Chief creative officer
Energy BBDO
1) This year many brands played outside of their comfort zones and shifted marketing focus from functional messaging, to putting brand purpose at the forefront. I feel 2017 was a year of truly relying on data to inform marketing and creative decisions. And, new media appeared, or at least new ways to tell stories across media channels from VR, to 360, to understanding how to best use short and long form online and on mobile and, we began to understand what’s possible with AI.
3) Bayer Aspirin “HeroSmiths” and “Prescribed to Death” for the National Safety Council. Often we work on briefs where the common goal is to sell more of something, but sometimes you have the opportunity to create something far more impactful that can truly make a difference in peoples’ lives. This year, in the case of both “HeroSmiths,” focused on heart attack prevention, and “Prescribed to Death,” an awareness and prevention campaign targeting the Opioid Crisis, we got to literally help save lives. These rare opportunities have an amazing impact on us as individuals and as an agency—knowing that we have the power to harness our craft for good by bringing together creativity, technology and wonderful clients to change the future for the better.
4) I think AI will keep growing, and with it a whole new world to tap into. Our access to, and ability to interpret, data improves almost daily—this will continue to inform work that is stronger and more precise. Content will continue to be king and with it, storytelling. Overall I think 2018 will be a year where brands focus on evocative storytelling and creating innovative consumer experiences.
5) From an agency standpoint, we need to keep gaining momentum as we aim to position ourselves among the top five best BBDO agencies in the global Network. We’re proud to be part of the most awarded agency network and we set a high bar for ourselves internally. The past two years we have achieved great things at Energy, we’re ready to tap into the next level. From a personal standpoint, I believe the focus needs to always be my family, who give me the energy to be better at everything.
Review: Malcolm Washington Makes His Feature Directing Debut With “The Piano Lesson”
An heirloom piano takes on immense significance for one family in 1936 Pittsburgh in August Wilson's "The Piano Lesson." Generational ties also permeate the film adaptation, in which Malcolm Washington follows in his father Denzel Washington's footsteps in helping to bring the entirety of The Pittsburgh Cycle — a series of 10 plays — to the screen.
Malcolm Washington did not start from scratch in his accomplished feature filmmaking debut. He enlisted much of the cast from the recent Broadway revival with Samuel L. Jackson (Doaker Charles), his brother, John David Washington (Boy Willie), Ray Fisher (Lymon) and Michael Potts (Whining Boy). Berniece, played by Danielle Brooks in the play, is now beautifully portrayed by Danielle Deadwyler. With such rich material and a cast for whom it's second nature, it would be hard, one imagines, to go wrong. Jackson's own history with the play goes back to its original run in 1987 when he was Boy Willie.
It's not the simplest thing to make a play feel cinematic, but Malcolm Washington was up to the task. His film opens up the world of the Charles family beyond the living room. In fact, this adaptation, which Washington co-wrote with "Mudbound" screenwriter Virgil Williams, goes beyond Wilson's text and shows us the past and the origins of the intricately engraved piano that's central to all the fuss. It even opens on a big, action-filled set piece in 1911, during which the piano is stolen from a white family's home. Another fleshes out Doaker's monologue in which he explains to the uninitiated, Fisher's Lymon, and the audience, the tortured history of the thing. While it might have been nice to keep the camera on Jackson, such a great, grounding presence throughout, the good news is that he really makes... Read More