Multicultural marketing vet comes over from LatinWorks
Spike DDB, part of Omnicom Group, has brought Victor Paredes on board as managing director. Paredes will lead the agency in partnership with Dabo Ché, sr. VP, executive creative director. Paredes’ role will also include spearheading new business and overseeing clients including Cadillac and Chevrolet. He will report to Spike Lee, CEO and chief creative officer.
“Victor is a multicultural visionary in the marketing space and brings with him inspiring strategic insights as well as expertise in activating across platforms,” said Lee.
In the multicultural marketing world Paredes has been an integral part of managing brands such as Bud Light, McDonald’s, Heineken, Johnnie Walker and MasterCard. Prior to joining Spike DDB, Paredes served as sr. VP, strategic business development at LatinWorks (Austin) where he was responsible for leading and sourcing organic and new business growth. Earlier at LatinWorks, he was VP and responsible for overseeing brands including Jamba Juice, Kimberly-Clarke, Lowe’s Home Improvement, Marshall’s and PepsiCo.
“I am excited to be joining a team that continues to build a strong reputation for creating impactful, culturally aware brand campaigns,” commented Paredes on his new role. “I look forward to continuing my passion for brand building and making diversity a leading force with Spike DDB.”
Before joining LatinWorks, Paredes spent over a decade at The Vidal Partnership where he was VP, Associate Director of Account Management responsible for new business, fostering marketing partnerships and creating integrated Hispanic marketing solutions for brands such as Heineken, Kraft, MasterCard, Sprint, Trident and Wendy’s.
A big Latin music enthusiast, Paredes began his career at RMM Records and Video Corp. where he spent three years helping lead marketing efforts for Latin stars such as Marc Anthony and Latin legends like Tito Puente and Celia Cruz. The world of entertainment and channel management today inspire Paredes’ drive towards inspiring best in class engagement mapping practices.
Spike DDB is a joint partnership between filmmaker Lee and Omnicom Group’s DDB Worldwide.
Full Lineup Set For AFI Fest; Official Selections Span 44 Countries, Include 9 Best International Feature Oscar Submissions
The American Film Institute (AFI) has unveiled the full lineup for this year’s AFI Fest, taking place in Los Angeles from October 23-27. Rounding out the slate of already announced titles are such highlights as September 5 directed by Tim Fehlbaum, All We Imagine As Light directed by Payal Kapadia, The Luckiest Man in America directed by Samir Oliveros (AFI Class of 2019), Zurawski v. Texas from executive producers Hillary Clinton, Chelsea Clinton and Jennifer Lawrence and directors Maisie Crow and Abbie Perrault, and Oh, Canada directed by Paul Schrader (AFI Class of 1969). A total of 158 films are set to screen at the 38th edition of AFI Fest.
Of the official selections, 48% are directed by women and non-binary filmmakers and 26% are directed by BIPOC filmmakers.
Additional festival highlights include documentaries Architecton directed by Victor Kossakovsky; Cheech & Chong’s Last Movie directed by David Bushell; Devo directed by Chris Smith about the legendary new wave provocateurs; Gaucho Gaucho directed by Michael Dweck and Gregory Kershaw; Group Therapy directed by Neil Berkeley with Emmy® winner Neil Patrick Harris and Tig Notaro; No Other Land directed by a Palestinian-Israeli team comprised of Basel Adra, Yuval Abraham, Rachel Szor and Hamdan Ballal; Pavements directed by Alex Ross Perry; and Separated directed by Errol Morris. Notable narrative titles include Black Dog (Gou Zen) directed by Guan Hu; Bonjour Tristesse directed by Durga Chew-Bose with Academy Award® nominee Chloë Sevigny; Caught By The Tides directed by Jia Zhangke; Hard Truths directed by Mike Leigh with... Read More