Who Wot Why has named Marissa Jennings and Charles Faircloth as joint managing directors.
Jennings, who has been with London-based agency Who Wot Why since it launched in 2016, is promoted from the role of operations partner. She will be joint MD and partner overseeing the company’s commercial affairs and internal direction.
Faircloth joined the agency in 2017, and is currently the client services partner. He becomes joint MD and partner of client business, responsible for the agency’s client relationships. He continues to run the agency’s largest account, Sky Bet.
The joint MD roles are designed to bring together Jennings and Faircloth’s different but complementary skill sets. Jennings’ production experience means she has a good foundation in budgets and profit margins and Faircloth’s account handling background provides an essential grounding in building and maintaining client relationships. They will both continue to work into, and alongside, the agency founders Sean Thompson, Ben Walker and Matt Gooden.
Jennings began in production, moving between agencies and production companies in London, Paris and Amsterdam. She was head of production on Volvo at Arnold Amsterdam and produced at Limelight, 2AM and The Producers.
Faircloth started in advertising 28 years ago at WCRS. He subsequently spent 10 years at JWT and, more recently, two stints at Crispin Porter + Bogusky, where, in 2006, he became the agency’s first hire outside of the U.S.
First-Time Feature Directors Make Major Splash At AFI Fest, Generate Oscar Buzz
Two first-time feature directors who are generating Oscar buzz this awards season were front and center this past weekend at AFI Fest in Hollywood. Rachel Morrison, who made history as the first woman nominated for a Best Cinematography Oscar---on the strength of Mudbound in 2018--brought her feature directorial debut, The Fire Inside (Amazon MGM Studios), to the festival on Sunday (10/27), and shared insights into the film during a conversation session immediately following the screening. This came a day after William Goldenberg, an Oscar-winning editor for Argo in 2013, had his initial foray into feature directing, Unstoppable (Amazon MGM Studios), showcased at the AFI proceedings. He too spoke after the screening during a panel discussion. The Fire Inside--which made its world premiere at this yearโs Toronto International Film Festival--tells the story of Claressa โT-Rexโ Shields (portrayed by Ryan Destiny), a Black boxer from Flint, Mich., who trained to become the first woman in U.S. history to win an Olympic Gold Medal in the sport. She achieved this feat--with the help of coach Jason Crutchfield (Brian Tyree Henry)--only to find that her victory at the Summer Games came with relatively little fanfare and no endorsement deals. So much for the hope that the historic accomplishment would be a ticket out of socioeconomic purgatory for Shields and her family. It seemed like yet another setback in a cycle of adversity throughout Shieldsโ life but she persevered, going on to win her second Gold Medal at the next Olympics and becoming a champion for gender equality and equitable pay for women in sports. Shields has served as a source of inspiration for woman athletes worldwide--as well as to the community of... Read More