Publicis Modem East in New York has brought Damian Claassens aboard to serve as senior VP/creative director, a newly created role at the agency. He comes over from AKQA, New York, where he was group creative director.
Claassens now reports to Patrick Clarke, executive VP/executive creative director of Publicis Modem East, and leads creative on the global LG account, among others. Claassens is the second high-profile creative lead hiring as of late for Publicis Modem USA, the digital specialist arm of Publicis Worldwide in the U.S. Last month David Shearer was named executive creative director of Publicis Modem West in San Francisco.
Claassens joined AKQA in New York in 2005, opening the office and developing its digital offering. He led global creative work for AKQA clients such as Nike, Coca-Cola, Motorola, Google, Smirnoff, DoubleClick, Kraft and Johnson & Johnson. With over 12-years in digital creative, Claassens’ work has been recognized by nearly every top award show including: Cannes, One Show, D&AD, New York Festivals, and IAB. Claassens is a native of Australia and his experience includes creative positions at Framfab, Copenhagen; Blueberry, London; Ogilvy Interactive, Sydney; and Leo Burnett, Sydney.
Publicis Modem East has expanded its staff to 230 and recently moved into a 55,000 square foot new headquarters space in NYC.
Trump Asks Supreme Court To Delay TikTok Ban
President-elect Donald Trump asked the Supreme Court on Friday to pause the potential TikTok ban from going into effect until his administration can pursue a "political resolution" to the issue.
The request came as TikTok and the Biden administration filed opposing briefs to the court, in which the company argued the court should strike down a law that could ban the platform by Jan. 19 while the government emphasized its position that the statute is needed to eliminate a national security risk.
"President Trump takes no position on the underlying merits of this dispute. Instead, he respectfully requests that the Court consider staying the Act's deadline for divestment of January 19, 2025, while it considers the merits of this case," said Trump's amicus brief, which supported neither party in the case and was written by D. John Sauer, Trump's choice for solicitor general.
The argument submitted to the court is the latest example of Trump inserting himself in national issues before he takes office. The Republican president-elect has already begun negotiating with other countries over his plans to impose tariffs, and he intervened earlier this month in a plan to fund the federal government, calling for a bipartisan plan to be rejected and sending Republicans back to the negotiating table.
He has been holding meetings with foreign leaders and business officials at his Mar-a-Lago club in Florida while he assembles his administration, including a meeting last week with TikTok CEO Shou Chew.
Trump has reversed his position on the popular app, having tried to ban it during his first term in office over national security concerns. He joined the TikTok during his 2024 presidential campaign and his team used it to connect with younger... Read More