• Tuesday, Oct. 3, 2017
Tal Wagman becomes associate creative director at Zambezi
Tal Wagman
LOS ANGELES -- 

Independent creative agency Zambezi has hired Tal Wagman as associate creative director. The writer teams up with art director Annie Johnston, who joined the agency in January. Wagman previously worked at Saatchi & Saatchi Los Angeles on Toyota and Bravo. Before that he worked in Toronto at the WPP agency Taxi on Koodo, Burger King and Mini Cooper, and at Saatchi & Saatchi Canada on Toyota, Wendy’s, Novartis’ Gas-X, and other brands. Most recently, Wagman led the digital effort for launching Toyota’s Prius Prime on the “Possibilities Now” campaign as well as the Toyota C-HR launch, collaborating with Bad Lip Reader. His work has been recognized at Cannes, Communication Arts, The Webby’s, and according to him, “many Canadian awards which no one has heard of”.
 
Wagman moved to Los Angeles to continue his advertising career while pursuing a side-hustle in stand up comedy.
 
“I thought I was good at standup,” said Wagman. “It was half the reason I came here. But with commuting to Torrance [Saatchi LA] every morning, the side hustle became impossible. I still write comedy, I just don’t perform it. What I try do is channel my humor into my ad work. Zambezi recognizes that, and that’s why I’m really excited about working here. I wanted to join an independent shop with an appreciation for comedy. It’s funny, I came to L.A. to do stand up, and Zambezi gave it to me, in the form of a stand-up desk. Actually, is that funny? I don’t know, and that’s why I’m not doing comedy.”
 
“Tal brings funny to Zambezi,” said Gavin Lester, chief creative officer. “There’s nothing more engaging than a brand story told with wit and humor. That’s Tal’s forte.”

  • Monday, Oct. 2, 2017
Periscope adds Bill Berg, Steve Sutherland
Steve Sutherland (l) and Bill Berg
MINNEAPOLIS -- 

Periscope has hired two notable artisans who boost its integrated agency offerings:  Bill Berg who comes over from Droga5 New York where he served as a sr. broadcast producer; and Steve Sutherland who was most recently experiential director/founder at Manufacture. Berg becomes executive producer at the Minneapolis-based Periscope while Sutherland is VP, director of integrated creative production.

Berg’s experience spans brands like Under Armour for the “Rule Yourself” series featuring Steph Curry and Tom Brady, as well as work for Overwatch, Xfinity, Toyota and Newcastle. Berg has collaborated with some of the industry’s top directors. 

Sutherland is a veteran of the agency world with experience at Crispin Porter + Bogusky, mono and Fallon, as well as his own company, Manufacture. He has worked with such brands as Target, Burger King, Coke Zero, Propel and the SYFY Network and brings a deep understanding of integrated experiences--from interface design to new product launches and everything in between.

  • Friday, Sep. 29, 2017
Tobin Kirk joins Laundry as EP
Tobin Kirk
LOS ANGELES -- 

Design and animation studio Laundry has brought on Tobin Kirk as executive producer. Kirk brings nearly 20 years of experience spanning broadcast design, main title sequences, integrated content, traditional on-air spots, branded content, digital, and social. At Laundry, he will work closely with EP Garrett Braren on business development, as well as client and project management efforts.

Kirk was most recently managing executive producer at Troika where he oversaw all production at the entertainment brand agency’s 25,000-square-foot facility in Hollywood, including its creative studio and live-action production subsidiary, Troika Production Group. Prior to that, he spent nearly five years as EP at Blind, managing projects for XBOX/Microsoft, AT&T, ancestry.com, and Sealy Mattress, among others.
 
Kirk’s diverse background as a producer is highlighted by such projects as the main title sequence for David Fincher’s “The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo” at Blur Studio, commercials for Chrysler and Gatorade at a52, and an in-flight video for Method/Virgin America at Green Dot Films. He also spent three years with Farmer Brown working for TBS, CBS, Mark Burnett Productions, Al Roker Productions, The Ant Farm, Bunim/Murray, and Endemol USA.
 
In addition, Kirk collaborated with video artist Bill Viola for over six years, producing projects for the London National Gallery, Athens Olympics, the Getty Museum, Opera National de Paris, Guggenheim Museum, Munich’s EON Corporation and Anthony d’Offay Gallery.

  • Wednesday, Sep. 27, 2017
Patrick Frend named managing director at GALE
Patrick Frend
NEW YORK -- 

Full-service business agency GALE has hired 18-year Razorfish veteran Patrick Frend as managing director. Frend will be joining GALE’s global management team to help shape the agency’s service offering and grow its global business. Frend will be reporting to GALE’s president and CEO Brad Simms.
 
“GALE’s connected agency and consultancy offering is a great fit for Pat--a former management consultant and agency veteran with vast expertise across automotive, financial services, CPG, travel, and retail,” said Simms.
 
Prior to joining GALE, Frend served as president, East Region of Razorfish, managing its New York, Atlanta, and Toronto business.  In this role, he handled a $150-million P&L and oversaw more than 600 employees, working with clients including: Mercedes-Benz, Ford Motor Company, UNIQLO, Delta Airlines, Unilever, and Citibank.
 
“GALE’s seamless integration of business consulting and creative expertise, along with the agency’s long-term vision, inspired me to join the team” said Frend.  “Many aspire to adopt that model, but GALE pioneered it three and half years ago and has proven its value out with brands including BMW, BMO, and Genting. GALE is about the same size and age as the organization I joined the last time I made a change 18 years ago; I look forward to looking back on how I’ve contributed to GALE 18 years from now.”  
 
Headquartered in New York with offices in Toronto and Bangalore, GALE brings together the strongest aspects of the agency and consultancy models and supports this through proprietary data and insights platforms including ASK GALE and ALCHEMY. GALE’s clients include: BMW, Bank of Montreal, Allstate, MGM, Hain Celestial, Genting, and David’s Bridal. 

  • Wednesday, Sep. 27, 2017
Framestore colorist Edwin Metternich relocates to Chicago office​
Edwin Metternich
CHICAGO -- 

Framestore has extended its global color department to its Chicago office with the relocation of colorist Edwin Metternich. The Chicago team has been steadily growing with a series of high caliber appointments since opening in May 2017.

Metternich joined Framestore as a runner in 2007, moving quickly into the color team as an assistant and progressing into grading after only a couple of years. He has been an integral part of the color department in London and embarks on a new career chapter at Framestore’s newest office.

He has worked on a multitude of projects including Framestore’s first video game VFX job “Guitar Hero Live,” “The Eye” for Audi and frequent collaborations with award-winning agencies and production companies. He was nominated for the Kinsale Sharks Best Colorist in a Short Film in 2016 and Best Colorist in a Music Video in 2017. His work spans brands such as Speedo, Absolut, Barclays, and Microsoft. He will be missed by his loyal following of clients in London.

Metternich’s range of work also broadens to a selection of independent film projects, notably Blood Cells for British directing duo Joseph Bull and Luke Seomore, Jangbar with turner-nominated artist Zarina Bhimji, and BAFTA award-winning British short film, Operator

  • Tuesday, Sep. 26, 2017
Kinda Akash promoted to creative director for design at The Mill NY
Kinda Akash
NEW YORK -- 

Kinda Akash has been promoted to creative director for design at The Mill New York.
 
Since joining the studio, Akash has carved a niche out of working on interactive and experimental projects pertaining to science, language, and social impact within The Mill’s award-winning design team. In true Mill form, she is both a thinker and a maker with a hands-on approach. 
 
During her time as an art director, Akash has spearheaded some of the New York studio’s most challenging and innovative creative work while mentoring and inspiring members of the design department. Most recently, she co-directed Cartier’s fully CG “Pursuit of Magnificence” campaign alongside ECD Ben Smith.
 
Angus Kneale, chief creative officer, commented, “From the moment that Kinda joined us, she has been raising the bar for design at The Mill and impressing everyone that she works with. She has fearlessly led some of the most unique and challenging projects at The Mill.”

  • Tuesday, Sep. 26, 2017
CAUSE+EFFECT adds ECD Bex Schwartz
Bex Schwartz
NEW YORK -- 

Creative studio CAUSE+EFFECT has added multihyphenate Bex Schwartz to its team as executive creative director. A director, writer, strategist and pop culture enthusiast to the core, she has nearly two decades of experience in the broadcast promo arena. She spent 12 years at Viacom, working on a diverse range of promo content across its MTV, VH1, Logo and Nickelodeon brands. 

Most recently, Schwartz served as creative director at Alkemy X, where she led the strategy behind the social media campaign for the podcast “Missing Richard Simmons” and directed campaigns for SYFY’s rebrand and 25th Anniversary. Schwartz’s time out of the studio is spent tracking things on Twitter, performing at comedy or storytelling nights and taking writing and speaking gigs for her talent as a walking pop culture encyclopedia, which feeds her voracious appetite for fresh creative ideas and constantly informs her work as a creative director/director.

CAUSE+EFFECT managing partner Jason Zemlicka said, “Bex has an incredibly fun style and the kind of irreverent and powerful voice that’s necessary to cut through the abundance of content out there today.” 

  • Tuesday, Sep. 26, 2017
Victoria Edwards promoted to exec director of integrated brand marketing at Mistress
Victoria "Tor" Edwards
LOS ANGELES -- 

Independent creative agency Mistress has promoted Victoria “Tor” Edwards to executive director of integrated brand management. Edwards’ responsibilities have included managing such clients as Qdoba, American Apparel, Sambazon, Brown-Forman, ASICS, Pearson, Campbell Fresh, Amazon, IMAX, AT&T, Los Angeles Tourism, Univision, Level-5 Abby, Coke Freestyle, Netflix and World Surf League.

Previously, Edwards was group brand director at Mistress, which she first joined in 2014 after serving with Clemenger BBDO in Sydney where she worked on global brands including GE, Mars and PepsiCo, and was a key player on the agency’s new business efforts. Edwards has won multiple international awards for creative, digital and effectiveness at Cannes, One Show, New York Festival, Clios and Spike, to name a few. Under her leadership at Mistress, the agency has won several awards including Best in Television at the Shorty’s and North America Agency of the Year at PromaxBDA.

“Tor is a key player on our team and represents what we believe advertising needs today; ambition, talent, a keen understanding of modern media culture and an ability to see the idea though the noise,” said Christian Jacobsen, executive strategy director and partner at Mistress. “Advertising is in her genes. Her father was one of Australia’s leading advertising executives. She brings to Mistress a brilliant pedigree, a global sensibility, deep understanding of consumer behavior and an intimate familiarity with the needs of our clients. In her new position, she’s in charge of keeping everyone on track and delivering cohesive plans for our clients.”

“When I left Sydney I came directly to California and to Mistress,” said Edwards. “I realized this was the right place to be with regards to the future of advertising; an incubator of entertainment, technology and marketing, and a climate that focuses on the consumer. In today’s modern media environment, with all of the choices available across every demographic and sub group, brands need to have strong ideas and a clear POV to effectively connect with their audiences in a meaningful way, understanding how they live and breathe, work, play, communicate and use technology. Mistress has been leading that charge for over a decade. I’m excited to be here and to continue our mission of turning heads and building powerful engagement between brands, their followers and future adopters.”

  • Saturday, Sep. 23, 2017
VML NY hires exec creative director Fabio Seidel
Fabio Seidl
NEW YORK -- 

Fabio Seidl has been hired to serve as executive creative director overseeing VML New York’s creative department and work for brands such as New Balance, Greater Miami Convention & Visitors Bureau, AMC cable television, LEGOLAND Florida Resort and the United Nations. 

Originally from Rio de Janeiro where he started as a copywriter, Seidl brings global experience and a unique perspective, having worked at Ogilvy Brazil in Sao Paulo and McCann Europe. Most recently, Seidl was at 360i in New York as a group creative director and before that an executive creative director at Leo Burnett in Chicago. Seidl’s work has been recognized with more than 20 Cannes Lions as well as numerous awards in the One Show, CLIO, D&AD, London International Advertising Awards, El Ojo and others.

With 20 years of experience working with clients like Absolut, Canon, Coca-Cola, GM, Nestlé, NBC Universal and YouTube, Seidl has a multi-faceted, strategic approach. Some of his most recent work includes recognized campaigns like Canon Photo Coach, Reeve Foundation’s Adaptoys and GRAACC Bald Cartoons.
 
Seidl joins the VML creative team following the appointments earlier this year of John Godsey and Mike Wente to co-chief creative officers, North America. Seidl will report to Wente.

VML has the momentum of winning 27 Cannes Lions this year, including six from the NY office for work on LEGOLAND Florida Resort and Motorola Mobility.

  • Friday, Sep. 22, 2017
Oscar-nominated VFX supervisor Lou Pecora joins Zoic Studios
Lou Pecora
CULVER CITY, Calif. -- 

Zoic Studios has added Academy Award-nominated Lou Pecora as VFX supervisor in its Culver City studio. Pecora has over two decades of experience in visual effects, working across commercial, feature film and series projects. He comes to Zoic from Digital Domain, where he spent 18 years working with top Hollywood directors on large-scale feature film projects as a VFX supervisor and compositing supervisor. He has lent his talents to such feature films as X Men: Apocalypse, Spider-Man: Homecoming, X-Men: Days of Future Past, Maleficent, Pirates of the Caribbean: At World’s End, I, Robot, Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen, Transformers: Dark of the Moon, Star Trek, G.I. Joe: Retaliation, Stealth, The Mummy: Tomb of the Emperor, How the Grinch Stole Christmas, Flags of Our Fathers and Letters From Iwo Jima. His work has garnered widespread industry recognition, including an Academy Award nomination for Best Achievement in Visual Effects for X-Men: Days of Future Past, as well as several VES nominations.

“Over the past few years, we’ve been fortunate to work with the top filmmakers during this very exciting time in television where shows like Game of Thrones and Series of Unfortunate Events require feature film quality for television.  Lou is  a perfect fit for us, as he clearly brings that eye towards quality, but also really connects with these filmmakers,” noted Zoic executive creative director/co-founder Chris Jones.  

“There has been a major shift in the television landscape, with a much greater volume of work and substantially higher production values than ever before,” added Pecora. “Zoic has their hands in a diverse range of high-end television projects, and I’m excited to bring my experience in the feature film space to this dynamic sector of the entertainment industry.”

The addition of Pecora comes on the heels of several high profile projects at Zoic, including work on Darren Aronofsky’s thriller mother!, Game of Thrones for HBO and Marvel’s The Defenders for Netflix.

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