People on the Move

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.

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.”

Independent creative agency Zambezi has named Janine Zaim as its first director of recruiting. Zaim comes to Zambezi from Pereira & O’Dell where she was director of recruiting for their New York and San Francisco offices. At Zambezi Zaim will enlist new talent as well as manage the agency’s employee initiatives and policies.
 
Zaim’s hiring is the latest in a string of recent key appointments at the agency, which celebrates its 10th anniversary this year. Partner/executive director of technology Justice Erolin, formerly of Deutsch LA, and executive director, marketing and business development Josie Brown, formerly at Omelet, joined Zambezi this year, following the agency’s relocation to spacious new headquarters in the Culver City media corridor. Zaim will be reporting directly to Jean Freeman, COO of Zambezi.
 
Zaim’s career includes stints as creative services manager and recruiter at twofifteenmccann and director of talent and creative services at Cutwater, both based in San Francisco. 

Production company No Smoke has brought on Michael Merryman as executive producer. The announcement was made by Andrew Swee, partner and executive producer at Creative Film Management (CFM), the production management company of which No Smoke is a unit.
 
Merryman has enjoyed a multifaceted career in the space where art, advertising and entertainment intersect. In 2011, he co-founded Durable Goods, a company known for producing moving images for brands and entertainment properties, connecting talent with ideas and communicating clearly with clients in an open, creative atmosphere.
 
Earlier, Merryman enjoyed a 15-year freelance career beginning while in film school (literally sweeping stage floors) and continuing through nearly every creative department—with forays in the art world, TV and ultimately back to directing commercials—before realizing his true passion as an executive producer. Since then, his focus has always been on bringing his particular point of view to the creative process by working intimately with directors to capture value in their vision while achieving the overarching goals of the clients and agencies that make it all possible.
 
“Michael’s cross-disciplinary experiences uniquely suit him to help us lead No Smoke and CFM to its next chapter,” Swee said. “He’ll serve as a liaison between talent, ideas, and production while opening new paths to growth.”