Menno Kluin has been named chief creative officer for Ogilvy New York. Kluin will partner closely with Carina De Blois, president of Ogilvy NY, and be responsible for the office’s creative product which services a range of global and regional clients including IKEA, Nestle, IBM, The Coca-Cola Company, Nationwide, Samsung, and Audi of America (which recently named Ogilvy its creative and strategic agency partner). Kluin joins Ogilvy from Dentsu Creative where he served as U.S. chief creative officer.
Liz Taylor, global CCO at Ogilvy, noted: “Menno is a modern creative who pushes the boundaries of possibility. He understands the complexities of our clients’ business today and has a proven ability to produce creative solutions for them that are meticulously crafted and filled with wit and charm. Menno’s reputation for using creativity to drive impact coupled with his track record of developing talent and fostering a culture of belonging will benefit our teams and further strengthen the creative product in our largest office.”
De Blois said, “As we look to forge a new chapter for Ogilvy New York, our momentum is strong, and the opportunities ahead of us are big, so we absolutely could not compromise on this role. It had to be someone not only right for the team but also someone we would all be excited to work with. What many of us love about Menno is that he is a builder that brings out the true potential in talent, helps raise clients’ ambitions, and has a track record for delivering work that creates a meaningful impact. He also has an appreciation for David Ogilvy’s legacy, which is incredibly important to all of us as we continue to grow and evolve the agency.”
Chris Beresford-Hill, president of advertising for North America, added, “Menno has made an impact everywhere he’s been, whether it was winning all the big awards as a young creative or turning around a big agency with blue-chip brands and famous ideas. None of it is by chance or by luck; he is an incredibly talented and methodical creative person. But one of the best things about Menno is that people who have come up under him have built incredible portfolios of work and gone on to do big things. At the end of the day, if you’re doing great work by raising people up, that’s the kind of leader we want on our team.”
Kluin said, “When you see the big moves Ogilvy is making, it’s clear that good things are on the horizon. I am a forward-looking person and a builder. Knowing that the current leadership teams subscribe to the same agency approach and philosophies was critical to me. It makes an opportunity like this irresistible.”
In his most recent role as U.S. CCO for Dentsu Creative, Kluin led the creative output for Dentsu’s creative agencies including 360i, dentsuMB, and Isobar. Prior to that, Kluin served as CCO for 360i where his creative leadership transformed perceptions around the type of work the agency produces, resulting in the shop’s most-awarded creative output. Drawing on his background in design, Kluin prioritized creativity rooted in traditional design principles and craft but produced with a digital mindset. Kluin’s influence at the agency extended far beyond awards. In 2020, 360i won more new and organic business than ever before in company history with clients including Kroger, 7-Eleven and GlaxoSmithKline. Some of his creative highlights include the FTX “Larry David” Super Bowl commercial, the partnership with Oreo and PFLAG to launch “Proud Parent,” working with Kroger to create the first-of-its-kind AI tool Chefbot, producing the first brand campaign for 7-Eleven in years, and forming an alliance with HBO and Oreo to bring fans the mother of all TV-watching snacks. Additionally, his work on HBO’s “Westworld: The Maze” won a Grand Prix in Radio and Audio at the Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity. Kluin recently served as the jury chair for Interactive at the ADC Annual Awards. He is an alum of Miami Ad School Europe who started his career with roles at Saatchi & Saatchi NY and Y&R NY. Kluin grew up in the Netherlands and currently resides in Brooklyn.
Kluin joins Ogilvy at a time of change and renewed momentum. Ogilvy recently earned the coveted position of Network of the Year at the 2022 Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity. This achievement builds on The One Show recognizing Ogilvy with the Network of the Year honors earlier this year. In March, Ogilvy became the only agency network to secure top rankings on both WARC’s Creative 100 & Effective 100 lists. Earlier this year, Ogilvy also moved its New York office to the heart of the city in the Flatiron District.
Review: Malcolm Washington Makes His Feature Directing Debut With “The Piano Lesson”
An heirloom piano takes on immense significance for one family in 1936 Pittsburgh in August Wilson's "The Piano Lesson." Generational ties also permeate the film adaptation, in which Malcolm Washington follows in his father Denzel Washington's footsteps in helping to bring the entirety of The Pittsburgh Cycle — a series of 10 plays — to the screen.
Malcolm Washington did not start from scratch in his accomplished feature filmmaking debut. He enlisted much of the cast from the recent Broadway revival with Samuel L. Jackson (Doaker Charles), his brother, John David Washington (Boy Willie), Ray Fisher (Lymon) and Michael Potts (Whining Boy). Berniece, played by Danielle Brooks in the play, is now beautifully portrayed by Danielle Deadwyler. With such rich material and a cast for whom it's second nature, it would be hard, one imagines, to go wrong. Jackson's own history with the play goes back to its original run in 1987 when he was Boy Willie.
It's not the simplest thing to make a play feel cinematic, but Malcolm Washington was up to the task. His film opens up the world of the Charles family beyond the living room. In fact, this adaptation, which Washington co-wrote with "Mudbound" screenwriter Virgil Williams, goes beyond Wilson's text and shows us the past and the origins of the intricately engraved piano that's central to all the fuss. It even opens on a big, action-filled set piece in 1911, during which the piano is stolen from a white family's home. Another fleshes out Doaker's monologue in which he explains to the uninitiated, Fisher's Lymon, and the audience, the tortured history of the thing. While it might have been nice to keep the camera on Jackson, such a great, grounding presence throughout, the good news is that he really makes... Read More