R/GA New York has brought industry veteran Steve Whittier on board as executive creative director. Whittier, who will work on the Nike account, has 20 years of experience in both traditional and nontraditional advertising. He has deep experience across a number of categories including action sports, outdoor, youth marketing, automotive, and entertainment. He will report to R/GA’s Nick Law, executive VP, chief creative officer, North America.
Whittier most recently acted as the integrated creative director on the Land Rover USA business at Young & Rubicam, where his work encompassed creative executions across multiple channels including traditional, digital, and direct-to-consumer. In this position, Whittier led a multi-agency collaborative effort to develop numerous campaigns for the brand, including work on several global Land Rover launches alongside Y&R London.
Before joining Y&R, Whittier worked at several other agencies including Factory Design Labs as VP/creative director where he helped grow the agency from a 13-person design shop to a 100-plus-person full-service agency with a national client roster that included Oakley, The North Face, Revo, Brine Lacrosse, and Audi. Prior to Factory Design Labs, he served as creative director at Leo Burnett Kiev for clients such as Fanta, P&G EU, and Coca-Cola.
Whittier has won several Cannes Lions for his work on Land Rover, GE, and Airwalk as well as recognition from The London International Awards, Communication Arts, The Webbys, D&AD and The One Show.
Additionally, Whittier is an advisory board member of Alexandra Cousteau’s Blue Legacy Foundation and a marketing board member of Healing Waters International, a nonprofit organization providing safe water solutions to impoverished communities around the world.
Hwang Dong-hyuk On Season 2 of “Squid Game,” Wrapping Production on Season 3; What’s Next?
Viewers may gasp, cringe or cry out watching characters die on Netflix's "Squid Game," but those simulated deaths have a different effect on its creator, writer and director. Instead, Hwang Dong-hyuk feels happiness seeing them go.
The show has a huge cast and Hwang says it was "really difficult" to manage everyone on set.
As characters would die, Hwang recalls saying to the actors on their last day, "'Oh no! How sad! I won't see you tomorrow,' but I was always smiling inside."
"Squid Game" season two premieres Thursday. It once again stars Lee Jung-jae and centers around a secret competition in South Korea that targets people in debt and the winner gets a big cash prize. What they don't know is that losing the game is deadly.
Hwang originally conceived of the show 15 years ago as a two-hour film but it failed to gain traction with financiers or even interested actors. He put it aside and worked on other films instead. He then had the idea to make it a TV series instead and took the project to Netflix. There, it could reach a wide audience.
"I never in my wildest dream thought it was going to be this huge," said Hwang, who spoke about the show and what comes next. Answers have been edited for clarity and length.
Q: What have you learned from "Squid Game"?
HWANG: I learned that I shouldn't give up. If you love something and if you want to create something, it might not work now, but the time might come later. Or that idea could be the source of inspiration for something else.
Q: You've already finished filming season three of "Squid Game." Have you thought about what your next project will be?
HWANG: I'm afraid to talk... Read More