National CineMedia (NCM), the largest cinema advertising network in the U.S., has brought Amy Tunick aboard in the newly created role of SVP, chief marketing officer (CMO) to lead its integrated marketing team. She will oversee NCM’s brand strategy, creative development, marketing solutions, consumer marketing, studio relations and public relations, working collaboratively across the organization to drive innovation and strengthen the company’s connections with consumers, brands and agencies.
As NCM’s first CMO, Tunick joins the company at a crucial time with audiences returning to cinemas nationwide and marketers currently looking to recharge their media plans after an 18-month hiatus caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. She brings over two decades of agency, brand and media experience working with Fortune 100 and 500 advertisers on multichannel campaigns including branded content, talent, experiential marketing, cause marketing and entertainment partnerships. She is based in New York.
Throughout Tunick’s career, she has overseen integrated marketing and PR initiatives at prominent media and entertainment companies and agencies. Previously at WarnerMedia, she led a 15-person team implementing custom cross-platform campaigns for domestic and global advertisers at CNN while overseeing operations and strategy for Courageous, CNN’s brand studio. She also led event marketing for the news ad sales division and produced CNN’s upfront event from 2018-2020.
Prior to WarnerMedia, she spent nearly 15 years as a senior leader on the agency side of the advertising business. As president of WPP’s Grey Activation & PR, she led a 40-person team developing and executing integrated brand-building campaigns via experiential activations, partnerships, promotions, influencers and earned media tied to pop culture. Tunick contributed to 30 Cannes Lion wins for Grey Group. Throughout her career, she has worked with advertisers across categories, such as Canon, the National Park Service, Coca-Cola, Hulu, Procter & Gamble, Walgreens, BMW and Pfizer, among many others.
Additionally, Tunick is a founding member of Chief, a private network focusing on connecting and supporting female leaders pursuing and entering the C-Suite and other senior leadership positions. She began her career in the legendary mailroom agent trainee program at the William Morris Agency.
Scott Felenstein, president of sales, marketing & partnerships at NCM, said, “Amy’s two decades of experience includes developing and executing countless successful, profit-driving integrated marketing initiatives. She is an exemplary leader driven by how entertainment, culture and technology come together to form marketing content that pays dividends for brands. We welcome her to NCM’s senior leadership team and look forward to the many new creative ideas she will share to drive business for our advertising clients while engaging moviegoers.”
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