Michelle Kunken has been named an executive creative director at Saatchi & Saatchi New York. She will report directly to Javier Campopiano, chief creative officer, and work across a variety of clients.
Most recently Kunken was an ECD at KBS and oversaw creative development and production on AdCouncil, Boar’s Head, Monster and Vanguard. While at KBS she is credited with taking HomeGoods from a strict product focus to a purpose driven platform, resulting in double digit sales growth in a declining category, and re-launching Keds by giving it cultural relevance among its core millennial target, resulting in 43% YOY growth.
Prior to KBS, Kunken worked at Arnold New York and Tierney Philadelphia creating iconic campaigns for Procter & Gamble, GlaxoSmithKline, Hasbro, Hershey’s, Bermuda Tourism, and Pfizer, among others. Kunken has won numerous industry awards, including Addys, Cannes Shortlist, Clios, London International Advertising Awards, NY Festivals and Effies. She also has the unique distinction of winning “best romantic paragraph” among a studio audience of romance writers at The Maury Povich Show. To the judge’s delight and her parents’ horror, she was just 12 years old.
CCO Campopiano said of Kunken, “We’re working on some game-changing projects right now, so we needed someone who has a knack for creating innovative work. Michelle’s level of expertise and caliber of work made her the natural choice for our team, and we can’t wait to see all of the great things she’ll do here.”
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