• Thursday, Aug. 25, 2016
mOcean hires Mitch Monson as creative director/client partner
Mitch Monson
LOS ANGELES -- 

Mitch Monson has become creative director/client partner at mOcean where he will deepen the creative marketing agency’s footprint in motion design. An Emmy-winning designer, Monson has collaborated with television networks and brands, including ABC, Canal+, Comedy Central, FOX, HBO, Showtime, Canon, IBM, and Nike. He was also instrumental in creating one of the most unique and recognizable pieces of design--the iconic Love Symbol for The Artist Formerly Known as Prince. 

“We’re increasingly working across discipline boundaries to deliver what our clients have come to expect above all: efficiency, value and creative excellence,” remarked mOcean EVP/managing director Chuck Carey. “Mitch will strengthen this equation, given his leadership experience and track record of fusing together design, animation and storytelling in inventive ways.” 

“Narrative has always been a strong point of emphasis in my past work, and I respect that mOcean has a similar approach,” added Monson. “It’s a powerful formula to work with the amazing writers and visual storytellers here on premium, narrative-driven content marketing. I am looking forward to collaborating with such an interdisciplinary force as mOcean.”

Prior to joining mOcean, Monson was creative director at Trollbäck + Company in New York, where he led the rebrand of the BBC masterbrand; brand identities for the 2016 Rio Summer Olympics and the upcoming 2018 PyeongChang Winter Olympics for NBC Sports; and the original “Mr. Robot” show packaging for USA Network, to name a few projects.

  • Tuesday, Aug. 23, 2016
Creative director Jens Waernes joins Goodby Silverstein & Partners
Jens Waernes
SAN FRANCISCO -- 

Goodby Silverstein & Partners (GS&P) has hired Jens Waernes as creative director. He will co-lead Comcast at his new roost.

Prior to joining GS&P, Waernes spent six years at BBDO New York where he created notable work such as FedEx’s “Skyscraper,” Guinness’ “Empty Chair,” Monster’s “Pinocchio” and AT&T’s “Colors So Real, It’s Almost Unreal.” While at BBDO, he also worked on HBO and Snickers and co-led Guinness, Visa and Subway. 
 
Previous to BBDO, Waernes spent time at DDB Oslo, Scholz & Friends Berlin and Jung von Matt Hamburg, where his work was recognized by major awards shows. Most notably, the campaigns he created for Augsburger Allgemeine and Ravensburger rank among some of the most celebrated print, poster and new media work in the world.

Waernes now joins new creative director Jeff Gillette who came to GS&P from Wieden+ Kennedy.

  • Monday, Aug. 22, 2016
WPP's GTB promotes Friedrichs, Colasuonno to key production dept. roles
Sumer Friedrichs (l) and Christian Colasuonno
DEARBORN, Mich. -- 

GTB (formerly known as Team Detroit, Blue Hive, and Retail First) has promoted Sumer Friedrichs to SVP, director of integrated production and Christian Colasuonno to director of digital production.  Newly branded in May 2016, GTB is WPP’s largest agency group.

Friedrichs began her career as an ABC news affiliate before joining ESPN as a producer. Years of automotive and advertising experience with agencies like Y&R and Campbell Ewald led her to GTB in 2007 as a freelancer specializing in social, digital, and production.

In his past three years with GTB, Colasuonno has focused on building and leading digital production teams within the agency. Prior to GTB, he produced for Tribal DDB, JWT, Sony Studios, Margeotes Fertitta & Partners, among others, in San Francisco and NYC. As director of digital production, Colasuonno will take an expanded role in overseeing the complete digital portfolio for the Ford Motor Company client, as well as, other GTB clients.

  • Thursday, Aug. 18, 2016
Steve Foster joins Deluxe Toronto as sr. re-recording mixer
Deluxe Toronto's (l-r) Steve Foster, Mike Baskerville and Christian T. Cooke
LOS ANGELES -- 

Deluxe Entertainment Services Group Inc. (Deluxe) announced that award-winning sound professional Steve Foster has joined Deluxe Toronto as a sr. re-recording mixer. With a musican’s ear for audio and more than 25 years in the sound industry, Foster is slated to take on his first project at Deluxe Toronto--the second season of SyFy’s series The Expanse.

Foster comes to Deluxe Toronto from Techicolor Toronto, formerly Toronto’s Sounds Interchange, where he helped establish the long-form audio and ADR departments, and wrote the score for 90s thriller Killer Image.”His credits include Narcos, Rolling Stones: At the Max, and the Hannibal TV series. He earned a Gemini Award for Dramatic Sound on Everest, a Genie Award for Overall Sound on Passchendaele, and four Motion Picture Sound Editor Golden Reels for sound editing and ADR for various episodics, among nearly a dozen other awards nominations. 

“Steve is one of the top mixers in town and adding him to our roster of talent alongside Chris Cooke and Mike Baskerville gives us a one-two-three punch to make sure clients can always find what they need at Deluxe Toronto,” said Nick Iannelli, Deluxe Toronto SVP of post production. 

Along with growing its team, Deluxe Toronto has also extended its capabilities, adding a new Dolby Atmos mixing theater geared toward episodic production to its facility. It features equipment and layout identical to the studio’s existing three episodic sound theaters, allowing for consistent and flexible review sessions for all of the 10-12 projects simultaneously flowing through Deluxe Toronto. The facility also houses an enormous theatrical mix theater with 36-channel Dolby Atmos sound, and a sound stage for ADR recording.

  • Wednesday, Aug. 17, 2016
Mixer/sound designer Ted Marcus joins SuperExploder
Ted Marcus
NEW YORK -- 

Audio house SuperExploder has hired Emmy-winning mixer/sound designer Ted Marcus. He brings to the NY shop more than 20 years of experience in audio post, spanning mixing, editing, sound design and music for broadcast promos, feature films and music-driven long form content. 

Marcus’ work has earned numerous PromaxBDA Awards, New York Festivals, CTAM Mark Awards and Emmys. He sound designed the feature Pitch, which was accepted into the Cannes Film Festival as well as mixed the MTV documentary Translating Genocide: Three Students Journey to Sudan, which earned two Emmys and a Beacon Award.

Marcus’ innate sense of rhythm derives from his lifelong experience as a musician. After over a decade as a professional audio engineer, Marcus took his music skills to the next level collaborating with influential rock band the Meat Puppets. They brought him on as the drummer for their 2006 reunion and he spent four years writing, performing and touring with the band as well as recording two full-length albums. 

Connecticut native Marcus studied psychology at the University of Connecticut but discovered his passion for all things audio when he fell into a gig at a local public access channel. He quickly made his way to NYC and started his career at National Recording Studios, working up the ranks from assistant to audio engineer. He moved on to work as a mixer/sound designer at Jeco Music/Stolen Car Productions and Clack Sound Studios, mixing top broadcast projects. In 2000, he brought his audio expertise to MTV’s On-Air Promos division, spearheading the development of its in-house audio facility. After over six years at MTV, Marcus seized an opportunity to tour with the Meat Puppets, continuing to take on mix assignments during breaks. In 2010 Marcus joined Ultrabland. Throughout his career, he has fostered a continually growing list of repeat clients, collaborating with HBO, Cinemax, FX, NatGeo and others on a wide range of spots.

  • Wednesday, Aug. 17, 2016
Susan Young, Daniela Vojta upped to ECDs at McCann NY
Daniela Vojta
NEW YORK -- 

McCann New York has expanded its creative leadership with the promotions of Susan Young and Daniela Vojta to executive creative directors.

Young and Vojta were hired as group creative directors in 2013 by Joyce King Thomas, chairman and chief creative officer, McCann XBC, the agency’s unit dedicated to the MasterCard business. 
 
Young and Vojta’s recent “Make What’s Next” campaign for Microsoft challenged stereotypes related to gender in the fields of technology and science and won an award at the 2016 Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity. The creatives also helped launch Microsoft Windows 10 and a patent program for young women.
 
Prior to McCann, Young was a creative director at Saatchi & Saatchi and a copywriter at KBS+P and Wieden + Kennedy.
 
Originally from Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, Vojta previously served as integrated creative director at Saatchi & Saatchi, associate creative director at KBS+P and sr. art director at Publicis.

  • Wednesday, Aug. 17, 2016
LightHouse Films signs director Antoine Pai
Antoine Pai
NEW YORK -- 

Creative video agency and commercial production company LightHouse Films--headed by owner/EP Thibaut Estellon--has signed director Antoine Pai for exclusive representation in the North American market. Based in Paris, Pai will bring his blend of modern style and technical skills to craft both film and digital projects for LightHouse Films.

The creative chameleon Pai will bring his unique multi-cultural directing and language skills (in addition to English and French, he also speaks Chinese and Spanish) to the team. As a director, he first gained notice with his short film “Paris Through Pentax,” which hit the web with more than 600,000 views in its first few days. 

After graduating from business school, Pai began to work with agencies in Paris, where he landed a commercial directing job for Lancôme. From there, his career took off, leading to projects for major brands, such as Nestle, Lacoste, Maison Martin Margiela and Armani.

“What really struck me was the fact that LightHouse Films represents directors with distinct styles, and works with a diversity of clients,” said Pai, “I’m an active, hands-on director, and LightHouse offers me the support, resources and opportunities to continue working this way.”

Since joining LightHouse Films, he has already directed a digital campaign for Stella Artois for ad agency 360i, and is about to embark on two high-profile luxury brand projects, including a shoot for Givenchy and a campaign for Lancôme, starring Lily Collins.

  • Wednesday, Aug. 17, 2016
Group CD Naylor, head of communications strategy Poynter join Barton F. Graf
Nate Naylor
NEW YORK -- 

Barton F. Graf has hired Nate Naylor and Dominic Poynter to serve, respectively, as group creative director and head of communications strategy.

Naylor will work on a number of new agency clients and will advise on creative direction and design across Barton’s client list. Naylor, who brings 18 years of experience to the role, spent the past five years freelancing as an art and creative director and has developed campaigns for Cadillac, Comedy Central, Nike and HP, among others. He co-directed video for U2 and developed the launch of Bono’s (Red) initiative. Naylor’s agency experience spans across Wieden + Kennedy, Modernista!, Goodby Silverstein & Partners, and Butler, Shine, Stern & Partners.

As head of communications strategy, Poynter will report directly to chief strategy officer Laura Janness and will be responsible for advising all clients on driving ideas across channels. Poynter joins Barton from Anomaly, where he was head of communications planning. While there, he worked on award-winning campaigns for the Super Bowl and World Cup for Budweiser, as well as on other brands like Diageo and Duracell. Early in his career, Poynter left his role as business director at Mindshare UK to pursue an MBA at NYU Stern School of Business.

  • Tuesday, Aug. 16, 2016
Callahan, Conklin join Y&L as digital strategist, social media manager, respectively
Kathleen Callahan
INDIANAPOLIS -- 

Independent agency Young & Laramore has hired Kathleen Callahan as its newest digital strategist and Cassie Conklin as social media manager.

Callahan will identify opportunities for the Brizo, ELEVATE Design Collective and Farm Bureau Insurance accounts to use digital technology to enhance their overall marketing mix. She will report directly to creative directors Bryan Judkins and Trevor Williams. Before joining Young & Laramore, Callahan served as a communications marketing manager at Oracle.

Conklin will be tasked with leading the social media teams on developing brand awareness and an online reputation through social content for ELEVATE Design Collective, Pet Supplies Plus and Farm Bureau Insurance. Conklin will report directly to Callahan, and together they will devise strategies with the creative teams to find synergy between digital and social across all of Young & Laramore’s clients. Prior to this position, Conklin served as an in-house social media strategist at Indianapolis Motor Speedway.

Paul Knapp, CEO of Young & Laramore, said of the new hires. “As our clients are looking to expand their digital and social capabilities as part of our branding work we do for our clients in order to match today’s rapidly changing media landscape, we believe that Kathleen and Cassie will be ideal assets for our agency.”

  • Monday, Aug. 15, 2016
Heather Hayden named director of talent at The Escape Pod
Heather Hayden
CHICAGO -- 

The Escape Pod, an independent advertising agency in Chicago, has named Heather Hayden as its director of talent. Formerly sr. creative recruiter at Havas Worldwide Chicago, Hayden will be responsible for recruiting and retaining top talent and building upon the agency’s unique culture during a time of significant growth. Hayden’s appointment follows The Escape Pod’s recent acquisition of digital experience studio ORA Interactive, which grew the agency’s headcount by 30 percent and bolstered its full-service capabilities. 

Hayden is an industry veteran with extensive experience on both the agency and production sides. She has held account management roles at Element 79, FCB Chicago, J. Walter Thompson Worldwide, and Flair Communications, as well as serving as Midwest production company representative for Santa Monica, Calif.-based Hum Music, Chicago-based MK Films and NYC-based The Wilderness.

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