Doug Speidel, formerly executive creative director of TEQUILA, the digital and direct-marketing unit of TBWAChiatDay in Los Angeles, has moved to New York to join digital agency MRM Worldwide as senior VP/creative director.
In his new capacity, Speidel is set to work on the Diageo business as MRM continues to add to its roster of brands from that client. He will also contribute to business development at the agency.
At TEQUILA, Speidel helped build the North American offices of the worldwide network, providing TBWACD with an integrated creative offering that gained plaudits in both digital and direct creative competitions.
Most notably under Speidel’s watch was Sony PlayStation’s landmark viral “Giantology” campaign that launched the Shadow of the Colossus game and won awards in interactive categories at D&AD, the One Show and Art Directors Club, as well as Best in Show in the Advertising Club of Los Angeles’ Beldings competition.
Before joining TEQUILA, Speidel spent four years as chief creative officer in the New York, Los Angeles and San Francisco offices of Direct Partners where the accounts included DirecTV, E*Trade, Disney and Kmart.
From ’97 to ’98, he was executive creative director at Lowe Direct in New York working on the Mercedes Benz account for North America. From ’90 to ’97, he was a group creative director at Wunderman in New York, a division of Young & Rubicam, a year of which he spent as exec creative director of Wunderman in Sao Paolo, Brazil.
Speidel is the latest significant creative hire at MRM Worldwide in N.Y. this year. The shop recruited Farid Chaouki, VP, director of innovation and experience design, and Roy Eventov, design director, from Israel, a hot-bed of digital talent. Cheryl Van Ooyen, who worked at Deutsch and BBDO Worldwide, creating highly recognized and awarded campaigns for Ikea, Snapple and VISA, joined MRM in April.
MRM’s suite of offerings includes, original content creation, digital strategy, cross-media analytics, search, technology strategy and website design. The agency network has 62 offices in 40 countries and counts Microsoft, Intel, MasterCard, Verizon, and General Motors among its clients.
Netflix Series “The Leopard” Spots Classic Italian Novel, Remakes It As A Sumptuous Period Drama
"The Leopard," a new Netflix series, takes the classic Italian novel by Giuseppe Tomasi di Lampedusa and transforms it into a sumptuous period piece showing the struggles of the aristocracy in 19th-century Sicily, during tumultuous social upheavals as their way of life is crumbling around them.
Tom Shankland, who directs four of the eight episodes, had the courage to attempt his own version of what is one of the most popular films in Italian history. The 1963 movie "The Leopard," directed by Luchino Visconti, starring Burt Lancaster, Alain Delon and Claudia Cardinale, won the Palme d'Or in Cannes.
One Italian critic said that it would be the equivalent of a director in the United States taking "Gone with the Wind" and turning it into a series, but Shankland wasn't the least bit intimidated.
He said that he didn't think of anything other than his own passion for the project, which grew out of his love of the book. His father was a university professor of Italian literature in England, and as a child, he loved the book and traveling to Sicily with his family.
The book tells the story of Don Fabrizio Corbera, the Prince of Salina, a tall, handsome, wealthy aristocrat who owns palaces and land across Sicily.
His comfortable world is shaken with the invasion of Sicily in 1860 by Giuseppe Garibaldi, who was to overthrow the Bourbon king in Naples and bring about the Unification of Italy.
The prince's family leads an opulent life in their magnificent palaces with servants and peasants kowtowing to their every need. They spend their time at opulent banquets and lavish balls with their fellow aristocrats.
Shankland has made the series into a visual feast with tables heaped with food, elaborate gardens and sensuous costumes.... Read More