By COSTA MESA, Calif.
Casanova//McCann has promoted Will Pierce to sr. VP, chief strategy officer.
Pierce, who joined four years ago as director of strategic planning for the New York office, becomes the agency’s first overall chief strategy officer, encompassing its national network of offices. He has over 18 years of experience across general, Hispanic and global markets. He started his career at McCann, built Hispanic expertise at Saatchi/Conill, general market & global experience at Havas/Arnold, and then joined Casanova//McCann in 2014. Most recently, he was VP, director of strategic planning.
Ingrid Otero-Smart, president/CEO of Casanova//McCann, said of Pierce, “He has helped us build a world-class planning department that has contributed significantly to our clients’ businesses and, as a result, has been instrumental in our continued growth.”
Casanova//McCann is one of the fastest growing Hispanic-focused agencies in the country and works with well-known brands such as Nestlé USA, Chevrolet, Carl’s Jr, eBay, California Lottery, and many others. The agency has full-service offices in California, New York, and Detroit, and employs over 100 professionals.
“I couldn’t be more excited about this new opportunity and what the future holds for us,” said Pierce. “We’re gearing up to take Casanova//McCann to the next level through provocative thought leadership and culture-driven creativity. If there’s one thing I’ve learned through all of my experience, it’s that culture has an almost magical power to shape brands into those that consumers will fall in love with. We’re getting to the heart of cultural truths that will create more of those brands.”
Juliette Welfling Takes On A Musical, A Crime Thriller, Comedy and Drama In “Emelia Pérez”
Editor Juliette Welfling has a track record of close-knit, heartfelt collaboration with writer-director Jacques Audiard, a four-time BAFTA Award nominee for Best Film not in the English Language--starting with The Beat That My Heart Skipped in 2006, then A Prophet in 2010, Rust and Bone in 2013, and Dheepan in 2017. He won for The Beat That My Heart Skipped and A Prophet.
Welfling cut three of those features: A Prophet, Rust and Bone, and Dheepan. And that shared filmography has since grown to most recently include Emelia Pérez, the Oscar buzz-worthy film from Netflix. Welfling herself is not stranger to Academy Award banter. In fact, she earned a Best Achievement in Film Editing Oscar nomination in 2008 for director Julian Schnabel’s The Diving Bell and the Butterfly.
Emelia Pérez is a hybrid musical/drama/thriller which introduces us to a talented but undervalued lawyer named Rita (portrayed by Zoe Saldana) who receives a lucrative offer out of the blue from a feared drug cartel boss who’s looking to retire from his sordid business and disappear forever by becoming the woman he’s always dreamt of being (Karla SofÃa Gascón in a dual role as Manitas Del Monte/Emilia Pérez). Rita helps pull this off, orchestrating the faked death of Del Monte who leaves behind a widow (Jessi, played by Selena Gomez) and kids. While living comfortably and contently in her/their new identity, Pérez misses the children. Pérez once again enlists Rita--this time to return to family life, reuniting with the kids by pretending to be their aunt, the sister of Del Monte. Now as an aunt, Pérez winds up adopting a more altruistic bent professionally,... Read More