Tiffany Rolfe and Ben Williams have been elevated to join R/GA’s worldwide leadership team as global chief creative officer and global chief experience officer, respectively. Their promotions come as R/GA enters the newest phase of its business model focused on innovating upon the connection between brand marketing and customer experience, and designing businesses and brands for a more human future.
Formerly EVP, U.S. chief creative officer, Rolfe has been with the company for nearly two years. This summer, U.S. project work included Verizon’s “Pay It Forward: Live,” a response to the impact COVID-19 has had on businesses, as well as Reddit’s first brand campaign, “Up the Vote,” showing people how the power of voting on their platform can translate into voting in our elections.
“It’s more important than ever that brands lean into their purpose and iteratively respond to culture,”” said Rolfe. “I look forward to working with our teams around the world to create marketing as brand experience that invites participation. Today customers aren’t spectators.”
Williams is an R/GA nine-year vet. A long-time collaborator with Nike, Williams has helmed some of R/GA’s most iconic work with the client, including Nike+ FuelBand, Apple Watch Nike+, the first ever voice-activated shoe drop “Hey Google, Ask Nike” and A/R Jordan.
“I am excited to lead our experience practice into a new era with an extraordinary team of designers and creatives” said Williams who prior to his promotion served as SVP/ECD, head of creative. “Change is nothing new to me, I seek it and embrace it, which is why R/GA has been a ‘home’ for me. It’s built for change.”
Rolfe and Williams will partner to help CXOs and CMOs collaborate to create differentiated experiences and messages that are optimized for customers. Together, they’ll facilitate stronger partnerships that exist beyond the scope of a project to help clients build fully connected brands.
Global CEO Sean Lyons stated, “Our newest positioning aims to fortify the connection between digital experts and brand marketers and Tiff and Ben have created some of R/GA’s most iconic work at this intersection; we couldn’t be happier that they’re taking the reins.”
Jennifer Kent On Why Her Feature Directing Debut, “The Babadook,” Continues To Haunt Us
"The Babadook," when it was released 10 years ago, didn't seem to portend a cultural sensation.
It was the first film by a little-known Australian filmmaker, Jennifer Kent. It had that strange name. On opening weekend, it played in two theaters.
But with time, the long shadows of "The Babadook" continued to envelop moviegoers. Its rerelease this weekend in theaters, a decade later, is less of a reminder of a sleeper 2014 indie hit than it is a chance to revisit a horror milestone that continues to cast a dark spell.
Not many small-budget, first-feature films can be fairly said to have shifted cinema but Kent's directorial debut may be one of them. It was at the nexus of that much-debated term "elevated horror." But regardless of that label, it helped kicked off a wave of challenging, filmmaker-driven genre movies like "It Follows," "Get Out" and "Hereditary."
Kent, 55, has watched all of this — and those many "Babadook" memes — unfold over the years with a mix of elation and confusion. Her film was inspired in part by the death of her father, and its horror elements likewise arise out of the suppression of emotions. A single mother (Essie Davis) is struggling with raising her young son (Noah Wiseman) years after the tragic death of her husband. A figure from a pop-up children's book begins to appear. As things grow more intense, his name is drawn out in three chilling syllables — "Bah-Bah-Doooook" — an incantation of unprocessed grief.
Kent recently spoke from her native Australia to reflect on the origins and continuing life of "The Babadook."
Q: Given that you didn't set out to in any way "change" horror, how have you regarded the unique afterlife of "The... Read More