Director Philippe Andre has joined Biscuit Filmworks for North American commercial representation. Well established across Europe as a nuanced visual storyteller, Andre has garnered top awards at Cannes, the London International Awards, and the New York Festivals International Advertising Awards for his spotmaking.
Andre continues to be represented for commercials by Wanda in France and Independent in the UK. Via the latter, he recently directed Philip’s “What Light Can Do” for DDB Amsterdam; the spot earned inclusion in SHOOT‘s “The Best Work You May Never See” gallery (SHOOTonline, 9/16).
The director was previously handled stateside by Los Angeles-based Company. Over the years his work has garnered multiple Gold, Silver and Bronze Lions at Cannes, among the notable winners being Airtel’s “Endless Goodbye,” Persil’s “Roboboy” and Peugeot 407’s “Toys.” Out of agency BBH London, “Roboboy” made one of SHOOT’s quarterly VFX/Animation Charts in ’08, with The Mill, London, serving as visual effects house. “Toys” meanwhile won more than 20 advertising awards worldwide.
Andre is known for story-driven commercials conveying universal themes of humanity. He has directed for such brands as Lacoste, Peugeot, Nissan, Guinness, Adidas, Samsung, Miller Lite, AT&T and Toyota.
A DGA member, Andre is represented in the U.S. for feature films by William Morris Endeavour Entertainment and managed by 360 Management. He also writes and directs short films, and has two full-length feature films in development.
Founded by director Noam Murro and managing director Shawn Lacy in 2000, Biscuit maintains a directorial roster that also includes Aaron Ruell, Aaron Stoller, Christopher Riggert, Clay Weiner, Jeff Low, Russ Lamoureux, Steve Rogers and Tim Godsall.
New FDA Rules To Take Effect For TV Drug Commercials
Those ever-present TV drug ads showing patients hiking, biking or enjoying a day at the beach could soon have a different look: New rules require drugmakers to be clearer and more direct when explaining their medications' risks and side effects.
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration spent more than 15 years crafting the guidelines, which are designed to do away with industry practices that downplay or distract viewers from risk information.
Many companies have already adopted the rules, which become binding Nov. 20. But while regulators were drafting them, a new trend emerged: thousands of pharma influencers pushing drugs online with little oversight. A new bill in Congress would compel the FDA to more aggressively police such promotions on social media platforms.
"Some people become very attached to social media influencers and ascribe to them credibility that, in some cases, they don't deserve," said Tony Cox, professor emeritus of marketing at Indiana University.
Still, TV remains the industry's primary advertising format, with over $4 billion spent in the past year, led by blockbuster drugs like weight-loss treatment Wegovy, according to ispot.tv, which tracks ads.
Simpler language and no distractions
The new rules, which cover both TV and radio, instruct drugmakers to use simple, consumer-friendly language when describing their drugs, without medical jargon, distracting visuals or audio effects. A 2007 law directed the FDA to ensure that drug risk information appears "in a clear, conspicuous and neutral manner."
FDA has always required that ads give a balanced picture of both benefits and risks, a requirement that gave rise to those long, rapid-fire lists of side effects parodied on shows like "... Read More