StrawberryFrog, an independent strategy, marketing, advertising, and design firm, has hired Nick Sonderup as executive creative director. Sonderup is an award-winning, Emmy-nominated creative leader, ECD and writer with more than 22 years of experience.
Sonderup was previously at Pereira O’Dell, where he led the NY office and creative department for over five years. Under his leadership, Pereira O’Dell won and retained a roster of clients including MINI, Stella Artois, Corona, Pillsbury, The Central Park Conservancy, Yellowtail wine, and Redemption whiskey.
Scott Goodson, founder and CEO of StrawberryFrog, said of Sonderup, “His outstanding track record of delivering original, inspiring work that resonates deeply with audiences, and style, perfectly reflects our ‘Movement’ purpose and our identity as a creative driven company that sparks ‘Movements.’”
The latter reference is to Strawberry’s description of itself as a Movement Thinking™ company, applying creativity and innovation such as AI to create “Movements” that mobilize and engage people to help companies transform and grow.
Sonderup’s authoritative creative prowess has been recognized across assorted industry awards show including The Andys, The One Show, Cannes Lions, Clios, D&AD, Effies, and the ADC. His work for GE, “Childlike Imagination,” earned a primetime commercial Emmy nomination in 2014 during his tenure at BBDO New York.
In addition to his work at Pereira O’Dell and BBDO NY, Sonderup has held leadership posts at Ogilvy and Translation. He started his creative career at MTV. Sonderup was the pop culture cable network’s sole writer in the off-air creative department and was responsible for developing promotional materials across multiple TV franchises and awards shows, including the MTV Video Music Awards, Movie Awards, Punk’d, and The Osbournes. After MTV, Sonderup started his agency career when he was brought on as a copywriter at Wieden+Kennedy.
Over a decade ago, Sonderup took a break from his “normal life” and embarked on a three-month tour of “binge-gigging” to see 100 different musical acts. He turned the project into a short documentary called 100 Bands in 100 Days, which became a Grand Jury award nominee at the 2010 SXSW Film Festival.
“I’m honored as well as exhilarated to be part of StrawberryFrog,” said Sonderup. “By building brands that speak directly to ideas that fuel the culture and the way communities respond and revolve to those concepts is what advertising needs to be about. That’s the essence of StrawberryFrog’s Movement thinking. And that lines up perfectly with the work I’ve always loved to do.”
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