House 337, a London agency launched in September 2022, has hired Lucy Freedman as its first head of new business & marketing. In her new role, Freedman–who comes over from Digitas–will work with leaders across House 337’s capabilities–advertising & communications, social & content, fashion & lifestyle, customer experience, AI & innovation, and sport–to engage the agency’s full set of resources in the service of driving new business and sustained growth. Freedman joins a House 337 team, including Lauren Estwick, recently hired to drive sales and marketing across sport, as well as Steph Dixon, Abraham Onimole, and Hilary Watson, another new addition as new business manager focused on government. During Freedman’s two years at Digitas, the agency won clients, including BTEE, Crocs, Subway, and Norwegian Cruise Lines, bringing in briefs that span CRM, media, and digital advertising. Freedman previously worked at The Beyond Collective for five years, rising from marketing manager at Above+Beyond to business development director across the full micro-network….House 337 clients include Sky, E.ON, Santander, JD Williams, Women’s Aid and the Cannes Lions Titanium-Grand Prix-winning Kiyan Prince Foundation….
Minneapolis-based indie agency Preston Spire has named Victor Kimble as its first chief marketing officer. Kimble will lead business development for the shop, which has had a notable year with a 30-percent increase in revenue and its most national award wins in the past 10 years, including an Effie Award. Kimble brings significant agency experience, with 13 years in New York at Fallon, Deutsch and Ogilvy. On the East Coast, Kimble’s leadership resulted in standout work for brands such as Brawny, Georgia-Pacific, Johnson & Johnson, Timberland and Tylenol. In 2011, Kimble returned to Minnesota, where he joined Periscope. There, he led business and brand strategy for clients including Essentia, Intuit Quickbooks, Minnesota Lottery, Phillips Distilling, Toro, and UnitedHealthcare…..
Jennifer Kent On Why Her Feature Directing Debut, “The Babadook,” Continues To Haunt Us
"The Babadook," when it was released 10 years ago, didn't seem to portend a cultural sensation.
It was the first film by a little-known Australian filmmaker, Jennifer Kent. It had that strange name. On opening weekend, it played in two theaters.
But with time, the long shadows of "The Babadook" continued to envelop moviegoers. Its rerelease this weekend in theaters, a decade later, is less of a reminder of a sleeper 2014 indie hit than it is a chance to revisit a horror milestone that continues to cast a dark spell.
Not many small-budget, first-feature films can be fairly said to have shifted cinema but Kent's directorial debut may be one of them. It was at the nexus of that much-debated term "elevated horror." But regardless of that label, it helped kicked off a wave of challenging, filmmaker-driven genre movies like "It Follows," "Get Out" and "Hereditary."
Kent, 55, has watched all of this — and those many "Babadook" memes — unfold over the years with a mix of elation and confusion. Her film was inspired in part by the death of her father, and its horror elements likewise arise out of the suppression of emotions. A single mother (Essie Davis) is struggling with raising her young son (Noah Wiseman) years after the tragic death of her husband. A figure from a pop-up children's book begins to appear. As things grow more intense, his name is drawn out in three chilling syllables — "Bah-Bah-Doooook" — an incantation of unprocessed grief.
Kent recently spoke from her native Australia to reflect on the origins and continuing life of "The Babadook."
Q: Given that you didn't set out to in any way "change" horror, how have you regarded the unique afterlife of "The... Read More