McCann Worldgroup has made two senior leadership moves at Craft, the network’s global production agency. Simon Sikorski, named global COO in January 2021, has been elevated to the role of global CEO. And Ben Clark joins the company as chief production officer, McCann & Craft, EMEA.
Sikorski is a 15-year veteran of McCann Worldgroup’s leadership team. Previous to his role as COO for Craft, he served as CEO for McCann Worldgroup Canada. He moved back to his native Canada in 2019 as part of organizational changes made as McCann elevated the country to global Strategic Market status. Sikorski previously served as chief client officer at Craft for seven years, and as a global business leader at McCann, having started as a managing partner of McCann EMEA, based in London.
Clark joins McCann Worldgroup’s European and UK operations to spearhead regional production for McCann and Craft and further drive creative excellence across the region. Clark joins from Deloitte Digital, where he was a director and founding partner of Acne London, a global creative consultancy, acquired by Deloitte Digital in 2017.
The moves represent an ongoing investment and strategic focus on strengthening McCann Worldgroup’s production capabilities, on the back of significant growth over the past three-plus years. Clark will work closely with global and regional leadership to develop production strategies across the entire portfolio of clients and champion the development of new production capabilities, taking advantage of innovations in the market.
Chris Macdonald, chairman & CEO of McCann, said, “Simon has proven himself to be a world-class leader and has an incredible depth of experience across McCann Worldgroup’s agencies and our geographic regions. He has proven in each role that he is capable of building great teams, driving creative excellence and delivering strong growth for our clients and our business. I am excited to see how he will continue to build Craft to support our agencies and our clients.”
Sikorski shared, “Ben brings with him a passion for creativity in production that is at the core of what we believe at Craft. I’m excited to bring his experience developing authentic and engaging content to our clients as they look for innovative ways to connect with their audiences.”
Mark Lund, president, Europe & U.K., McCann Worldgroup, added, “Ben brings great expertise in multi-dimensional creative solutions combined with an acute understanding of clients’ business and strategic challenges and the role production can play in solving these. Critically, Ben will play a key role in bridging the creative and production communities and enabling us to continue to lead in both creativity and production excellence across this region.”
“McCann Worldgroup is consistently recognized as one of the most creative and effective marketing companies in the world. This is a fantastic opportunity to partner with the incredible creative talent at McCann, and its impressive roster of clients, to bring new creative ideas to life, but also to deliver on the Craft promise – crafting content that works, beautifully, intelligently, efficiently and responsibly across all platforms,” said Clark.
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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