Executive creative director
The Martin Agency
1) One big trend is not necessarily a new one, but its massive importance and scale in the last year is unignorable—and that’s the voracious appetite for video content. This has led to some really great content and some not so great content. It’s led to compelling brand messages and fractured ones. With smaller agencies and content creators popping up almost every day, it’s a wild world out there with no end in sight.
Another development that I absolutely love is that consumers are demanding, more than ever, that brands share their values. This has led to brands becoming more human and embracing the role they can play in creating positive social impact.
4) I envision more brands working to find their true north – their purpose or their “why” as they endeavor to rise to the shared values expectations of consumers.
I envision a lot more video content creation coming from all over the map and the continued land grab this creates across the industry.
5) My personal new year’s resolution is not dissimilar from the resolutions of many at The Martin Agency and that is to do more work that creates positive change and social impact. Just recently, after the tragedy in Charlottesville here in Virginia, we created a simple but powerful message of inclusion based on the Virginia is for Lovers tagline created by the agency years ago. It immediately resonated with people and took on a life of its own. As agencies and brands, we have incredible opportunities to affect change and that inspires and energizes me greatly.
Rom-Com Mainstay Hugh Grant Shifts To The Dark Side and He’s Never Been Happier
After some difficulties connecting to a Zoom, Hugh Grant eventually opts to just phone instead.
"Sorry about that," he apologizes. "Tech hell." Grant is no lover of technology. Smart phones, for example, he calls the "devil's tinderbox."
"I think they're killing us. I hate them," he says. "I go on long holidays from them, three or four days at at time. Marvelous."
Hell, and our proximity to it, is a not unrelated topic to Grant's new film, "Heretic." In it, two young Mormon missionaries (Chloe East, Sophie Thatcher) come knocking on a door they'll soon regret visiting. They're welcomed in by Mr. Reed (Grant), an initially charming man who tests their faith in theological debate, and then, in much worse things.
After decades in romantic comedies, Grant has spent the last few years playing narcissists, weirdos and murders, often to the greatest acclaim of his career. But in "Heretic," a horror thriller from A24, Grant's turn to the dark side reaches a new extreme. The actor who once charmingly stammered in "Four Weddings and a Funeral" and who danced to the Pointer Sisters in "Love Actually" is now doing heinous things to young people in a basement.
"It was a challenge," Grant says. "I think human beings need challenges. It makes your beer taste better in the evening if you've climbed a mountain. He was just so wonderfully (expletive)-up."
"Heretic," which opens in theaters Friday, is directed by Scott Beck and Bryan Woods, co-writers of "A Quiet Place." In Grant's hands, Mr. Reed is a divinely good baddie — a scholarly creep whose wry monologues pull from a wide range of references, including, fittingly, Radiohead's "Creep."
In an interview, Grant spoke about these and other facets of his character, his journey... Read More