UM, the full-service marketing and media agency network of IPG Mediabrands, has announced the appointment of Dawn Reese to sr. VP, managing director of UM Studios, the agency’s creative content unit. Reese will report to Brendan Gaul, UM global chief content officer and head of UM Studios, which was back in June awarded its first Cannes Lions Grand Prix, in the Entertainment Lions competition, for the documentary film, 5B, commissioned by client, Johnson & Johnson.
Named after San Francisco General Hospital’s ward 5B which opened in 1983 as the first full-fledged hospital unit dedicated to treating people with AIDS, the documentary was directed by Dan Krauss of Saville Productions. The moving film shows the positive power of nursing, continuing a theme which Johnson & Johnson has championed over the years.
In her new role, Reese will lead the UM Studios team and practice across all U.S. offices, partnering with client business leaders to create strategic business plans and oversee creative content strategies that drive client business objectives. She will also focus on analyzing key metrics to help teams implement solutions that will drive clients’ market share, revenue, brand affinity and more.
“With more than 20 years of media and marketing experience, Dawn brings the perfect mix of strategic vision and creative agility to the UM Studios team,” said Gaul. “As a passionate, results-driven leader, I am confident that Dawn will take our creative content to new heights, further cementing us as a leader in the space and delivering on our promise to bring better art to life for our clients.”
Reese formerly served as EVP, client studios at StyleHaul, where she oversaw sales and marketing across the U.S. and U.K., generated more than $20 million in branded content and social media campaigns and played a key role in securing new business. Before that, as an integrated executive director at Marie Claire, Reese executed on revenue-generating digital marketing campaigns and native advertising solutions. Reese has also held leadership positions at Condé Nast, InStyle and Time Inc.
“The UM Studios team is renowned for its ability to tell rich and authentic stories that drive tremendous value and ROI for clients,” said Reese. “I’m thrilled to join this extraordinary team and look forward to delivering best-in-class content across all platforms.”
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