Zulu Alpha Kilo has hired Emily Garvey as its first head of strategy for the New York office, rounding out the independent creative agency’s leadership team.
Garvey joins from Johannes Leonardo, where she drove its new business streak over the past several years with key wins like Instagram Global, Oscar Mayer, HBO Max and Amazon Music. Most recently as group strategy director, she oversaw strategy on Kraft Heinz, the agency’s largest account, where her vision helped the company’s heritage brands make a comeback with a multi-year sales turnaround. Her leadership on the “La Dolce Velveeta” platform earned acclaim, and her team’s tongue-in-cheek insight behind Oscar Mayer’s “Bologna Face Mask” broke the internet and drove record bologna sales. Garvey played a crucial role at Johannes Leonardo leading other key accounts like Adidas, helping the brand regain its status in youth culture with Gen Z.
Garvey previously held key strategy roles at places like R/GA, Publicis Groupe’s Rokkan and 360i. Her expertise and tenacity helped the agencies make the transition from digital/social shops to full service AORs, while winning pitches and leading award-winning campaigns for iconic global brands like Samsung and Cadillac.
“I’m so impressed by Zulu Alpha Kilo’s work and culture. Smart, surprising, full of heart. I can’t wait to bring that much-needed spirit to the industry,” said Garvey who’s looking forward to working in NYC with Zulu Alpha Kilo’s partner and chief creative officer Tim Gordon, and managing director Meghan Mullen.
“We’re terribly excited to have Emily join us in New York. Great strategy is the building block for great creative and Emily has proven she knows how to set up an agency for great success,” added Gordon, who joined Zulu himself as a partner last July after 14 years at Droga5, most recently as its CCO.
The New York office, specifically, launched a year-long brand campaign for Booking.com in this year’s Super Bowl, including a two-minute musical featuring Melissa McCarthy that ran during the Oscars. It became the most-watched Super Bowl ad in YouTube history, racking up 118M views. Additional projects are in the works for Booking.com and Campbell’s launching later this year.
Zulu Alpha Kilo maintains offices in Toronto, Vancouver, and most recently in New York City.
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