Publicis Groupe UK has hired Clare Donald as its chief production officer.
With 25+ years’ experience in production and film, Donald will lead both Publicis Groupe UK and production partner Prodigious’ cross-discipline production offering. The heads of production at individual Publicis UK agencies–including Saatchi & Saatchi, Leo Burnett and Publicis.Poke–will have a reporting line to Donald as well as to their respective agency creative leads.
In her new role, Donald will oversee production and delivery of best-in-class marketing for all U.K. clients. She will work closely with Ben Mooge, CCO of Publicis Groupe UK, to raise the level of craft and creativity across Publicis Groupe UK agencies.
Donald joins from Unreasonable Studios where she was global managing director. In this capacity, she ran full service studio offerings across seven offices in six countries, developing cross-company collaboration to enhance both craft and efficiency.
Prior to Unreasonable Studios, Donald was at Ogilvy London as its chief production officer where she worked closely with its then CEO Annette King and her leadership team.
Before joining Ogilvy, Donald led the multi-award winning Google Creative Lab EMEA for three-and-a-half years as head of operations, managing a talented team of producers, coders, creatives and designers. Donald has also worked at such agencies as Havas Worldwide, Mother and JWT), production companies including Stink, Gorgeous and Partizan, and in feature film production.
This year, she was appointed co-chair of the British Arrows as recognition of her breadth of expertise within the production industry.
King, who is now Publicis Groupe UK CEO, said, “We understand the unique and varied challenges facing our clients and having Clare join us reflects the importance of production as a multi-discipline capability for our clients. I’m delighted to be working with Clare again and know that she will bring an impressive heritage of finding new paths to growth through our connected and agile operating model.”
Donald added, “As deliverables and platforms multiply, the role of production is ever more critical to success for any client. I am excited about taking my production company, agency and client experience to create a truly future facing solution.”
Review: Writer-Directors Scott Beck and Bryan Wood’s “Heretic”
"Heretic" opens with an unusual table setter: Two young missionaries from The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints are discussing condoms and why some are labeled as large even though they're all pretty much a standard size. "What else do we believe because of marketing?" one asks the other.
That line will echo through the movie, a stimulating discussion of religion that emerges from a horror movie wrapper. Despite a second-half slide and feeling unbalanced, this is the rare movie that combines lots of squirting blood and elevated discussion of the ancient Egyptian god Horus.
Our two church members — played fiercely by Sophie Thatcher and Chloe East — are wandering around trying to covert souls when they knock on the door of a sweet-looking cottage. Its owner, Mr. Reed, offers a hearty "Good afternoon!" He welcomes them in, brings them drinks and promises a blueberry pie. He's also interested in learning more about the church. So far, so good.
Mr. Reed is, of course, if you've seen the poster, the baddie and he's played by Hugh Grant, who doesn't go the snarling, dead-eyed Hannibal Lecter route in "Heretic." Grant is the slightly bumbling, bashful and self-mocking character we fell in love with in "Four Weddings and a Funeral," but with a smear of menace. He gradually reveals that he actually knows quite a bit about the Mormon religion — and all religions.
"It's good to be religious," he says jauntily and promises his wife will join them soon, a requirement for the church. Homey touches in his home include a framed "Bless This Mess" needlepoint on a wall, but there are also oddities, like his lights are on a timer and there's metal in the walls and ceilings.
Writer-directors Scott Beck and Bryan Wood — who also... Read More