Dave Rolfe has been appointed to the new role of global head of production, WPP and Hogarth.
Rolfe, who was most recently head of production for global business marketing at Facebook, will be based in Hogarth Worldwide, WPP’s creative production arm. He joins this month, reporting to WPP’s incoming global chief creative officer, Rob Reilly, and Hogarth CEO Richard Glasson.
In this newly created role, Rolfe will be responsible for executing a strategy that elevates the role of production in delivering creative excellence across WPP. He is tasked with attracting and nurturing the best production talent from across the industry and building a best-in-class production community that offers integrated and innovative solutions for clients. Given Hogarth’s long-standing partnership with Ogilvy, Rolfe will also oversee production at the agency.
The appointment is another key move in delivering WPP CEO Mark Read’s commitment to making WPP the most creative company in the world. Rolfe is one of several notable new hires across the WPP network, including Rob Reilly and Devika Bulchandani, CEO of Ogilvy North America, with whom he will work closely in his Ogilvy role.
Rolfe is one of the industry’s most recognized and celebrated heads of production, widely acknowledged for his transformative impact for clients. He has been a leader in the production industry for over 20 years, with roots as an independent producer in the Pacific Northwest in the ‘90s, followed by leadership roles with top-tier global creative agencies, and most recently with Facebook.
Prior to Facebook, Rolfe was global EVP, director of integrated production at BBDO for eight years. He played a key role in BBDO’s creative success, garnering numerous prizes for work ranging from social and innovation to Super Bowl, as well as high-profile cause-related work. Before that he was partner and global director of integrated production at CP+B for 12 years, helping them win Agency of the Decade in 2010.
He has consistently earned creative and innovation recognition working with clients such as AT&T, Burger King, GE, Mars, Bacardi, Microsoft, Anheuser-Bush, Domino’s, VW, MINI, as well as Sandy Hook Promise and American Legacy Foundation’s Truth.
Read said, “Dave is simply the best in the industry, and his appointment underlines our commitment to outstanding creativity on behalf of our clients. He will be a great partner to Rob and the Hogarth team, and a great champion of excellence and innovation in creative production throughout WPP.”
Rolfe said, “Over the past five years I’ve focused much of my efforts on how the consolidated production model can best perform, as it both innovates for clients at the highest level and aligns with agencies–respecting and bolstering their production offering. As much as I’ve spent time cultivating projects small and large, the scaled model enables effective partnership and great work at all levels. I couldn’t be more excited to work with the talented team at Hogarth and to help deliver WPP’s creative ambitions for its agencies and clients.”
Carrie Coon Relishes Being Part Of An Ensemble–From “The Gilded Age” To “His Three Daughters”
It can be hard to catch Carrie Coon on her own.
She is far more likely to be found in the thick of an ensemble. That could be on TV, in "The Gilded Age," for which she was just Emmy nominated, or in the upcoming season of "The White Lotus," which she recently shot in Thailand. Or it could be in films, most relevantly, Azazel Jacobs' new drama, "His Three Daughters," in which Coon stars alongside Natasha Lyonne and Elizabeth Olsen as sisters caring for their dying father.
But on a recent, bright late-summer morning, Coon is sitting on a bench in the bucolic northeast Westchester town of Pound Ridge. A few years back, she and her husband, the playwright Tracy Letts, moved near here with their two young children, drawn by the long rows of stone walls and a particularly good BLT from a nearby cafe that Letts, after biting into, declared must be within 15 miles of where they lived.
In a few days, they would both fly to Los Angeles for the Emmys (Letts was nominated for his performance in "Winning Time" ). But Coon, 43, was then largely enmeshed in the day-to-day life of raising a family, along with their nightly movie viewings, which Letts pulls from his extensive DVD collection. The previous night's choice: "Once Around," with Holly Hunter and Richard Dreyfus.
Coon met Letts during her breakthrough performance in "Who's Afraid of Virginia Wolfe?" on Broadway in 2012. She played the heavy-drinking housewife Honey. It was the first role that Coon read and knew, viscerally, she had to play. Immediately after saying this, Coon sighs.
"It sounds like something some diva would say in a movie from the '50s," Coon says. "I just walked around in my apartment in my slip and I had pearls and a little brandy. I made a grocery list and I just did... Read More