By COSTA MESA, Calif.
Casanova//McCann has promoted Will Pierce to sr. VP, chief strategy officer.
Pierce, who joined four years ago as director of strategic planning for the New York office, becomes the agency’s first overall chief strategy officer, encompassing its national network of offices. He has over 18 years of experience across general, Hispanic and global markets. He started his career at McCann, built Hispanic expertise at Saatchi/Conill, general market & global experience at Havas/Arnold, and then joined Casanova//McCann in 2014. Most recently, he was VP, director of strategic planning.
Ingrid Otero-Smart, president/CEO of Casanova//McCann, said of Pierce, “He has helped us build a world-class planning department that has contributed significantly to our clients’ businesses and, as a result, has been instrumental in our continued growth.”
Casanova//McCann is one of the fastest growing Hispanic-focused agencies in the country and works with well-known brands such as Nestlé USA, Chevrolet, Carl’s Jr, eBay, California Lottery, and many others. The agency has full-service offices in California, New York, and Detroit, and employs over 100 professionals.
“I couldn’t be more excited about this new opportunity and what the future holds for us,” said Pierce. “We’re gearing up to take Casanova//McCann to the next level through provocative thought leadership and culture-driven creativity. If there’s one thing I’ve learned through all of my experience, it’s that culture has an almost magical power to shape brands into those that consumers will fall in love with. We’re getting to the heart of cultural truths that will create more of those brands.”
Jennifer Kent On Why Her Feature Directing Debut, “The Babadook,” Continues To Haunt Us
"The Babadook," when it was released 10 years ago, didn't seem to portend a cultural sensation.
It was the first film by a little-known Australian filmmaker, Jennifer Kent. It had that strange name. On opening weekend, it played in two theaters.
But with time, the long shadows of "The Babadook" continued to envelop moviegoers. Its rerelease this weekend in theaters, a decade later, is less of a reminder of a sleeper 2014 indie hit than it is a chance to revisit a horror milestone that continues to cast a dark spell.
Not many small-budget, first-feature films can be fairly said to have shifted cinema but Kent's directorial debut may be one of them. It was at the nexus of that much-debated term "elevated horror." But regardless of that label, it helped kicked off a wave of challenging, filmmaker-driven genre movies like "It Follows," "Get Out" and "Hereditary."
Kent, 55, has watched all of this — and those many "Babadook" memes — unfold over the years with a mix of elation and confusion. Her film was inspired in part by the death of her father, and its horror elements likewise arise out of the suppression of emotions. A single mother (Essie Davis) is struggling with raising her young son (Noah Wiseman) years after the tragic death of her husband. A figure from a pop-up children's book begins to appear. As things grow more intense, his name is drawn out in three chilling syllables — "Bah-Bah-Doooook" — an incantation of unprocessed grief.
Kent recently spoke from her native Australia to reflect on the origins and continuing life of "The Babadook."
Q: Given that you didn't set out to in any way "change" horror, how have you regarded the unique afterlife of "The... Read More