Alan Pafenbach, whose work includes the lauded Volkswagen “Drivers Wanted” campaign back when he was managing partner/executive creative director at Arnold Worldwide, Boston, is joining SapientNitro as a creative director in Boston. He comes aboard the Boston office on the heels of it winning all digital duties globally across Chrysler’s Dodge, Jeep and Ram brands.
Pafenbach will report to SapientNitro VP Eric Healy and will partner with fellow creative director Barry Fiske on overseeing creative for the Chrysler account.
Prior to SapientNitro, Pafenbach managed the global creative efforts for Yahoo! while at OgilvyOne New York. Before that, he worked as a Boston creative director at Goodby Silverstein & Partners, with responsibility for the Hewlett-Packard business. Earlier he led creative at Arnold Worldwide, serving as exec creative director on VW.
“I’ve gotten to know the SapientNitro team over the last couple of months, and they truly get where the market is headed,” Pafenbach said. “From TV advertising to online video to social–and all the technology in between–SapientNitro is ahead of the curve, as the world becomes increasingly digital and channels inter-connected. We’re going to deliver fresh ideas and business results to our clients, and hopefully win some awards in the process.”
SapientNitro Boston is hiring 17 people this spring, primarily creative and information-architect positions. SapientNitro was formed last year following Sapient’s acquisition of Nitro Group. Headquartered in Boston, SapientNitro works with many New England clients, including CVS, Liberty Mutual, PerkinElmer, Staples, and Talbots. SapientNitro was recently named to Unilever’s global digital roster and tapped as lead agency for Target’s new e-commerce platform.
Snubs and Surprises In Oscar Nominations
In one of the more wide-open Oscar fields in recent history, there were plenty of nominations surprises Thursday. Not too long ago, it seemed that people like Angelina Jolie and Nicole Kidman were destined for best actress nominations, while general audience disinterest in the young Donald Trump movie "The Apprentice" might have indicated its awards chances were dead on arrival. But the members of the film academy had something different in mind. Here are some of the biggest snubs and surprises from the 97th Oscar nominations. SURPRISE: Jeremy Strong and Sebastian Stan, "The Apprentice" The young Trump movie "The Apprentice" has been one of the bigger awards season question marks, especially after it failed to resonate with moviegoers in theaters. And yet both Jeremy Strong, for his portrayal for Trump lawyer Roy Cohn, and Sebastian Stan (who was also in the conversation for "A Different Man" ), for playing the future two-time president, made it in. Only Strong got nominated by the Screen Actors Guild. SNUB: Marianne Jean-Baptiste, "Hard Truths" This will forever be one of the more confounding awards season oversights. Marianne Jean-Baptiste delivered one of the all-time great performances in Mike Leigh's "Hard Truths," as the perpetually aggrieved and sharp-tongued London woman Pansy. The general thinking is that it was either going to be Jean-Baptiste or Fernanda Torres, and Torres got in for the equally beloved "I'm Still Here." SNUB: Pamela Anderson, "The Last Showgirl" This is perhaps up for debate, but there was certainly a lot of goodwill behind Anderson's movie-star turn in Gia Coppola's "The Last Showgirl," especially considering her SAG nomination. But like with Jennifer Lopez and... Read More