Chief Creative Officer
McCann New York
2) I love the explosion of ways in which we can help brands communicate with consumers. We’re no longer talking at consumers, we’re having a dialog, including through social media and real life experiences. We’re able to build relevance for our brands in popular culture and in people’s lives. Even the old tools of advertising are being reimagined, for instance long form versions of spots created for broadcast now contribute ongoing online impact and conversations.
What bothers me is the disappearance of time for craft. Superb technology’s downside is crushed timelines. When expectations are super fast-tracked what’s often lost is the time to craft, the time to come up with the truly original, the stunningly unexpected.
6) Creatively, my New Year’s resolution is to surprise people with work for those brands that are not expected to make noise, to make brands that everyone thinks they know more relevant, to enable them to communicate with consumers in unanticipated, remarkable ways.
Personally: lose 20 pounds!
Rom-Com Mainstay Hugh Grant Shifts To The Dark Side and He’s Never Been Happier
After some difficulties connecting to a Zoom, Hugh Grant eventually opts to just phone instead.
"Sorry about that," he apologizes. "Tech hell." Grant is no lover of technology. Smart phones, for example, he calls the "devil's tinderbox."
"I think they're killing us. I hate them," he says. "I go on long holidays from them, three or four days at at time. Marvelous."
Hell, and our proximity to it, is a not unrelated topic to Grant's new film, "Heretic." In it, two young Mormon missionaries (Chloe East, Sophie Thatcher) come knocking on a door they'll soon regret visiting. They're welcomed in by Mr. Reed (Grant), an initially charming man who tests their faith in theological debate, and then, in much worse things.
After decades in romantic comedies, Grant has spent the last few years playing narcissists, weirdos and murders, often to the greatest acclaim of his career. But in "Heretic," a horror thriller from A24, Grant's turn to the dark side reaches a new extreme. The actor who once charmingly stammered in "Four Weddings and a Funeral" and who danced to the Pointer Sisters in "Love Actually" is now doing heinous things to young people in a basement.
"It was a challenge," Grant says. "I think human beings need challenges. It makes your beer taste better in the evening if you've climbed a mountain. He was just so wonderfully (expletive)-up."
"Heretic," which opens in theaters Friday, is directed by Scott Beck and Bryan Woods, co-writers of "A Quiet Place." In Grant's hands, Mr. Reed is a divinely good baddie — a scholarly creep whose wry monologues pull from a wide range of references, including, fittingly, Radiohead's "Creep."
In an interview, Grant spoke about these and other facets of his character, his journey... Read More