Digitas UK has hired Jane Austin as chief experience officer and Anna Jehan as head of design. Austin will help release the agency’s ambition of creating best-in-class connected experiences, while Jehan will be boosting the standard of visual design across all creative offerings from digital platforms to customer engagement.
Austin’s appointment completes the Digitas executive line up and she will report to U.K. CEO Dani Bassil. Austin has recently worked at Babylon Health, where she was director of product design. During her time there she led a rebrand and redesign, heading the design content and research teams which created the new Babylon app and customer experience. It is now the U.K.’s most valuable start-up set to be worth $4 billion when it lists on Nasdaq.
Since then, Austin held the role of chief design officer at Flo Health, and previously also led digital transformation projects at Telegraph Media Group and MOO.
“I believe Digitas is an agency with incredible potential, combining creativity and the ability to build amazing products as well as the skills to acquire and communicate with customers. My experience in start-ups and digital transformations will allow me to partner with the brilliant team already in place so together we can deliver exemplary work,” said Austin.
“I am also super excited to work alongside Dani and Emma (de la Fosse, CCO), two inspirational women leaders, and to build a truly inclusive agency that harnesses talent from a wide variety of backgrounds so we can create the great work which only comes from a diverse team.”
Bassil said, “Jane’s appointment is a real milestone for Digitas UK, taking our customer experience skill set to a whole new level, and meaning the agency now has board level representation of all the disciplines that clients need to transform their businesses and grow their brands over the coming decade. Her experience is inspiring and her commitment to building inclusive, diverse teams chimes perfectly with our own values.”
Jehan will report to CCO d la Fosse. Jehan joins from Matter of Form, where she was creative director, a role she took up in 2015, heading campaigns including the global digital brand transformation of luxury travel business Belmond, and developing a fully integrated program of work for Lindblad Expeditions and National Geographic. Before joining Matter of Form, Jehan spent five years at SapientNitro working on brands including Ray-Ban and Marks & Spencer.
De la Fosse said, “The importance of visual design cannot be overstated and that is why we have created this new position and hired Anna to fill it. She’s a brilliant storyteller who uses design to create engaging brand narratives with the experience to apply her talents across all our creative output, including digital products and platforms, customer engagement, e-commerce and comms.”
Jehan said, “Working with fantastically creative and inspiring leadership from Emma and Dani, I’m looking forward to bringing my expertise of beautifully crafted design and brand storytelling to life on such a broad range of clients and projects.”
“Heretic” and “Maria” Set As Red Carpet Premieres At AFI Fest
The American Film Institute (AFI) has announced that Heretic, the psychological thriller starring Hugh Grant, and Maria, based on the life of opera singer Maria Callas starring Angelina Jolie, will round out the Red Carpet Premieres section at this year’s AFI Fest. The Heretic Gala Screening will take place on Thursday, October 24, and the Maria Gala Screening will be held on Saturday, October 26. The complete Red Carpet Premieres section includes the world premieres of Music By John Williams, Robert Zemeckis’ Here, Wallace & Gromit: Vengeance Most Fowl and Clint Eastwood’s Juror #2. All Red Carpet Premieres will take place at the historic TCL Chinese Theatre. The full lineup for AFI Fest 2024 will be unveiled on October 1.
“At the heart of AFI Fest is an unwavering dedication to celebrating the best in global cinema--together,” said Bob Gazzale, AFI president and CEO. “We look forward to uniting artists and audiences once again to be inspired by the art form in a powerful sense of community.”
Heretic follows two young missionaries (Sophie Thatcher and Chloe East) who are forced to prove their faith when they knock on the wrong door and are greeted by a diabolical Mr. Reed (portrayed by Grant), becoming ensnared in his deadly game of cat-and-mouse. The film is directed by Scott Beck and Bryan Woods and produced by Stacey Sher, Beck, Woods, Julia Glausi and Jeanette Volturno. The film will be released nationwide by A24 on November 8.
Directed by Pablo Larraín, Maria presents a tumultuous and beautiful depiction of one of the world’s most renowned artists and reimagines the legendary soprano in her final days in Paris, as Callas (Jolie)... Read More