Michael McLaren has been named CEO of MRM//McCann. McLaren has been serving as president of MRM//McCann since May 2013. Hank Summy will continue to serve as president of MRM//McCann North America and the Global Commerce practice. MRM//McCann is a leading customer experience and relationship marketing agency networks with offices in 22 countries and a blue-chip list of global and local clients. With deep digital, technology and multi-platform expertise, it delivers clients a wide range of industry leading capabilities including content, commerce, CRM, mobile, search, social media, loyalty programs and data analytics. At McCann, McLaren first served as worldwide account director in San Francisco on Microsoft in 1999, and then moved to New York in 2004 as McCann Worldgroup’s director of global accounts. He was named president of McCann Erickson USA in 2007. In 2009 he moved to Japan in the dual role of CEO of McCann Worldgroup Japan and regional president of McCann Worldgroup Asia Pacific, where he oversaw operations in 14 countries. In 2012 he returned to New York as president of MRM//McCann USA and was named worldwide President the following year….Las Vegas based SK+G Advertising has appointed Marc Lineveldt to serve as executive creative director. He joins the agency with 24 years of experience developing highly successful global marketing and branding campaigns for The Coca-Cola Company, Sony, Volkswagen, BMW, Levi’s and many other iconic brands. Lineveldt is the former executive creative director for Fitzgerald+CO of Atlanta, a division of Interpublic. He began his career at TBWA/South Africa where he spent ten years, the first three in Johannesburg as an art director and the next seven years at TBWA Hunt Lascaris Cape Town as co-executive creative director. Lineveldt has also worked at Ogilvy, Y&R and Saatchi & Saatchi….
Directing and Editing “Conclave”; Insights From Edward Berger and Nick Emerson
It’s been a bruising election year but this time we’re referring to a ballot box struggle that’s more adult than the one you’d typically first think of in 2024. Rather, on the industry awards front, the election being cited is that of the Pope which takes front and center stage in director Edward Berger’s Conclave (Focus Features), based on the 2016 novel of the same title by Robert Harris. Adapted by screenwriter Peter Straugham, Conclave stars Ralph Fiennes as the cardinal leading the conclave that has convened to select the next Pope. While part political thriller, full of backstabbing and behind-closed-door machinations, Conclave also registers as a thoughtful adult drama dealing with themes such as a crisis of faith, weighing the greater good, and engaging in a struggle that’s as much about spirituality as the attainment of power.
Conclave is Berger’s first feature after his heralded All Quiet on the Western Front, winner of four Oscars in 2023, including for Best International Feature Film. And while Conclave would on the surface seem to be quite a departure from that World War I drama, there’s a shared bond of humanity which courses through both films.
For Berger, the heightened awareness of humanity hit home for him by virtue of where he was--in Rome, primarily at the famed Cinecittà studio--to shoot Conclave, sans any involvement from the Vatican. He recalled waking up in Rome to “soak up” the city. While having his morning espresso, Berger recollected looking out a window and seeing a priest walking about with a cigarette in his mouth, a nun having a cup of coffee, an archbishop carrying a briefcase. It dawned on Berger that these were just people going to... Read More