Cogs & Marvel has secured creative director Jamie Shaw as leader of its creative department in the U.S. Shaw joins Cogs & Marvel in its San Francisco office, further expanding the 12-year-old experiential agency’s presence there–even as it continues to strengthen its global reach from its headquarters in Dublin, Ireland. For years, the agency has worked with major brands including Google, Facebook, and Twitter.
Shaw was most recently responsible for the highly praised San Francisco pop-up museum That Lady Thing, created through local agency Eleven. Designed to raise awareness for International Women’s Day, the installation used modern women’s issues like the pay gap, sexual harassment, and gender disparity to inspire an array of colorful and affecting interactive experiences. The pop-up generated West Coast attention as well as global coverage from BBC, The Guardian, SF Chronicle, Time Out, and many others. The activation donated proceeds from merchandise sales and onsite fundraising to the National Women’s Law Center.
Prior to Eleven, Shaw worked with global powerhouse brands like Google, Apple, Levi’s; startups like Tile and Glow; as well as boutique lifestyle brands like Olly, Mod, and Urban Remedy. A multifaceted creative, she started her career as a copywriter and eventually developed an interest in designing physical experiences while working on “future of retail” concepts at creative studio Autofuss (which was eventually acquired by Google in 2013).
“Cogs & Marvel has the chops to build anything anywhere on the planet with amazing efficiency and enthusiasm. Their goal, and mine, is to create cultural content that inspires authentic engagement,” Shaw said. “Smart, forward thinking brands understand that today’s audiences are too savvy to be sold to. People want to recognize a brand’s values as their own and connect in more relevant, resonant ways.”
Along with Shaw, Cogs & Marvel has also brought on Autofuss-alum Brendan Keenan as director of business development and marketing. Keenan will be tasked with expanding the agency’s relationships with U.S.-based brands and agency partners. His background includes time spent leading account teams at agencies like Goodby Silverstein & Partners, Wieden+Kennedy, and Venables Bell & Partners.
Cogs & Marvel CEO Roisin Callaghan added, “Our team has always prided itself on identifying the most creative ways to produce world-class experiences for our clients. Now that we’ve established a foothold in San Francisco, one of the most innovative cities on earth, we’re excited to continue to push the boundaries of creative storytelling. With their respective backgrounds at some of the best agencies in the business, Jamie and Brendan are a natural fit to help us continue to raise that bar.”
AI-Assisted Works Can Get Copyright With Enough Human Creativity, According To U.S. Copyright Office
Artists can copyright works they made with the help of artificial intelligence, according to a new report by the U.S. Copyright Office that could further clear the way for the use of AI tools in Hollywood, the music industry and other creative fields.
The nation's copyright office, which sits in the Library of Congress and is not part of the executive branch, receives about half a million copyright applications per year covering millions of individual works. It has increasingly been asked to register works that are AI-generated.
And while many of those decisions are made on a case-by-case basis, the report issued Wednesday clarifies the office's approach as one based on what the top U.S. copyright official describes as the "centrality of human creativity" in authoring a work that warrants copyright protections.
"Where that creativity is expressed through the use of AI systems, it continues to enjoy protection," said a statement from Register of Copyrights Shira Perlmutter, who directs the office.
An AI-assisted work could be copyrightable if an artist's handiwork is perceptible. A human adapting an AI-generated output with "creative arrangements or modifications" could also make it fall under copyright protections.
The report follows a review that began in 2023 and fielded opinions from thousands of people that ranged from AI developers, to actors and country singers.
It shows the copyright office will continue to reject copyright claims for fully machine-generated content. A person simply prompting a chatbot or AI image generator to produce a work doesn't give that person the ability to copyright that work, according to the report. "Extending protection to material whose expressive elements are determined by a machine ...... Read More