By SHOOT Staff

December 15, 2016   Ari Weiss has been appointed to the newly created role of North American chief creative officer at DDB. As of February 1, 2017, Weiss will be responsible for leading the agency’s North American creative departments. Weiss joins DDB from BBH New York where he spent six years, leading his teams to 24 Cannes Lions. He most recently served at that shop as chief creative officer….Director Gary Freedman has joined RESET Content for representation in the U.S. He has directed for such brands as Nike, Heineken, McDonald’s, IKEA, Doritos, and Harvey Nichols. For the latter Freedman recently helmed the centerpiece spot for the “Britalia” campaign from adam&eveDDB, London….Giovanni Messner has come aboard the directorial roster of brother, the bicoastal production company headed by EP Rich Carter and director Ted Melfi (whose new feature Hidden Figures is generating considerable Oscar buzz). Messner’s background includes serving for five-plus years as creative director at The Zizo Group, a new media agency and production company where he created digital content for major brands. His notable work there included following soldiers as they returned to their families after a 15-month tour of duty (Walmart/USO), documenting the neo-natal intensive care unit with the parents of a baby born four months early (Pampers), and making over 40 short films in 17 countries for the 2012 and 2014 Olympic Games (Procter & Gamble). Messner has directed commercials for Levi’s, Gerber, eBay, Dupont, Comcast, Hallmark, Pampers, Merck, Electrolux and a series of Tide ads starring Jeremy Maguire (Modern Family) that premiered during the 2016 Oscar telecast and generated millions of views online…. Mike Frank, former VP, group creative director at Razorfish, has joined Deutsch as SVP, creative director. In his role, Frank will provide creative leadership to Deutsch’s 35-person Volkswagen platform team. He will report to Tara Greer, EVP, executive creative director…

December 15, 2011   R/GA New York has brought industry veteran Steve Whittier on board as executive creative director. Whittier, who will work on the Nike account, has 20 years of experience in both traditional and nontraditional advertising. He will report to R/GA’s Nick Law, executive VP, chief creative officer, North America. Whittier most recently acted as the integrated creative director on the Land Rover USA business at Young & Rubicam….Four Wieden+Kennedy (W+K) staffers have been named partners in the independent advertising agency: Portland managing director Tom Blessington, London managing director Neil Christie, Portland executive creative director Mark Fitzloff and global interactive executive creative director Iain Tait. They join co-founder and CEO Dan Wieden, Dave Luhr, Susan Hoffman, Bill Davenport, John Jay, Tony Davidson and Kim Papworth as agency partners of the global W+K network. This is the agency’s first partnership addition since Davidson and Papworth were appointed in 2009….The Descendants was chosen as the year’s best film by the Los Angeles Film Critics Association. From Sideways director Alexander Payne, The Descendants stars George Clooney as a neglectful father in Hawaii trying to tend his daughters after his wife falls into an accident-induced coma…. Actor/comedian/director Jamie Kennedy, whose credits include the half-hour hidden camera/practical joke/prankster WB reality TV series The Jamie Kennedy Experiment, and Michael Addis, with helming credits that include the comedic feature documentary Heckler (starring Kennedy), teamed to direct a hidden camera online spot campaign introducing the Portégé Z830 Ultrabook lightweight laptop computer for clients Toshiba and Intel. The assignment from Los Angeles agency goodness Mfg. marked the ad directorial debut of Kennedy and Addis who are repped as a commercialmaking duo by First Wave, a New York-based hybrid production/post/music house….

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