Digitally led creative agency Deep Focus, part of Engine Group, has appointed John Reid to serve as U.S. chief creative officer. Reporting to CEO Ian Schafer, Reid will be responsible for driving creative vision for the agency’s North American offices.
Reid will lead Deep Focus’ creative team to serve a client base which includes Frito-Lay, NestlĂ©, Intel, Purina and eBay. Reid will help the agency develop progressive strategic and tactical plans for its clients.
Prior to joining Deep Focus, Reid served as EVP, chief creative officer at Wunderman, where he led the agency’s creative vision, delivering award-winning work for the likes of The Ad Council, Audi, Johnson and Johnson, E*Trade, Pfizer and Procter & Gamble. In addition to Wunderman, he has also held senior creative positions at agencies including McCann, ATTIK, CP+B and AKQA. Through working with these agencies, Reid has handled creative for other global brands, such as Microsoft, TiVo, Visa, Best Buy and Hewlett Packard.
Reid’s work has been recognized by national and international award shows, including Cannes Lions, Clios, ADDYs, Webbys, and MIXX. He’s been a judge at numerous awards shows including the Cannes Lions, the Clios, and the One Show.
“I look forward to working alongside the talented people of Deep Focus who are brave and provocative enough to ask questions and defy the status quo,” said Reid. “It is this culture of innovation and invention that drew me in to Deep Focus, and I am eager to help continue its evolution towards being each of our clients’ key strategic and creative partner.”
Headquartered in New York City, 500-person agency Deep Focus has a global footprint with additional offices in Los Angeles, San Francisco, London, Shanghai, and Hong Kong.
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