MRM Worldwide has hired agency veteran Cheryl Van Ooyen in its N.Y. office as VP, group creative director. The copywriter has worked on notable campaigns for the likes of Snapple, Ikea and Visa, and enhances MRM’s brand storytelling capabilities. Along the way her work has garnered such honors as Cannes Lions and recognition from The One Show, the Clios and ADDYs.
At MRM Worldwide, she is helping to develop marketing strategies and measurable brand experiences for the shop’s clients, which include Betty Crocker, Bertolli, MasterCard, Intel, and Diageo brands Crown Royal and Captain Morgan.
For the past three years, Van Ooyen has been–and she continues to be–a contributor (content creation, writing, producing and directing) to MTV Networks/VH1 and NBC Universal. At the former, she created mobile and online series including Celebhead, the most streamed show on any MTV network, and wrote, directed and produced a full-length pilot for VH1 entitled Star Stories, an adaptation of a British comedy. At NBC Universal, she created and wrote a half-hour comedy pilot called The Two Hottest Girls from Wisconsin.
In the advertising industry, Van Ooyen has held various senior creative roles at agencies such as, kirshenbaum bond + partners, Deutsch and BBDO.
At Deutsch N.Y. from 1997 to ’03, her work on Snapple’s “Little Fruit” campaign depicted fruit in offbeat, but humanized situations–“bad fruit” loitered on the street and smoked cigarettes and was therefore unacceptable for Snapple to use because as the tagline declared, “The best stuff is in here.”
Van Ooyen, who was senior VP, group creative director by the time she left Deutsch in ’03, was also a key leader in redefining the brand strategy and image of Swedish furniture chain Ikea, whose “Live better” campaign included TV spots in which Ikea furniture added some panache to recreated sets from The Brady Bunch and Gilligan’s Island, carrying the theme line, “If Ikea can update this classic, imagine the possibilities for your home.” She supervised the creative campaigns which included print, radio, online, and in-store and directed several of the commercials.
A guerilla campaign for Ikea had her creative teams placing the retailers’ chairs, sofas and cushions in public places such as bus stops and subways as a way to make them more comfortable and get people to directly experience the products.
After Deutsch, Van Ooyen joined BBDO Worldwide in New York as a creative director on the Visa account, supervising agency teams that worked on all of Visa’s platforms and partnerships including, the NFL, the Olympics, Disney, and all brand cards. She also worked on the Long John Silver and Pepsi accounts.
Early in her career, she was an associate creative director at Kirshenbaum Bond + Partners, New York, and a senior writer at Elgyn-Syferd, Seattle.
“Joining MRM right now was an easy decision–and a great creative opportunity,” said Van Ooyen. “They are completely committed to taking brands to the next level in the digital space. And using my experience to create content that’s relevant for those brands makes it a perfect fit.”
Apple and Google Face UK Investigation Into Mobile Browser Dominance
Apple and Google aren't giving consumers a genuine choice of mobile web browsers, a British watchdog said Friday in a report that recommends they face an investigation under new U.K. digital rules taking effect next year.
The Competition and Markets Authority took aim at Apple, saying the iPhone maker's tactics hold back innovation by stopping rivals from giving users new features like faster webpage loading. Apple does this by restricting progressive web apps, which don't need to be downloaded from an app store and aren't subject to app store commissions, the report said.
"This technology is not able to fully take off on iOS devices," the watchdog said in a provisional report on its investigation into mobile browsers that it opened after an initial study concluded that Apple and Google effectively have a chokehold on "mobile ecosystems."
The CMA's report also found that Apple and Google manipulate the choices given to mobile phone users to make their own browsers "the clearest or easiest option."
And it said that the a revenue-sharing deal between the two U.S. Big Tech companies "significantly reduces their financial incentives" to compete in mobile browsers on Apple's iOS operating system for iPhones.
Both companies said they will "engage constructively" with the CMA.
Apple said it disagreed with the findings and said it was concerned that the recommendations would undermine user privacy and security.
Google said the openness of its Android mobile operating system "has helped to expand choice, reduce prices and democratize access to smartphones and apps" and that it's "committed to open platforms that empower consumers."
It's the latest move by regulators on both sides of the Atlantic to crack down on the... Read More