North American Chief Creative Officer
DDB Worldwide
1) I hope this is the year the industry stops focusing on channel agnostic ideas and instead starts thinking about big brand ideas that seamlessly move across channels. Technology has a nasty way of distracting brands from their purpose. Too often we see technology for technology’s sake. In these examples you can usually swap out one brand for another, sometimes even an entire category for another. It’s lazy and it doesn’t serve the brand. I think we will also start to see brands offering consumers actual utility as opposed to passive engagements. The trick will be to do this while still serving the brand’s greater purpose. Again not utility for utility’s sake, but utility to serve the greater brand narrative. I have a feeling we’ll see some of the most interesting advances in this area come from mobile.
2) Do more that scares me.
3) Make sure your work is relevant. Always ask, “Will anyone care?” Because chances are they won’t. Which means you have to keep starting over until you’re pretty sure they will.
4) I was in the very fortunate position of having a few months off between jobs this year. In those months, I was never tethered to my cell phone during family time. My New Year’s resolution is to keep that up in my new job.
SCHROM x Yacht Club and Be Electric Studios Launch Electric XR for Virtual Production
SCHROM x Yacht Club, a full-service live-action, tabletop, and postproduction company, has teamed with Be Electric Studios, a soundstage, equipment rental, and virtual production company, to launch Electric XR, a virtual production collective.
Industry veteran Thomas Rossano will lead the new venture, which provides advanced virtual production solutions across multiple facilities. He brings over 25 years of experience in live-action, tabletop, postproduction and talent curation to enhance Electric XR’s offerings as a resource for brands and agencies, as well as other production companies in need of virtual production solutions. Additionally Rossano continues to serve as EP at XR New York (XR-NY), a role he’s held since December 2022. SCHROM x Yacht Club originally established XR-NY to help provide XR services for third-party rentals. While XR-NY will continue to function independently for SCHROM X Yacht Club, it now operates under the Electric XR umbrella.
Rossano’s expertise spans producing live-action commercials, branded content, interactive and experiential content. In addition to leading Electric XR, he holds responsibilities at SCHROM x Yacht Club which include driving business development, collaborating with sales reps and expanding the company’s creative talent network. Rossano’s career includes serving as an exec producer at Hungry Man for about 11 years, right from that company’s inception. He then went on to become a partner at Station Film where he also had a lengthy tenure. Later he was a partner at PRISM. Then after the pandemic hit, he became a freelance EP for nearly two years, looking into opportunities in virtual production, which led him to XR NY and now Electric XR. Over the years, he has produced high-profile... Read More