Creative advertising and digital experience company Stink Studios has named Adrian Friend as its new technology director. He reports to Jax Ostle-Evans, managing director.
Friend joins following a standout year of innovative projects at Stink Studios, including its award-winning Peloton work “The Cooldown.” Along with building Stink Studio’s technical capabilities, Friend is responsible for inspiring and mentoring and growing the company tech team.
Ostle-Evans said: “Adrian’s career spans both digital studios and traditional agencies, which, along with his calm demeanor and deep understanding of technology really caught our eye. At the heart of our business is craft and our ability to push technologies to ensure we reach consumers with experiences they truly want to spend time with and we believe Adrian’s experience will allow us to push these even harder.”
Friend was previously technology director at MediaMonks, a role he took up in 2020, working on brands including Starbucks, McLaren Racing and Mondelez. Prior to this he was head of technology at KHWS, and he has also held roles at FCB Inferno, Isobar and Draw Studio.
“Joining Stink Studios feels like a natural choice: their values closely align with my own and they undoubtedly shine through in all that they create,” said Friend. “Stink Studios has a wealth of future thinking clients and I’m excited not only to help shape and focus our existing capabilities but to constantly evolve our offering to always be relevant and where our clients need us.”
Other standout digital work created recently by Stink Studios includes the new Google Security platform Bug Hunters, Air Max Day Worldwide for Nike, and Carnival Sounds for Spotify and Notting Hill Carnival.
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