Maria Smith has been promoted from creative director to executive creative director at M&C Saatchi LA. As ECD, Smith will lead M&C Saatchi LA’s creative team and initiatives. She will also work closely with founders, CEO/partner Huw Griffith and chief strategy officer Kate Bristow, to direct the agency’s creative voice and output.
Smith has been a creative director, associate CD and copywriter for 12 years, nearly 10 of which have been with M&C Saatchi LA. She started her creative career as a copywriter at TBWATequila, with a focus on digital advertising. She then became part of an integrated team at TBWAChiatDay, where she worked on Nissan, Infiniti, Sony and Energizer. While at M&C Saatchi, she has contributed to award-winning campaigns for the San Diego Zoo and Epson.
"Barbenheimer" was a phenomenon impossible to manufacture. But, more than a year later, that hasn't stopped people from trying to make "Glicked" — or even "Babyratu" — happen.
The counterprogramming of "Barbie" and "Oppenheimer" in July 2023 hit a nerve culturally and had the receipts to back it up. Unlike so many things that begin as memes, it transcended its online beginnings. Instead of an either-or, the two movies ultimately complemented and boosted one another at the box office.
And ever since, moviegoers, marketers and meme makers have been trying to recreate that moment, searching the movie release schedule for odd mashups and sending candidates off into the social media void. Most attempts have fizzled (sorry, "Saw Patrol" ).
This weekend is perhaps the closest approximation yet as the Broadway musical adaptation "Wicked" opens Friday against the chest-thumping sword-and-sandals epic "Gladiator II." Two big studio releases (Universal and Paramount), with one-name titles, opposite tones and aesthetics and big blockbuster energy — it was already halfway there before the name game began: "Wickiator," "Wadiator," "Gladwick" and even the eyebrow raising "Gladicked" have all been suggested.
"'Glicked' rolls off the tongue a little bit more," actor Fred Hechinger said at the New York screening of "Gladiator II" this week. "I think we should all band around 'Glicked.' It gets too confusing if you have four or five different names for it."
As with "Barbenheimer," as reductive as it might seem, "Glicked" also has the male/female divide that make the fan art extra silly. One is pink and bright and awash in sparkles, tulle, Broadway bangers and brand tie-ins; The other is all sweat and sand, blood and bulging... Read More
