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.
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