Irish director Andrew Baird has joined 8th Street Productions, the L.A.-based shop launched by director Jonathan Nowak and EP Steve DeVore. Among Baird’s recent projects is the “Ascent of Time” campaign for Japan’s Swiss Reimagined, a complete rebrand of the Victoria Webb England luxury watch line with British fashion designer and creative director Victoria Webb. Baird’s narrative and cinematic storytelling style has led to several longer format music videos. Through Universal Records UK and Austria, he was commissioned for the film “Without a Song” along with a three spot campaign that launched Noah Stewart’s career. U.S. electronic music act Gunslinger enlisted Baird for their “Breaking Through” music video. For American heavy metal band, Avenged Sevenfold (A7X), through Warner Bros., Baird conceived the film “This Means War.” The Weeknd went directly to Baird to shoot the title track off his debut album, “Kiss Land.” The long-form film has led to a deal with ICM Partners for Baird’s first feature film, City of Robots, currently in its casting stages. Baird’s awards and nominations include recognition from the Institute of Creative Advertising & Design (ICAD) in Ireland, Irish Film Board, Clermont-Ferrand in France, and his short film Up The Country received theatrical distribution in the U.S., playing at the Egyptian Theatre in Hollywood as well as selling to several markets including France, the UK, Germany, Italy, and Canada….
Mark Snow joins GSD&M as a creative lead for Southwest Airlines Rapid Rewards program, bringing strong expertise in CRM and digital creative. He hails most recently from RAPP and DDB as an associate creative director. Meanwhile Maria D’Amato comes aboard GSD&M as associate creative director, rounding out the agency’s newest Experience Design Team, with experience in visual design and user experience. She joins GSD&M from R/GA. And Luke Dreyer and Jennifer Billiot have joined GSD&M as strategy directors. The former most recently served in the same capacity at McCann New York. Billiot comes over from mcgarrybowen New York, where she spent six years working as a strategic planning director on key accounts….
