Cory Berger is joining Grey as its first worldwide chief marketing officer. In this new position, Berger will be responsible for driving Grey’s growth across the global network. He will lead the planning, development and execution of the agency’s marketing, reputation management and multinational new business efforts. The goal of this comprehensive, integrated effort is to communicate Grey’s “Famously Effective” brand story and capabilities to all key audiences, internally and externally.
Grey Group Worldwide CEO Michael Houston said, “We’ve established this new position to advance Grey’s borderless way of working in order to seize new growth opportunities on a global basis. Cory is a highly-respected marketer with his finger on the pulse of what clients are looking for. I’m confident he will make our team even more strategic and aggressive in the hunt, energetic in marshalling our resources and focused on becoming a winning organization every time out.”
Berger joins Grey from award-winning independent creative agency, Pereira O’Dell. Over the past six years, as managing director, he established, built and successfully led its New York operation.
Berger played the key role in forging partnerships with brands including Fox Sports, MINI, Realtor.com, General Mills, Blue Apron, Memorial Sloan Kettering, Reebok, Jet.com (part of Walmart), Timberland, New Era and the NBA. Under his leadership, the office achieved six years of consecutive growth, increasing top-line revenue by nearly 40% alone in 2018. He is a big believer in the power of creativity, and in recent years his office has won numerous industry awards including multiple Cannes Lions, Effies, D&ADs, Emmys, Clios and recognition at the Sundance Film Festival.
Earlier in his career, Berger served as VP of business development & client service at Noise, a millennial-focused digital innovation shop that was Facebook’s first agency. He has also held a top post at Momentum, the leading sports and entertainment experiential agency. He began his career at Havas in New York and also worked in strategy at Mother.
Berger said, “I’ve long admired the Grey brand and its history of ‘Famously Effective’ work. Its singular focus of using creativity to solve business problems is one that I believe has never been more relevant and needed. As I talked with Michael and his team about their vision to create the next generation of Grey, it became clear this opportunity was too awesome to pass up.”
This marks another key investment Houston has made to enhance Grey’s creativity and growth. Recently, Javier Campopiano joined as chief creative officer, Grey Europe & Global Clients; Adrian Rossi joined Grey London as creative chairman; and Bernardo Romero joined Grey New York as executive creative director, Health & Wellness, all new positions.
Review: Malcolm Washington Makes His Feature Directing Debut With “The Piano Lesson”
An heirloom piano takes on immense significance for one family in 1936 Pittsburgh in August Wilson's "The Piano Lesson." Generational ties also permeate the film adaptation, in which Malcolm Washington follows in his father Denzel Washington's footsteps in helping to bring the entirety of The Pittsburgh Cycle — a series of 10 plays — to the screen.
Malcolm Washington did not start from scratch in his accomplished feature filmmaking debut. He enlisted much of the cast from the recent Broadway revival with Samuel L. Jackson (Doaker Charles), his brother, John David Washington (Boy Willie), Ray Fisher (Lymon) and Michael Potts (Whining Boy). Berniece, played by Danielle Brooks in the play, is now beautifully portrayed by Danielle Deadwyler. With such rich material and a cast for whom it's second nature, it would be hard, one imagines, to go wrong. Jackson's own history with the play goes back to its original run in 1987 when he was Boy Willie.
It's not the simplest thing to make a play feel cinematic, but Malcolm Washington was up to the task. His film opens up the world of the Charles family beyond the living room. In fact, this adaptation, which Washington co-wrote with "Mudbound" screenwriter Virgil Williams, goes beyond Wilson's text and shows us the past and the origins of the intricately engraved piano that's central to all the fuss. It even opens on a big, action-filled set piece in 1911, during which the piano is stolen from a white family's home. Another fleshes out Doaker's monologue in which he explains to the uninitiated, Fisher's Lymon, and the audience, the tortured history of the thing. While it might have been nice to keep the camera on Jackson, such a great, grounding presence throughout, the good news is that he really makes... Read More