VaynerMedia has appointed Aaron Howe as executive creative director of its Los Angeles office. Howe will lead the creative vision for the agency, working in partnership with managing director Lisa Buckley and global chief creative officer Rob Lenois.
“Aaron is an exceptional creative leader who understands VaynerMedia’s integrated approach of bringing creative, strategy, and media together to drive relevancy and growth for our clients,” said Buckley. “He will play a key role as we continue to build out our presence on the West Coast and thus broaden our North American presence.”
Most recently, Howe was executive creative director at Wunderman Thompson, where he oversaw a number of businesses, most notably the integrated and social media business for Microsoft and AT&T. Prior to joining Wunderman Thompson, Howe worked at a number of agencies, including 72andSunny and Deutsch. He began his career as a designer at Rolling Stone Magazine. Howe’s work has been recognized at Cannes Lions, the One Show, and the Webby Awards.
“I was drawn to the unique way in which VaynerMedia approaches its clients’ business needs. They are disrupting the industry with an amazing framework on which to build creative,” said Howe. “Plus, to be part of an organization that leads with compassion and empathy both internally and with clients is extremely exciting.”
Howe joins a senior leadership team that has been rapidly expanding. In addition to the appointment of Buckley as managing director earlier this year, key senior hires include sr. VP of media Hailey Riggle. On a global level, the agency recently named Vanessa Vining as chief diversity officer and Eric Jacobs as chief innovation officer.
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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