MullenLowe U.S. has brought Jordan Muse on board as president of MullenLowe East, and promoted Kelly Fredrickson to chief culture officer and Javier Passerieu to president of MullenLowe West.
“Innovation is fuel for growth. Brands that continually innovate grow faster than their peers,” said Kristen Cavallo, CEO of MullenLowe Global. “We’re applying this truth to ourselves. We need great leaders who are empowered to push boundaries so we can continue to offer strategic business and brand solutions for our clients that go beyond what is expected. I’m excited about the people we’re introducing today. I’m confident that Kelly, Jordan, and Javi will complement and accelerate our vision.”
Fredrickson steps into the newly created role of chief culture officer after a five-year stint leading MullenLowe Boston. As chief culture officer, Fredrickson will aim to foster a culture that encourages inquisitiveness, positive dissatisfaction, creativity, experimentation, and risk taking. In the same way the agency encourages clients to innovate and differentiate themselves from their competition, Fredrickson will ensure the agency leads by example.
Fredrickson fostered a culture of effectiveness that landed MullenLowe in the top five on both the Effie and WARC U.S. effectiveness rankings, and she modernized the agency by championing the growth of both the social and behavioral sciences capabilities. She was pivotal in the launch of a first-of-its-kind Momternship program designed to bring mothers back to the workforce, created a speaker series called “Stoking Curiosity” to spark creative collisions virtually, and championed the agency’s five ERGs to build communities on their own terms.
Muse, executive partner at The Martin Agency, is taking the role of president of MullenLowe East. He will partner with executive creative director Tim Vaccarino and head of strategy Ellie Gogan-Tilstone to elevate the creative output across the offices’ marquee clients: KFC, Navy Federal Credit Union, USGA, E*TRADE, Scotts, JAMRS, Bayer, and Banner Health, among others. Muse will continue to lead GEICO at The Martin Agency as executive partner and will oversee MullenLowe’s relationship with the brand, since it became a social partner earlier this year.
Muse comes with an extensive creative pedigree, having spent the last five years at Martin and a decade at Wieden+Kennedy. He was behind award-winning campaigns including Old Spice’s “The Man Your Man Could Smell Like,” Nike’s 2016 Olympic basketball campaign, and “Boneless Thugs-N-Harmony” for Buffalo Wild Wings. He was inducted into the AAF Advertising Hall of Achievement the same year his father, advertising visionary Jo Muse, was inducted to the Hall of Fame.
Cavallo also promoted managing director Passerieu to president of MullenLowe West. Under his direction, the agency went through a business and creative transformation, helping Corona return to growth, repositioning the global Grey Goose business, contributing to Acura’s most effective campaign to date, and elevating Patrón to a premium brand with an unwavering passion for craft. Prior to moving to the U.S., Passerieu spent three years as global business director for Unilever at MullenLowe London. During his 19-year career building brands and teams on three continents, he also led award-winning work for Coca-Cola, Sony, Axe/Lynx, Absolut Vodka, and Whole Foods Market. As West president, he will continue to work in partnership with executive creative directors Laura Sampedro and Carlos Alija and head of strategy Kristina Jenkins.
First-Time Feature Directors Make Major Splash At AFI Fest, Generate Oscar Buzz
Two first-time feature directors who are generating Oscar buzz this awards season were front and center this past weekend at AFI Fest in Hollywood. Rachel Morrison, who made history as the first woman nominated for a Best Cinematography Oscar---on the strength of Mudbound in 2018--brought her feature directorial debut, The Fire Inside (Amazon MGM Studios), to the festival on Sunday (10/27), and shared insights into the film during a conversation session immediately following the screening. This came a day after William Goldenberg, an Oscar-winning editor for Argo in 2013, had his initial foray into feature directing, Unstoppable (Amazon MGM Studios), showcased at the AFI proceedings. He too spoke after the screening during a panel discussion. The Fire Inside--which made its world premiere at this year’s Toronto International Film Festival--tells the story of Claressa “T-Rex” Shields (portrayed by Ryan Destiny), a Black boxer from Flint, Mich., who trained to become the first woman in U.S. history to win an Olympic Gold Medal in the sport. She achieved this feat--with the help of coach Jason Crutchfield (Brian Tyree Henry)--only to find that her victory at the Summer Games came with relatively little fanfare and no endorsement deals. So much for the hope that the historic accomplishment would be a ticket out of socioeconomic purgatory for Shields and her family. It seemed like yet another setback in a cycle of adversity throughout Shields’ life but she persevered, going on to win her second Gold Medal at the next Olympics and becoming a champion for gender equality and equitable pay for women in sports. Shields has served as a source of inspiration for woman athletes worldwide--as well as to the community of... Read More