Mike Hughes, The Martin Agency’s longest-serving creative director and its president since 1995, passed away today in his Richmond home after a long and valiant fight against lung cancer.
“Mike was my friend and business partner for 35 years,” said John Adams, chairman of The Martin Agency. “He was sent home in January with two weeks to live but rejected that prognosis in favor of his own timetable. Mike helped build the creative reputation of The Martin Agency and we will miss him terribly. And while Mike would understand our grieving, he would be impatient with it, preferring that we celebrate life instead rather than mourn death.”
A graduate of Washington and Lee University, Hughes landed his first job, which was as reporter for the Richmond News Leader. Hughes joined The Martin Agency in 1978 as a writer and went on to serve as creative director for three decades and president for 18 years.
Hughes was one of The Wall Street Journal’s recognized creative leaders and a member of the One Club’s Creative Hall of Fame and the Virginia Communications Hall of Fame. He will also be inducted to the American Advertising Federation’s Hall of Fame on April 7, 2014. In 2000, the Virginia General Assembly named him an Outstanding Industrialist alongside his long-time business partner Adams. Hughes was the founding board chairman of Virginia Commonwealth University’s Brandcenter, which honored him by naming the Brandcenter building “Mike Hughes Hall” and awarding him a Doctor of Humane Letters, the university’s highest honor.
A lifelong non-smoker, Hughes documented his thoughts about living and dying on his blog, unfinishedthinking.com, which is followed by hundreds around the globe.
Hughes and his wife of 38 years, Ginny, had two sons, Preston (deceased) and Jason.
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