Natalie Puccio comes aboard as group planning director
TBWAChiatDay has made three senior hires for its NY office: Josh Tavlin and Adam Wohl as global creative directors; and Natalie Puccio as group planning director. Tavlin and Wohl will report to executive creative director Matt Ian. Puccio will report to chief strategy officer Ed Castillo.
Tavlin joins TBWA after three years working as a freelance writer for BBDO, Publicis and Saatchi & Saatchi, among others. Before going freelance, he was with Momentum NY, where he was sr. VP, executive creative director, working on experiential initiatives, from interactive concerts and packaging to iPhone apps and interior design. Prior to Momentum, Tavlin spent 18 years with Ogilvy & Mather, where he started as a copywriter and rose to sr. VP, group creative director. Tavlin led creative for SAP and American Express International accounts, and was also a copywriter on global campaigns for IBM. His work has been recognized by Cannes Lions, One Show, Communication Arts, D&AD and The Effie Awards. He also serves as adjunct professor for Advertising for New Media at the Pratt Institute in New York City.
Wohl comes to TBWA from mcgarrybowen, where he was executive creative director leading creative for P&G, Marriott, United Airlines, Maserati and Verizon accounts. He was also instrumental in new business efforts, and was co-leader of the winning pitch for Intel. Prior to joining mcgarrybowen, Wohl led creative on the global Samsung account for Cheil USA. He also worked as a freelance creative director on the Wendy’s brand for Kaplan Thaler and on the launch of the Nike+ FuelBand for Wieden+Kennedy. Wohl is also the co-founder of MIR, an award-winning agency at the intersection of storytelling and technology that worked with many top-tier brands, including Coca-Cola, Amex, Unilever, LG, Kraft, Citi and Lexus. MIR was sold to Publicis in 2011 as part of the LBi/MRY acquisition.
Puccio returns to TBWA from mcgarrybowen, where she was group planning director for Verizon’s Branded Entertainment business, including NFL Mobile, INDYCAR and other entertainment properties. Prior to mcgarrybowen, Puccio was associate planning director at Team One, leading strategy and audience development for Lexus (RX, GX, LX, CT and Hybrid brands) and new business initiatives. She also spent nearly three years at TBWAChiatDay’s Los Angeles office as an account planner working on Pepsi, Call of Duty and The Grammys. Puccio began her career as a brand planner at Arnold in Boston.
With a record-breaking five business wins in the first five months of this year, TBWAChiatDay NY is staffing up across several new accounts including Travelers Insurance, Hearts On Fire and Pernod Ricard’s Kenwood Vineyards.
SCHROM x Yacht Club and Be Electric Studios Launch Electric XR for Virtual Production
SCHROM x Yacht Club, a full-service live-action, tabletop, and postproduction company, has teamed with Be Electric Studios, a soundstage, equipment rental, and virtual production company, to launch Electric XR, a virtual production collective.
Industry veteran Thomas Rossano will lead the new venture, which provides advanced virtual production solutions across multiple facilities. He brings over 25 years of experience in live-action, tabletop, postproduction and talent curation to enhance Electric XR’s offerings as a resource for brands and agencies, as well as other production companies in need of virtual production solutions. Additionally Rossano continues to serve as EP at XR New York (XR-NY), a role he’s held since December 2022. SCHROM x Yacht Club originally established XR-NY to help provide XR services for third-party rentals. While XR-NY will continue to function independently for SCHROM X Yacht Club, it now operates under the Electric XR umbrella.
Rossano’s expertise spans producing live-action commercials, branded content, interactive and experiential content. In addition to leading Electric XR, he holds responsibilities at SCHROM x Yacht Club which include driving business development, collaborating with sales reps and expanding the company’s creative talent network. Rossano’s career includes serving as an exec producer at Hungry Man for about 11 years, right from that company’s inception. He then went on to become a partner at Station Film where he also had a lengthy tenure. Later he was a partner at PRISM. Then after the pandemic hit, he became a freelance EP for nearly two years, looking into opportunities in virtual production, which led him to XR NY and now Electric XR. Over the years, he has produced high-profile... Read More