Rosemarie Ryan and Ty Montague, who earlier this year exited their respective positions at JWT as North American president and North American co-president/chief creative officer, have resurfaced with their much anticipated new venture, Co:, a Manhattan-based brand studio which partners them with Neil Parker, former global head of strategy for branding firm Wolff Olins, and Richard Schatzberger, who had been director of creative technology at BBH.
Parker serves as chief strategy officer at Co: while Schatzberger is chief technology experience officer. Parker’s experience also includes having worked as a management consultant and as part of IBM’s corporate strategy group. Prior to BBH, Schatzberger worked in interaction design and product innovation at Motorola.
Additionally Co: is looking for a partner to fill the role of chief commercial officer to manage the co-ventures practice, forging relationships that allow Co: to co-fund strategic ventures with marketers and with start-ups.
Co: is being structured so that its core team can readily collaborate with other shops and talent, ramping up resources and workforce depending on the nature of the task at hand be it the development of new brands and businesses, and/or brand messaging. “It’s the studio model brought to marketing services,” said Co: co-founder Montague. “Old film studios used to be vertically integrated in that they owned everything–actors, producers, directors, cameras, theaters. Today a film studio is a small, senior group of executives, a little bit of infrastructure and a pile of money, with talent custom-assembled on a project basis. Much more efficient.”
Co: released a list of “co-conspirators” spanning mobile, interactive, PR, design, entertainment, brand story, transmedia narrative, data and analytics, direct/CRM, media strategy and buying, business strategy, brand strategy, social media strategy, sustainability/CSR, experience and events, IP and capital, software and technology, social platforms and gaming. Co:’s model allows this constellation of independent specialist experts to deliver better, more innovative thinking in a coordinated and collaborative fashion.
Co-conspirators that have joined Co: to date include: Behance, BERG London, Big Spaceship, Brand Synchronicity, Breakfast, Campfire, Collins, Consigliere, Cool Hunting, CreativeFeed, Cunning, DKC, Dosage, GMD Studios, Headmint, Horizon Media, IfWe RanTheWorld, Imagination, Juba Plus, Largetail, Made By Many, MarketShare, Medialink, Meteor Solutions, MIR, MotiveQuest, Naked Communications, Player Three, Powell Communications, Propellerfish, Purpose, Red Bricks Media, Skyrockit, Sleuth, Starling, Tether, The KM Co, Tronic, Unconventional Partners, Vast Ventures, Victors & Spoils, and Your Majesty.
“We’ve chosen a roster of ‘co-conspirators’ who are best in class at what they do and expert collaborators,” said Schatzberger. “This makes Co: about scalability and not about scale, so brands don’t have to pay for anyone who is not working on their business. Brands get the right talent for the right project for the right outcome.”
Ryan, co-founder of Co:, related, “The CMO now has the most dangerous job in business, due in large part to the networked age we are living in. It used to be that audiences, money, and time were abundant–now, these things are scarce. Brands, channels and agencies are now abundant. CMOs need to be armed with the tools they need to succeed in a networked age.”
Co: draws its name from the way it works with marketers and partners: co-creation, collaboration, and co-venturing. Designed to eradicate costly inefficiencies in the marketing world in which return on investment is more crucial than ever, Co: opens with the ability to scale from a five- to a 1500-person organization from inception.
“A recent study showed that there were 2.5 million brands in the world in 1997, and 8 million by 2008,” said Parker. “In that same time frame, there has been a 50 percent decline in brand trust, along with a 90 percent decline in perceived product differentiation. We’ve designed Co: to help CMOs eradicate the commoditization of brands, leading to more meaningful consumer experiences.”
Utah Leaders and Locals Rally To Keep Sundance Film Festival In The State
With the 2025 Sundance Film Festival underway, Utah leaders, locals and longtime attendees are making a final push — one that could include paying millions of dollars — to keep the world-renowned film festival as its directors consider uprooting.
Thousands of festivalgoers affixed bright yellow stickers to their winter coats that read "Keep Sundance in Utah" in a last-ditch effort to convince festival leadership and state officials to keep it in Park City, its home of 41 years.
Gov. Spencer Cox said previously that Utah would not throw as much money at the festival as other states hoping to lure it away. Now his office is urging the Legislature to carve out $3 million for Sundance in the state budget, weeks before the independent film festival is expected to pick a home for the next decade.
It could retain a small presence in picturesque Park City and center itself in nearby Salt Lake City, or move to another finalist — Cincinnati, Ohio, or Boulder, Colorado — beginning in 2027.
"Sundance is Utah, and Utah is Sundance. You can't really separate those two," Cox said. "This is your home, and we desperately hope it will be your home forever."
Last year's festival generated about $132 million for the state of Utah, according to Sundance's 2024 economic impact report.
Festival Director Eugene Hernandez told reporters last week that they had not made a final decision. An announcement is expected this year by early spring.
Colorado is trying to further sweeten its offer. The state is considering legislation giving up to $34 million in tax incentives to film festivals like Sundance through 2036 — on top of the $1.5 million in funds already approved to lure the Utah festival to its neighboring... Read More