BBH London has hired Neil Clarke and Jay Phillips as creative directors. The pair will join the agency later this month. Clarke and Phillips will work across all BBH London accounts and report into executive creative director Helen Rhodes and global & UK chief creative officer Alex Grieve.
Clarke and Phillips are moving to BBH London from AMV BBDO where they were creative directors as well as global creative leads on Mars Petcare and Meta Reality Labs. Previously, they have also been creative leads on Samsung, HP and The V&A Museum of Childhood. Their recent work includes launching a global brand platform for Whiskas and introducing Grandparents Day in the U.K. for Facebook Portal, which brought two million-plus grandparents closer to their grandchildren during lockdown.
Clarke and Phillips’ work has been recognized globally and won over 100 international awards, including Cannes Lions, D&AD and British Arrows. They also recently picked up YouTube’s Campaign of the year award for Sheba. Their award-winning work includes HP’s Super Bowl spot “Brothers”; “Elton John” for Snickers; “Date Night” for TalkTalk; and “Pink Kittens” for the Department of Transport’s Think! campaign.
Prior to joining AMV BBDO in 2014, Clarke and Phillips were creative directors at The&Partnership, where they produced “Charge” for Samsung with director Romain Gavras and launched The Prince’s Trust “Tomorrow’s Store” in London–a project that helped reduce U.K. youth unemployment.
Earlier in their careers, Clarke and Phillips worked at McCann Erickson London, creating award-winning campaigns for American Airlines, Xbox and Heinz, as well as winning the Cannes Young Lions award.
BBH London ECD Rhodes said, “Neil and Jay are a bloody impressive duo. They’re all about the work, uncompromising when it comes to the craft, hugely caring with creative teams and extremely lovely to boot. I can’t wait to work with them, be inspired by them and have a lot of fun along the way.”
First-Time Feature Directors Make Major Splash At AFI Fest, Generate Oscar Buzz
Two first-time feature directors who are generating Oscar buzz this awards season were front and center this past weekend at AFI Fest in Hollywood. Rachel Morrison, who made history as the first woman nominated for a Best Cinematography Oscar---on the strength of Mudbound in 2018--brought her feature directorial debut, The Fire Inside (Amazon MGM Studios), to the festival on Sunday (10/27), and shared insights into the film during a conversation session immediately following the screening. This came a day after William Goldenberg, an Oscar-winning editor for Argo in 2013, had his initial foray into feature directing, Unstoppable (Amazon MGM Studios), showcased at the AFI proceedings. He too spoke after the screening during a panel discussion. The Fire Inside--which made its world premiere at this year’s Toronto International Film Festival--tells the story of Claressa “T-Rex” Shields (portrayed by Ryan Destiny), a Black boxer from Flint, Mich., who trained to become the first woman in U.S. history to win an Olympic Gold Medal in the sport. She achieved this feat--with the help of coach Jason Crutchfield (Brian Tyree Henry)--only to find that her victory at the Summer Games came with relatively little fanfare and no endorsement deals. So much for the hope that the historic accomplishment would be a ticket out of socioeconomic purgatory for Shields and her family. It seemed like yet another setback in a cycle of adversity throughout Shields’ life but she persevered, going on to win her second Gold Medal at the next Olympics and becoming a champion for gender equality and equitable pay for women in sports. Shields has served as a source of inspiration for woman athletes worldwide--as well as to the community of... Read More