Mal Ward, managing director of Arts & Sciences, will serve as chairperson of the 2022 AICP Show: The Art & Technique of the Commercial.
“We’re delighted to have Mal serve as this year’s chairperson for the AICP Show,” said Matt Miller, president and CEO of AICP. “From its start, he and his company, Arts & Sciences, have been actively involved with AICP and its programs and initiatives, and their history of producing award-winning work speaks to their commitment to creativity and excellence. The AICP Show is in good hands under his leadership.”
“I was thrilled and honored to be selected as the 2022 AICP Show chair,” said Ward. “I’ve always had such reverence for the Show–what it stands for, the level of excellence in production that’s recognized year in and year out, and then just the electricity of those late Spring nights at MoMA always feel special. Knowing that I was chosen by the AICP Show Board of Governors makes it all the more remarkable for me. It is such an amazing group of people that I’ve long admired and respected.”
With director Matt Aselton and executive producer Marc Marrie, Ward launched Arts & Sciences in 2012 as a boutique production company that produces award winning advertising content, music videos, fine art projects and original documentaries and feature films. The company’s work has been recognized by every major advertising award show, winning honors from the AICP Show and AICP Next Awards to Cannes Lions, the Clios, the One Show, the ANDY Awards, and D&AD.
Prior to co-founding Arts & Sciences, Ward was the head of sales and development for Epoch Films. He began his career as the West Coast directors’ representative for legendary production company Propaganda Films. He currently serves on the AICP National Board as a director at large, and served on the AICP Show’s Curatorial Committees in 2018 and 2019.
Ward takes on leadership of the AICP Show as the industry emerges from the challenges of the global COVID pandemic. He sees the strength of the competition as reflective of the creativity and ingenuity of producers across all areas of the ad industry, and is looking forward to seeing what rises to the top for 2022.
“I think the level of work entered in the AICP Show last year, all of which was produced during the pandemic, is a true testament to our skill set as producers, creative thinkers, and problem solvers,” he noted. “The Show had fantastic executions in all categories. Figuring out how to get back to work, whether that was initially producing small scale projects remotely to ramping back up to large scale in-person productions, was no small feat. And given how robust advertising was across all platforms over this past year, I think you’ll see an even more compelling AICP Show in 2022 that represents the best in what we create as an industry.”
The AICP Show is one of the industry’s leading creative and executional benchmarks and serves as more than a mere awards show. Each year, The AICP Show and The AICP Next Awards are preserved in The Museum of Modern Art’s Department of Film’s state of the art archives for future generations to study and are available for use or exhibition by the museum’s curators.
The deadline to enter the AICP Show, along with its companion awards competitions–the AICP Post Awards and the AICP Next Awards–is March 28, 2022.
Eleanor Adds Director Candice Vernon To Its Roster For Spots and Branded Content
Director Candice Vernon has joined production house Eleanor for U.S. representation spanning commercials and branded content. She has already wrapped several jobs at Eleanor, which waited to announce her until they had a body of work together.
Via Eleanor, Vernon made history as the first Black director on a Febreze commercial. The “Small Spaces” campaign marks a major departure from Febreze’s typical blue-and-white world. The home of the “Revolving Door” commercial is a beautiful array of bold sunset hues, African prints, and African art.
Vernon said, “I asked myself, what feels right to me? What feels new? I wanted to bring an essence of not just Black Americans but the full diaspora. I wanted to make a statement that we’re not a monolith.”
Following the success of the “Small Spaces” campaign, Febreze brought Vernon back for a comedy-infused trifecta exploring the hilarious situations that call for an air freshening hero.
Febreze Brand VP Angelica Matthews said, “About two years ago, we realized the consumers that were the most loyal to Febreze were the African American consumers. And the more we learned, the more we realized the richness that we were really missing. So we said we have to go beyond just Black casting, we need to get Black directors that truly understand the culture that truly understand how to bring authentic performances out on screen. We really looked around the industry and noticed there’s actually a shortage of African American directors who have experience doing commercials. When we all saw Candice’s reel, we could all tell the passion for the craft, passion for really trying to help us from where we are to where we’re trying to go.”
Vernon brings a unique lens to... Read More