Independent ad agency RPA has hired Cliff Atkinson for the role of SVP, executive director, digital media. Atkinson will report to EVP, chief media officer Jim Helberg and will lead RPA’s entire digital media practice, inclusive of all strategy, social, programmatic, search and ad ops.
Atkinson comes to RPA from Saatchi & Saatchi L.A., where he held a similar role leading their digital strategy and investment practice. While at Saatchi, he was influential in pioneering greater synergies around the marriage of media and messaging. In his role at RPA, he will partner with cross-functional teams to further develop the agency’s suite of offerings as well as partner creative agencies.
“Cliff’s work in emerging platforms is impressive, and he will be relentless in our pursuit of best-in-class relationships, solutions and game-changing innovation that allows us to see around corners in this complex landscape,” said Helberg. “He brings a wealth of experience, knowledge, passion and humanity to our digital media practice.”
Prior to his more than 12 years at Saatchi & Saatchi L.A., Atkinson began his career at Grey NY and progressed through the digital world with key posts at various agencies, including Deutsch N.Y. and L.A. His account experience includes Toyota, Procter & Gamble, Coors Light, UnitedHealthcare, and the Discovery Channel.
Atkinson holds a bachelor’s degree in sociology from the University of Pennsylvania, where he also minored in computer science and engineering.
Review: Writer-Director Coralie Fargeat’s “The Substance”
In its first two hours, "The Substance" is a well-made, entertaining movie. Writer-director Coralie Fargeat treats audiences to a heavy dose of biting social commentary on ageism and sexism in Hollywood, with a spoonful of sugar- and sparkle-doused body horror.
But the film's deliciously unhinged, blood-soaked and inevitably polarizing third act is what makes it unforgettable.
What begins as a dread-inducing but still relatively palatable sci-fi flick spirals deeper into absurdism and violence, eventually erupting — quite literally — into a full-blown monster movie. Let the viewer decide who the monster is.
Fargeat — who won best screenplay at this year's Cannes Film Festival — has been vocal about her reverence for "The Fly" director David Cronenberg, and fans of the godfather of body horror will see his unmistakable influence. But "The Substance" is also wholly unique and benefits from Fargeat's perspective, which, according to the French filmmaker, has involved extensive grappling with her own relationship to her body and society's scrutiny.
"The Substance" tells the story of Elisabeth Sparkle, a famed aerobics instructor with a televised show, played by a powerfully vulnerable Demi Moore. Sparkle is fired on her 50th birthday by a ruthless executive — a perfectly cast Dennis Quaid, who nails sleazy and gross.
Feeling rejected by a town that once loved her and despairing over her bygone star power, Sparkle learns from a handsome young nurse about a black-market drug that promises to create a "younger, more beautiful, more perfect" version of its user. Though she initially tosses the phone number in the trash, she soon fishes it out in a desperate panic and places an order.
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