Creative agency Red Tettemer O’Connell + Partners (RTO+P) has promoted longtime executive creative director and partner Steve O’Connell to co-chief creative officer. He will share the role with the agency’s founder Steve Red, who has served as CCO and president for more than two decades. This appointment comes alongside another senior promotion; RTO+P veteran Todd Taylor will fill O’Connell’s role as the new ECD, a move up from his SVP, group creative director post. Together, the trio will lead the agency’s growing creative team, continuing to spearhead innovative, progressive campaigns for clients including Dietz & Watson, Keurig, Dr. Pepper, Reyka Vodka and Craftsman.
VP, creative director Ari Garber and creative director Chris Plehal have also been promoted to group creative directors on the heels of Taylor’s elevation. These senior promotions come at a time of noteworthy growth for the agency. RTO+P has brought on several new clients and projects this past year, including Sierra, A TJX Company, Nic + Zoe, Tullamore Dew, and Chipotle. As a result, the agency has needed to build out teams across disciplines through several new hires.
Over the last few weeks, RTO+P has recruited talent from top shops to help round out its production, creative, and account management teams, including:
–Guy Helson as executive integrated producer. He joins RTO+P from R/GA, where he produced video content for brands including Nike, Mercedes, and Pepsi.
–Colin Smith as a sr. copywriter from London based agency, DARE.
–Christine Benner as experience producer from creative agency 160over90.
–And Christina Castaldo, as the agency’s newest group account director. In her previous role at Anomaly, she led accounts including Budweiser, NBC Sports, and Universal Kids.
SCHROM x Yacht Club and Be Electric Studios Launch Electric XR for Virtual Production
SCHROM x Yacht Club, a full-service live-action, tabletop, and postproduction company, has teamed with Be Electric Studios, a soundstage, equipment rental, and virtual production company, to launch Electric XR, a virtual production collective.
Industry veteran Thomas Rossano will lead the new venture, which provides advanced virtual production solutions across multiple facilities. He brings over 25 years of experience in live-action, tabletop, postproduction and talent curation to enhance Electric XR’s offerings as a resource for brands and agencies, as well as other production companies in need of virtual production solutions. Additionally Rossano continues to serve as EP at XR New York (XR-NY), a role he’s held since December 2022. SCHROM x Yacht Club originally established XR-NY to help provide XR services for third-party rentals. While XR-NY will continue to function independently for SCHROM X Yacht Club, it now operates under the Electric XR umbrella.
Rossano’s expertise spans producing live-action commercials, branded content, interactive and experiential content. In addition to leading Electric XR, he holds responsibilities at SCHROM x Yacht Club which include driving business development, collaborating with sales reps and expanding the company’s creative talent network. Rossano’s career includes serving as an exec producer at Hungry Man for about 11 years, right from that company’s inception. He then went on to become a partner at Station Film where he also had a lengthy tenure. Later he was a partner at PRISM. Then after the pandemic hit, he became a freelance EP for nearly two years, looking into opportunities in virtual production, which led him to XR NY and now Electric XR. Over the years, he has produced high-profile... Read More