for The Cider House Rules; Mehdi Norowzian (of bicoastal/international Chelsea Pictures), who directed the Oscar-nominated live- action short film Killing Joe; best cinematography nominee Robert Richardson (of bicoastal Tool of North America) for Snow Falling on Cedars; and sound effects editing nominee Ren Klyce (of Mit Out Sound, Sausalito, Calif.) for his contributions to Fight Club….Director Nigel Dick’s telefilm 2gether debuts Feb. 21 at 8 p.m. on MTV. Dick is repped for commercials and videos via A Band Apart, Los Angeles….
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