Sam Hawkey is joining AMV BBDO as CEO after 12 years at Saatchi & Saatchi London, most recently as its CEO. Hawkey’s career started at Glue Isobar and from there he moved to Saatchi where he held roles including managing partner, managing director and chief operating officer.
Andrew Robertson, global CEO, BBDO Worldwide, said, “Sam has an infectious energy and passion for creativity, a refreshingly crisp perspective on the future of the business, and a proven ability to lead. He asks good questions and listens hard. It’s no wonder he is as effective as he is at connecting both with clients and his people”.
Hawkey said, “Having once stood outside the AMV offices as an account manager ready for an interview, I got the distinct feeling I was entering the creative pinnacle. Since then, I have watched with a deep respect at their ability to consistently transform businesses and brands with an unwavering belief in the power of creative ideas. Now I get the opportunity to work with Alex (Grieve, chief creative officer) and the team to shape, grow and transform one of the most iconic agency brands in the world and I simply can’t wait to get going”.
Grieve stated, “Sam has a curiosity that means he is naturally attracted to the new: new media, new models, new ways of working. But, and this is what makes him so interesting, he is wise enough to understand the value of timeless principles. The power of a great idea, the power of great client relationships, the unifying power of culture. In a remarkably short space of time, Sam has grown into an extraordinary leader. Now he will help us grow”.
Hawkey will join the agency in the coming months. Michael Pring, deputy chairman and CMO of AMV BBDO, will be acting CEO until Hawkey starts.
AMV BBDO just won a Black Pencil at the D&AD 2021 and six Grand Prix at The One Show 2021, being named Agency of the Year in both shows.
Review: Malcolm Washington Makes His Feature Directing Debut With “The Piano Lesson”
An heirloom piano takes on immense significance for one family in 1936 Pittsburgh in August Wilson's "The Piano Lesson." Generational ties also permeate the film adaptation, in which Malcolm Washington follows in his father Denzel Washington's footsteps in helping to bring the entirety of The Pittsburgh Cycle — a series of 10 plays — to the screen.
Malcolm Washington did not start from scratch in his accomplished feature filmmaking debut. He enlisted much of the cast from the recent Broadway revival with Samuel L. Jackson (Doaker Charles), his brother, John David Washington (Boy Willie), Ray Fisher (Lymon) and Michael Potts (Whining Boy). Berniece, played by Danielle Brooks in the play, is now beautifully portrayed by Danielle Deadwyler. With such rich material and a cast for whom it's second nature, it would be hard, one imagines, to go wrong. Jackson's own history with the play goes back to its original run in 1987 when he was Boy Willie.
It's not the simplest thing to make a play feel cinematic, but Malcolm Washington was up to the task. His film opens up the world of the Charles family beyond the living room. In fact, this adaptation, which Washington co-wrote with "Mudbound" screenwriter Virgil Williams, goes beyond Wilson's text and shows us the past and the origins of the intricately engraved piano that's central to all the fuss. It even opens on a big, action-filled set piece in 1911, during which the piano is stolen from a white family's home. Another fleshes out Doaker's monologue in which he explains to the uninitiated, Fisher's Lymon, and the audience, the tortured history of the thing. While it might have been nice to keep the camera on Jackson, such a great, grounding presence throughout, the good news is that he really makes... Read More