Global digital agency Isobar has tabbed Ronald Ng to serve as EVP and global chief creative officer. In assuming the shop’s newly created global CCO role, Ng will be based in New York and report to Jean Lin, Isobar’s global CEO. Ng will work closely with teams across Isobar’s 85 offices in 45 markets and in driving Isobar’s position as an agency that delivers experience-led transformation through the creative use of digital.
He will dovetail with Isobar’s global creative and design, technology, strategy, delivery and new business leads around the network, to foster a culture of collaboration across Isobar’s 6,500 people. He will also chair Isobar’s Creative Excellence Council and partner with U.S. leaders to drive the creative output for Isobar in North America.
Ng’s previous role was global CCO at Digitas. During his three-and-a-half year tenure, the network was awarded numerous accolades including a 2017 Cannes Lions Creative Data Grand Prix and a WARC Marketing Effectiveness Grand Prix. Prior to that, he worked at BBDO/Proximity in CCO and EVP/ECD roles in its Malaysia, New York and Singapore offices, elevating the Malaysia and Singapore offices to No. 13 (2008), No. 8 (2009) and No. 11 (2014) most awarded globally according to the Gunn and Won Reports.
Most recently, Isobar was named a leader in Gartner’s 2018 Magic Quadrant, for the fourth consecutive time and won the Digital Craft Grand Prix at the 2018 Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity for “Aeronaut,” a fully immersive VR experience that launched Billy Corgan’s 2017 solo album Ogilala.
Isobar global CEO Lin said, “We are at the most interesting time in marketing history where ideas and technology work hand in hand to redefine what creativity and craft really means. Ronald’s cross-region experience of working at the creative intersection of platforms, data and ideation is perfect to empower our vision to drive experience-led transformation, powered by creativity.”
Ng stated, “It’s an absolute privilege to be joining the Isobar gang in a year of both phenomenal business growth and creative success with the Grand Prix win at Cannes. I’m looking forward to working with the brilliant teams here and partnering with our clients to push us all to the next level of transforming brands through innovative experiences.”
Review: Writer-Director Coralie Fargeat’s “The Substance”
In its first two hours, "The Substance" is a well-made, entertaining movie. Writer-director Coralie Fargeat treats audiences to a heavy dose of biting social commentary on ageism and sexism in Hollywood, with a spoonful of sugar- and sparkle-doused body horror.
But the film's deliciously unhinged, blood-soaked and inevitably polarizing third act is what makes it unforgettable.
What begins as a dread-inducing but still relatively palatable sci-fi flick spirals deeper into absurdism and violence, eventually erupting — quite literally — into a full-blown monster movie. Let the viewer decide who the monster is.
Fargeat — who won best screenplay at this year's Cannes Film Festival — has been vocal about her reverence for "The Fly" director David Cronenberg, and fans of the godfather of body horror will see his unmistakable influence. But "The Substance" is also wholly unique and benefits from Fargeat's perspective, which, according to the French filmmaker, has involved extensive grappling with her own relationship to her body and society's scrutiny.
"The Substance" tells the story of Elisabeth Sparkle, a famed aerobics instructor with a televised show, played by a powerfully vulnerable Demi Moore. Sparkle is fired on her 50th birthday by a ruthless executive — a perfectly cast Dennis Quaid, who nails sleazy and gross.
Feeling rejected by a town that once loved her and despairing over her bygone star power, Sparkle learns from a handsome young nurse about a black-market drug that promises to create a "younger, more beautiful, more perfect" version of its user. Though she initially tosses the phone number in the trash, she soon fishes it out in a desperate panic and places an order.
The one rule to follow is that... Read More