Creative studio 3AM, a division of entertainment marketing agency Wild Card Creative Group, has recruited former Cashmere Agency VP/group creative director Tynesha Williams as executive creative director.
“Tynesha is a daring creative and problem solver with a history of creating culture-shifting work,” said Tara DeVeaux, managing director, 3AM. “She not only builds creative departments with that same mix of fearlessness, but also consistently builds strong creatives. We have long been a fan of hers, specifically her iconic social campaigns, a discipline we officially merged into 3AM this year.”
Williams has a strong background in brand and entertainment marketing. With the L.A.-based agency Cashmere, Williams led creative teams on entertainment and brand accounts, creating award-winning, attention grabbing social and 360 campaigns for Amazon, Google, Facebook, Netflix, HBO, Starz, TNT, FX, Freeform, Universal, Paramount, McDonald’s, Coca-Cola, Chevy, MINI, Doritos and adidas, among others. At 3AM she will be tasked with integrating Wild Card Creative Group’s social team into 3AM, expanding the creative department, nurturing creative leaders and teams, and growing the brand business.
Williams said of her new roost, “They have a great reputation in the industry for creating amazing campaigns for entertainment properties and brands, and for being home to some of the brightest minds in the business. I’m hoping to extend their super high standards into new services and clients. I’ve always had a lot of success collaborating with female leaders. When we lead the way, women have a way of empowering, teaching and growing.”
DeVeaux along with Wild Card CEO Alison Temple, COO Onna Mahoney, director of social Noelle Neis, SVP editorial producer Felicia Sandoval and now Williams, constitute a formidable female leadership team at the Wild Card Creative Group.
Williams skill set extends beyond the advertising space, and includes directing, screenwriting and a one night only, stand-up comedy career. Although her standup gig was short-lived, Williams still maintains a strong sense of humor. “Hey I’m a girl from Detroit,” said Williams. “Everybody’s funny in Detroit. After all, this is where they filmed the romantic comedy 8 Mile.”
3AM’s recent work includes “Embrace the Grind,” an integrated campaign for the adidas x Ninja collaboration that included a Twitch activation with Influencers JuJu Smith-Schuster of the Steelers and rapper Pusha T, as well as high profile campaigns for Hulu’s “Helstrom” and Season 3 of “The Handmaid’s Tale.” For Warner Bros. and Legendary Entertainment’s upcoming feature Dune, 3AM helped launch a Twitter activation with Stephen Colbert, and for Universal Pictures’ Freaky with Vince Vaughn and Kathryn Newton the agency executed the social campaign. 3AM also created “You Will See Me,” a well received PSA campaign in partnership with the Ad Council and CDC. The campaign features prominent Black celebrities inspiring and empowering Black Americans whose communities have been disproportionately affected by the coronavirus to wear face masks.
Looking To Make Video Games More Immersive, Some Studios Turn To AI For Increased Interaction
For decades, video games have relied on scripted, stilted interactions with non-player characters (NPCs) to help shepherd gamers in their journeys. But as artificial intelligence technology improves, game studios are experimenting with generative AI to help build environments, assist game writers in crafting NPC dialogue and lend video games the improvisational spontaneity once reserved for table-top role-playing games.
In the multiplayer game "Retail Mage," players help run a magical furniture store and assist customers in hopes of earning a five-star review. As a salesperson โ and wizard โ they can pick up and examine items or tell the system what they'd like to do with a product, such as deconstruct chairs for parts or tear a page from a book to write a note to a shopper.
A player's interactions with the shop and NPCs around them โ from gameplay mechanics to content and dialogue creation โ are fueled by AI rather than a predetermined script to create more options for chatting and using objects in the shop.
"We believe generative AI can unlock a new kind of gameplay where the world is more responsive and more able to meet players at their creativity and the things that they come up with and the stories they want to tell inside a fantasy setting that we create for them," said Michael Yichao, cofounder of Jam & Tea Studios, which created "Retail Mage."
The typical NPC experience often leaves something to be desired. Pre-scripted interactions with someone meant to pass along a quest typically come with a handful of chatting options that lead to the same conclusion: players get the information they need and continue on. Game developers and AI companies say that by using generative AI tech, they aim to create a richer... Read More