MRM, a marketing agency that is part of McCann Worldgroup, has named Ronald Ng its EVP, global chief creative officer. He will be based in the agency’s New York office. Ng moves to MRM from his role as global CCO at Isobar.
Kate MacNevin, global CEO, MRM, said, “Ronald is an incredible talent with a passion for creative technology and a record of innovation that makes him the perfect global creative leader for MRM as we continue to leverage data, analytics and technology capabilities across our network, and expand our offerings in a creatively synchronized way to solve brand challenges for our clients.”
Ng joined Isobar in 2018, and helped lead the company to its most successful year at the Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity in 2019, and across all WARC-ranked global shows for creativity in e-Commerce, Data and Operational Transformation.
“We are making a huge bet on MRM being even more of a force for McCann Worldgroup going forward, so adding the highest caliber talent is priority number one,” said Rob Reilly, global creative chairman of McCann Worldgroup. “But you also need that talent to be wildly inspiring and genuinely a good person. Ronald is the gold standard when it comes to this rare combination.”
Ng studied journalism, advertising and broadcasting at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln and began his career as a copywriter at JWT Malaysia. He rose up the ranks in the Malaysian agency world, first at McCann Worldgroup, then Bozell, Saatchi & Saatchi and finally BBDO, where he became CCO. Ng moved back to the U.S. to serve as EVP/executive creative director for BBDO Worldwide in New York, then CCO of BBDO Singapore. He moved to Digitas North America, first as CCO, North America, then as global CCO, where he led the agency to win the Cannes Lions Creative Data Grand Prix and a ranking of No.1 Digital Agency in the world in the WARC rankings. In 2018, he was recruited to the role of global CCO at Isobar. At the Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity 2021, Ng will serve as jury president of the inaugural Creative Business Transformation Lions category.
Ng said, “MRM is uniquely organized to help brands win by building meaningful relationships with people. I can’t wait to partner with Kate, Rob, the teams and clients to connect the dots between technology, data, commerce and strategy, and supercharge it all with creativity. When we crack the code for innovative experiences, there is unlimited potential for what we can achieve together.”
MRM, which this year was designated for the fourth straight year as a “Leader” in Gartner Inc.’s prestigious “Magic Quadrant for Global Marketing Agencies,” has been significantly expanding its data, analytics and technology capabilities over the last few years. It continued to grow its global MRM Commerce capabilities, created and launched four new proprietary data and analytics software programs that generate insights faster and more meaningfully for clients, further leveraged innovative partnerships with Salesforce and Adobe, opened additional international LAB13 innovation labs and introduced expanded capabilities in Artificial Intelligence (AI), that included registering a number of patents. Additionally, the agency was recently named Agency Of The Year at the 2020 Association of National Advertisers’ (ANA) B2 Awards.
After 20 Years of Acting, Megan Park Finds Her Groove In The Director’s Chair On “My Old Ass”
Megan Park feels a little bad that her movie is making so many people cry. It's not just a single tear either — more like full body sobs.
She didn't set out to make a tearjerker with "My Old Ass," now streaming on Prime Video. She just wanted to tell a story about a young woman in conversation with her older self. The film is quite funny (the dialogue between 18-year-old and almost 40-year-old Elliott happens because of a mushroom trip that includes a Justin Bieber cover), but it packs an emotional punch, too.
Writing, Park said, is often her way of working through things. When she put pen to paper on "My Old Ass," she was a new mom and staying in her childhood bedroom during the pandemic. One night, she and her whole nuclear family slept under the same roof. She didn't know it then, but it would be the last time, and she started wondering what it would be like to have known that.
In the film, older Elliott ( Aubrey Plaza ) advises younger Elliott ( Maisy Stella ) to not be so eager to leave her provincial town, her younger brothers and her parents and to slow down and appreciate things as they are. She also tells her to stay away from a guy named Chad who she meets the next day and discovers that, unfortunately, he's quite cute.
At 38, Park is just getting started as a filmmaker. Her first, "The Fallout," in which Jenna Ortega plays a teen in the aftermath of a school shooting, had one of those pandemic releases that didn't even feel real. But it did get the attention of Margot Robbie 's production company LuckyChap Entertainment, who reached out to Park to see what other ideas she had brewing.
"They were very instrumental in encouraging me to go with it," Park said. "They're just really even-keeled, good people, which makes... Read More