ORA Interactive, a Chicago-based user experience and digital product studio, has named industry veteran Ray Villares to serve as its chief growth officer. In this newly created role, Villares is responsible for growing the organization’s revenue, size and position in the market.
Prior to joining ORA Interactive, Villares was an entrepreneur, holding leadership positions at digital agencies including Acquity Group, Critical Mass, Havas Chicago, and Symmetri, as well as growing nonprofits. He is an accomplished strategic executive, manager, customer experience planner, mentor, author and public speaker with experience spanning two decades. He has worked with B2C and B2B Fortune 500 organizations including USAA Financial, AT&T, Ben & Jerry’s, Denstply Sirona, McDonald’s, Motorola, Northern Trust, Proctor & Gamble, True Value, Yamaha and Disney.
“ORA has had a phenomenal year. We achieved 80% year-over-year growth in headcount, joined The Escape Pod Group, and added an exciting roster of new clients. To capitalize on our momentum, it’s critical that we bring on specialized senior leadership to round out our all-star team. We’re excited to have Ray onboard to help shepherd our next era of growth,” said Mike Kelly, ORA Interactive founder and CEO.
“ORA is among a short list of hot mobile and emerging technology studios quickly growing and enabling Chicago’s technology start-up ecosystem. The opportunity to do something spectacular was apparent from our very first conversation,” said Villares.
Eleanor Adds Director Candice Vernon To Its Roster For Spots and Branded Content
Director Candice Vernon has joined production house Eleanor for U.S. representation spanning commercials and branded content. She has already wrapped several jobs at Eleanor, which waited to announce her until they had a body of work together.
Via Eleanor, Vernon made history as the first Black director on a Febreze commercial. The “Small Spaces” campaign marks a major departure from Febreze’s typical blue-and-white world. The home of the “Revolving Door” commercial is a beautiful array of bold sunset hues, African prints, and African art.
Vernon said, “I asked myself, what feels right to me? What feels new? I wanted to bring an essence of not just Black Americans but the full diaspora. I wanted to make a statement that we’re not a monolith.”
Following the success of the “Small Spaces” campaign, Febreze brought Vernon back for a comedy-infused trifecta exploring the hilarious situations that call for an air freshening hero.
Febreze Brand VP Angelica Matthews said, “About two years ago, we realized the consumers that were the most loyal to Febreze were the African American consumers. And the more we learned, the more we realized the richness that we were really missing. So we said we have to go beyond just Black casting, we need to get Black directors that truly understand the culture that truly understand how to bring authentic performances out on screen. We really looked around the industry and noticed there’s actually a shortage of African American directors who have experience doing commercials. When we all saw Candice’s reel, we could all tell the passion for the craft, passion for really trying to help us from where we are to where we’re trying to go.”
Vernon brings a unique lens to... Read More