Ryan Lietaer is joining the community London as the agency’s managing director. The move reunites him with executive creative director Mark Hunter after they met at Wieden+Kennedy Amsterdam 10 years ago.
Lietaer led W+K’s global Coca-Cola business before leaving to become general manager of BBDO Paris where in addition to leading international new business, he spearheaded the global Pepsi and HP accounts. Lietaer then left BBDO to launch his own creative agency Peoplewelike, in 2013 where his clients included LVMH, Suntory Schweppes, Diageo, L’Oreal, Le Coq Sportif and Weight Watchers.
“Ryan has a rare mix of talent and humanity that resonates strongly with our team. He’s a big impact player and someone who has been a part of great creative thinking his whole career,” said Joaquin Mollá, co-founder and co-CCO of the community.
Video Game Performers Ratify Contract To End Nearly Yearlong Strike
Unionized video game performers have overwhelmingly voted to approve a new contract with their employers. The vote, whose results were announced Wednesday night by the Screen Actors Guild-American Federation of Television and Radio Artists, ends a nearly three-year-long effort from union negotiators to obtain a new contract for the performers. The process, which included an 11-month strike against several major game makers, hinged on how artificial intelligence would affect performers in the industry. SAG-AFTRA said 95% of the members who voted favored ratification. The new contract delivers pay raises, control over performers' likenesses and artificial intelligence protections. A tentative contract agreement was first reached in early June between the union and an industry bargaining group consisting of several major video game companies, including Activision, Disney and Electronic Arts. Video game performers "endured a great deal of sacrifice throughout the 11-month strike," Duncan Crabtree-Ireland, the SAG-AFTRA national executive director and chief negotiator said in a press release announcing the results. "Now that the agreement is ratified, video game performers will be able to enjoy meaningful gains and important A.I. protections, which we will continue to build on as uses of this technology settle and evolve," Crabtree-Ireland wrote. Audrey Cooling, a spokesperson for the video game producers involved in the deal, wrote that the agreement "delivers historic wage increases, industry-leading A.I. protections, and enhanced health and safety measures for performers." "We look forward to building on our industry's decades-long partnership with the union and continuing to create groundbreaking entertainment experiences for billions of players... Read More