TBWAChiatDay New York has hired Erik Holmdahl and Beth Ryan, formerly of Mother, as creative directors, and Melatan Riden, who comes over from Anomaly, as design director. The three join a TBWAChiatDay NY creative team headed by executive creative director Matt Ian.
Holmdahl and Ryan will primarily lead creative for client Jameson. The agency is expanding its creative team to work on growing client accounts, including Mondelēz and the new BNY Mellon win.
At Mother, Holmdahl and Ryan led creative projects for Stella Artois and Microsoft. Prior to Mother, Holmdahl worked at BBH and StrawberryFrog, with clients including Sprite, Cole Haan, Google and Heineken. He has a number of international awards including Cannes, D&AD, Webby's and the One Show.
Before Mother, Ryan spent seven years at BBH, four in New York and three in Singapore. Her years at BBH on brands such as Sprite, Axe and Google produced work that was recognized with gold at the One Show, Cannes and D&AD.
At Mother, Ryan created digital experiences for Stella Artois, Xbox and, most recently, a 120-foot digital wall to launch the 3.1 Phillip Lim collection for Target.
"We hear the term 'hybrid creative' thrown around a lot, but I haven't met too many who are genuinely ambidextrous," commented Ian. "When I worked with them at BBH, I quickly came to realize that Beth and Erik are as strong digitally as they are with the traditional work. They think simply and inventively. They can give you an innovative idea for an app or a digital platform, and then turn around and hit a homerun with a TV script."
Prior to working exclusively on fashion marketing and branding at Lipman, Riden worked at Anomaly's Toronto office as director of design where she was responsible for the agency's entire design output. Riden has worked with influential global brands in the auto, beverage and fashion retail sectors for clients such as BMW Mini, Honda, Red Bull, Diageo, Budweiser, Bud Light, Kraft, Ann Taylor, Aritzia, Holt Renfrew, Marshalls, Mexx, Perricone MD and Sportchek.
Before relocating to New York, Riden was an active participant in the Canadian design community, volunteering her time with design & advertising institutions, universities and colleges. She also juries for the ADCC and RGD respectively, participating in speaker series and events. Her work has been recognized by the ADCC, AIGA, Graphis, Communication Arts, Applied Arts, CMA, Graphic Design USA and HOW as well as featured by Gallery Magazine and German design publisher, Gestalten for her personal work.
Ian noted, "Not only is Mel's breadth of work astounding but her craft is at a next-level. She will push the quality of branding design for TBWAChiatDay New York and our clients."
Design director is a newly created role at TBWAChiatDay NY.
Craig Henighan Sounds Off On “Deadpool & Wolverine”
Hollywood lore has it that character actor Edmund Gwenn--while on his deathbed--quipped, “Dying is easy, comedy is hard.”
The second part of that darkly witty utterance remains all too true today as Craig Henighan--a Best Achievement in Sound Mixing Oscar nominee in 2019 for Roma--can attest in that he had to grapple with the sonic of being comic for this year’s box office hit, Deadpool & Wolverine (20th Century Studios/Marvel Studios).
The degree of inherent difficulty was ramped up even further because Deadpool & Wolverine had to seamlessly bring together high action-adventure exploits with moments and dialogue that tickled the funny bone. There’s a mesh of humorous banter--a staple of the franchise--along with major spectacle replete with explosions, fights, an impactful score and off-the-wall musical numbers.
Henighan explained that among the prime challenges for him from a sound perspective was having to make sure every joke landed within the construct of a superhero film. The tendency for a tentpole movie of this variety, he noted, is to gravitate towards big, loud audio spanning music, dialogue and sound effects. But the unique comedic element of Deadpool & Wolverine necessitated that re-recording mixer and supervising sound editor Henighan strike a delicate balance. “You need to get out of the way for the comedy,” he related. The jokes in a superhero film become “a real dance” as Henighan had to establish a rhythm that did justice to both the comedy and the action as the narrative moves back and forth between them--and sometimes the funny and the high energy, high decibel superhero dynamic unfold simultaneously in a scene or sequence. The “sonic fabric” has to... Read More