Team One, Publicis Groupe’s fully integrated media, digital and communications agency, has hired Mark Koelfgen as its newest executive creative director. Joining from David&Goliath, Koelfgen will help lead efforts across Lexus and Team One’s growing portfolio of clients including Mark Levinson, Sparklight, Wisk, and Make-A-Wish, and will be involved with the agency’s new business efforts. He will report to Team One’s chief creative officer, Chris Graves.
“We’re known for our deep understanding of modern affluent consumers and heritage building premium brands. With that comes an even higher expectation for the creative thinking that’s needed to resonate in those worlds,” said Graves.”With the addition of Mark, we’ll continue to push our creativity even further, up-leveling our ambitions for our clients. It’s an exciting but challenging time to be a creative in our industry, but if anyone is up for the challenge of leading our team through it, it’s Mark.”
An experienced industry veteran, Koelfgen spent the last four years at David&Goliath where he served as executive creative director, heading up the agency’s flagship account, Kia. His most recent work, Kia’s “Robo Dog,” placed fourth on the USA Today Ad Meter for the Super Bowl. Prior to that, Koelfgen had a stint at Ogilvy as executive creative director, spearheading the IBM and Comcast accounts, and served as chief creative officer at mcgarrybowen NY for a decade, where he helped grow the shop from 70 to over 700 people and touched clients including HP, Verizon, JP Morgan Chase, Marriott, InBev, Reebok and Maserati. He also worked in the creative departments of GSD&M, Deutsch, DM9 and DDB earlier in his career.
“I’ve admired Team One from a distance for nearly two decades and always thought, maybe someday I would work there,” said Koelfgen. “I’m really looking forward to contributing to the Team One legacy, helping grow the agency and overall creative offering for clients–I know I can make a difference and learn a lot.”
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