Catherine Locker, former group director, strategic marketing, for Coca-Cola North America, is joining DDB North America in the newly created role of chief of staff. Locker’s primary responsibilities will be to administratively lead the North American leadership team, as well as to accelerate and operationalize DDB Flex initiatives across 17 agencies as the agency further integrates the network to maximize effectiveness and efficiency for its clients. She will report directly to Wendy Clark, CEO of DDB North America.
Locker joins DDB North America after 10 years with Coca-Cola. During that time, she led the development, expansion and implementation of key marketing capabilities, processes and approaches. Prior to her tenure with Coca-Cola, she was the global brand director for Glaceau International.
“More than ever clients need great work, at the speed of the marketplace with maximum efficiency. To meet these expectations, DDB has been driving more cross-agency collaboration and integration, and innovating the ways they work. I’m excited to add to and accelerate these already solid efforts,” said Locker. “No marketer leaves Coca-Cola easily, but the momentum at DDB and the opportunity to contribute to their further success is something I’m genuinely excited to do.”
Clark stated, “Catherine is a classically trained brand leader who has deep experience in leading and operationalizing brand initiatives across a complex multi-tiered organization on a global scale. Her experience and know-how make her the perfect fit to build the connective tissue between our agencies, our work and our clients. Growth within our existing clients and new business wins mean we need her leadership and experience now more than ever to align and integrate our total network resources.”
Locker’s appointment follows last month’s announcement that Ari Weiss would become DDB’s first-ever chief creative officer in North America, and is Clark’s second executive hire since she joined the agency as CEO.
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