Derek Green has joined We Are Unlimited, an Omnicom agency, as executive creative director. Green will report directly to Toygar Bazarkaya, chief creative officer of Unlimited.
Green comes aboard the Unlimited team to expand the agency’s creative ambitions for the McDonald’s client. In this role, Green will help oversee Unlimited’s creative output and build momentum for the agency’s future. He has a penchant for building teams that deliver successful, customer-driven creative campaigns for iconic global brands. Green also brings to We Are Unlimited a keen knowledge of the McDonald’s QSR (quick service restaurant) industry landscape.
Green has over 25 years of international experience, with extensive 360 work for QSR brands like KFC. Most recently, Green served as ECD at Ogilvy Sydney, where he led creative across accounts such as AMEX, IBM, Lion Breweries, Nestle, Coca-Cola, Kimberly-Clark, Optus and Transport for NSW. Prior to his role at Ogilvy, Green served as SVP, ECD at Cramer-Krasselt in Chicago, which was named Most Effective Independent Agency at the 2014 North American EFFIEs. His work has won Gold EFFIEs in both Australia and the wider APAC region, as well as Gold and Silver Cannes Lions across three continents.
Green’s hire follows the appointment of Sumer Friedrichs as Unlimited’s chief production officer in late 2018.
First-Time Feature Directors Make Major Splash At AFI Fest, Generate Oscar Buzz
Two first-time feature directors who are generating Oscar buzz this awards season were front and center this past weekend at AFI Fest in Hollywood. Rachel Morrison, who made history as the first woman nominated for a Best Cinematography Oscar---on the strength of Mudbound in 2018--brought her feature directorial debut, The Fire Inside (Amazon MGM Studios), to the festival on Sunday (10/27), and shared insights into the film during a conversation session immediately following the screening. This came a day after William Goldenberg, an Oscar-winning editor for Argo in 2013, had his initial foray into feature directing, Unstoppable (Amazon MGM Studios), showcased at the AFI proceedings. He too spoke after the screening during a panel discussion. The Fire Inside--which made its world premiere at this year’s Toronto International Film Festival--tells the story of Claressa “T-Rex” Shields (portrayed by Ryan Destiny), a Black boxer from Flint, Mich., who trained to become the first woman in U.S. history to win an Olympic Gold Medal in the sport. She achieved this feat--with the help of coach Jason Crutchfield (Brian Tyree Henry)--only to find that her victory at the Summer Games came with relatively little fanfare and no endorsement deals. So much for the hope that the historic accomplishment would be a ticket out of socioeconomic purgatory for Shields and her family. It seemed like yet another setback in a cycle of adversity throughout Shields’ life but she persevered, going on to win her second Gold Medal at the next Olympics and becoming a champion for gender equality and equitable pay for women in sports. Shields has served as a source of inspiration for woman athletes worldwide--as well as to the community of... Read More