Grey London has hired David Wigglesworth as executive creative director. Wigglesworth will join in May from Droga5 London where he is currently creative director.
At Grey he will be ECD of a resurgent creative department headed by Laura Jordan Bambach, agency president and chief creative officer. Tasked with scaling the creative heights at Grey and working across all its clients, Wigglesworth’s brief is to “make 90% of the work 10% better and 10% of the work 100% better,” said Bambach.
Wigglesworth’s award-laden work includes Amazon Prime Video’s “Great shows stay with you” TV ads, work for mobile app aggregator Setapp and the Diet Coke “Just Because” campaign. His other notable campaigns include Amazon Music’s “Unbox a world of music” and Kwiff’s “It’s perfectly normal until it’s Kwiffed.” Wigglesworth’s career has also included stints at Fallon, mcgarrybowen & St Luke’s.
Bambach said, “We can’t wait to have David join us on our creative pirate ship. Grey is growing again swiftly in creative reputation and client opportunities, and we need to boost our creative power further with someone who not only cares about great ideas and craft but knows how to lead teams into the creative unknown with joy and a bit of swagger. He joins recent additions like head of art, Costanza Rossi in building a formidable creative crew.”
Wigglesworth said, “After meeting Javier (Campopiano, worldwide CCO), Laura and the rest of the gang at Grey, it was instantly apparent that pushing towards groundbreaking creative was the goal. With this at the heart, I can’t wait to get started working with clients and the teams to cultivate an environment where we can have raucous fun, cause a bit of creative chaos and eventually end up with the work of our careers.”
Grey London’s creative output has flourished over the past 18 months as the agency has built a team of talented creators including ECD Celeste Dalairac and recent hires such as Rossi. The agency hired around 90 new staff last year, more than a third of them creatives, and is earning a reputation for consistent creative excellence, from award winning work such as Pringle’s “Frank” to triggering debate in Parliament to #stopcyberflashing with Brook charity.
Since taking up the creative reins at Grey in 2020, Bambach has launched the “Collision of difference” positioning, promoting creative and strategic excellence through diversity. As part of this, Grey is looking to hire diverse creative talent and has launched a partnership with the School of Creative Arts to create a scholarship initiative to offer care leavers an opportunity to work in advertising.
Rom-Com Mainstay Hugh Grant Shifts To The Dark Side and He’s Never Been Happier
After some difficulties connecting to a Zoom, Hugh Grant eventually opts to just phone instead.
"Sorry about that," he apologizes. "Tech hell." Grant is no lover of technology. Smart phones, for example, he calls the "devil's tinderbox."
"I think they're killing us. I hate them," he says. "I go on long holidays from them, three or four days at at time. Marvelous."
Hell, and our proximity to it, is a not unrelated topic to Grant's new film, "Heretic." In it, two young Mormon missionaries (Chloe East, Sophie Thatcher) come knocking on a door they'll soon regret visiting. They're welcomed in by Mr. Reed (Grant), an initially charming man who tests their faith in theological debate, and then, in much worse things.
After decades in romantic comedies, Grant has spent the last few years playing narcissists, weirdos and murders, often to the greatest acclaim of his career. But in "Heretic," a horror thriller from A24, Grant's turn to the dark side reaches a new extreme. The actor who once charmingly stammered in "Four Weddings and a Funeral" and who danced to the Pointer Sisters in "Love Actually" is now doing heinous things to young people in a basement.
"It was a challenge," Grant says. "I think human beings need challenges. It makes your beer taste better in the evening if you've climbed a mountain. He was just so wonderfully (expletive)-up."
"Heretic," which opens in theaters Friday, is directed by Scott Beck and Bryan Woods, co-writers of "A Quiet Place." In Grant's hands, Mr. Reed is a divinely good baddie — a scholarly creep whose wry monologues pull from a wide range of references, including, fittingly, Radiohead's "Creep."
In an interview, Grant spoke about these and other facets of his character, his journey... Read More