R/GA New York has added creative directors John McKelvey and Hannes Ciatti, who come over from Whybin BWAGroup Australia. Together they bring over 25 years of industry experience creating and leading campaigns for numerous global clients. At R/GA they will work across the Nike and Google accounts and report to Nick Law, exec VP, global chief creative officer.
McKelvey and Ciatti join R/GA after playing a key role in the resurgence of Whybin BWAGroup Australia, helping the agency achieve 16 new business wins. Between them, their work won the agency over 70 major creative and effectiveness awards. The agency was awarded Adnews’ Australian Agency Of The Year 2011, B&T Emerging Agency Of The Year 2011 and is now ranked the number one creative agency in Australia.
Prior to joining TBWA, McKelvey was the digital creative director of Saatchi & Saatchi Australia. At Saatchi he created the “The Beer Economy” campaign for Tooheys New beer. The campaign went on to become the most effective and awarded integrated campaign in the brand’s history. He is also the co-founder of creative agency Southpaw, which worked directly with brands Virgin Atlantic and Lion Nathan and partnered with agencies Droga5, The Glue Society, and HOST to create award-winning work for Toyota, Lion Nathan, Young Guns and Cadbury.
Ciatti has worked for several of Europe and Australia’s top agencies including DDB, The Monkeys and M&C Saatchi delivering integrated campaigns for global brands VW, Sony PlayStation, Apple and Absolut. His recent work for the Pedigree Adoption Drive is one of Mars Pedigrees most awarded campaigns worldwide winning at Cannes, D&AD, One Show, Caples, Spikes, Adfest, New York Festival, AWARD and Digital Campaign of the Year. It was also named one of Facebook’s Top 50 Apps worldwide in 2011.
Gene Hackman Died Of Heart Disease; Hantavirus Claimed His Wife’s Life About One Week Prior
Actor Gene Hackman died of heart disease a full week after his wife died from hantavirus in their New Mexico hillside home, likely unaware that she was dead because he was in the advanced stages of Alzheimer's disease, authorities revealed Friday. Both deaths were ruled to be from natural causes, chief medical examiner Dr. Heather Jarrell said alongside state fire and health officials at a news conference. "Mr. Hackman showed evidence of advanced Alzheimer's disease," Jarrell said. "He was in a very poor state of health. He had significant heart disease, and I think ultimately that's what resulted in his death." Authorities didn't suspect foul play after the bodies of Hackman, 95, and Betsy Arakawa, 65, were discovered Feb 26. Immediate tests for carbon monoxide poisoning were negative. Investigators found that the last known communication and activity from Arakawa was Feb. 11 when she visited a pharmacy, pet store and grocery before returning to their gated neighborhood that afternoon, Santa Fe County Sheriff Adan Mendoza said Friday. Hackman's pacemaker last showed signs of activity a week later and that he had an abnormal heart rhythm Feb. 18, the day he likely died, Jarrell said. Although there was no reliable way to determine the date and time when both died, all signs point to their deaths coming a week apart, Jarrell said. "It's quite possible he was not aware she was deceased," Jarrell said. Dr. Michael Baden, a former New York City medical examiner, said he believes Hackman was severely impaired due to Alzheimer's disease and unable to deal with his wife's death in the last week of his life. "You are talking about very severe Alzheimer's disease that normal people would be in a nursing home or have a nurse, but she was taking care... Read More