Interpublic Group (NYSE: IPG) has added to its roster of data and technology-fueled marketing service providers with the launch of Performance Art, a global agency that brings together deep data, technology and CRM expertise with notable creative talent. CEO Andrea Cook, chief creative officer Ian Mackenzie, and chief operating officer Elizabeth Sellors, the leadership team that helped build FCB/SIX, will take the helm at Performance Art in analogous roles. The agency will partner closely with a range of IPG companies and build on the company’s foundational data and technology layers at Acxiom and Kinesso in order to provide clients with data-driven marketing solutions. Performance Art will build on a founding roster of existing talent and clients, including BMW, CIBC, and Black & Abroad. The team at Performance Art is known for its ability to combine data and technology with platform-level creative ideas for clients–producing global work that has been widely lauded. Notably, FCB/SIX Toronto’s “Go Back to Africa” initiative for Black & Abroad won the Creative Data Grand Prix at the Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity in 2019. The campaign used AI and data to reframe the way people think about Africa and created a platform that displaces the hate surrounding the racial slur. Separately, FCB/SIX, part of the IPG family, will continue to operate as an integrated global unit within the FCB network, reporting into Tina Allan, FCB’s newly appointed global partner, data science and connections….
Is “Glicked” The New “Barbenheimer”? “Wicked” and “Gladiator II” Hit Theater Screens
"Barbenheimer" was a phenomenon impossible to manufacture. But, more than a year later, that hasn't stopped people from trying to make "Glicked" — or even "Babyratu" — happen.
The counterprogramming of "Barbie" and "Oppenheimer" in July 2023 hit a nerve culturally and had the receipts to back it up. Unlike so many things that begin as memes, it transcended its online beginnings. Instead of an either-or, the two movies ultimately complemented and boosted one another at the box office.
And ever since, moviegoers, marketers and meme makers have been trying to recreate that moment, searching the movie release schedule for odd mashups and sending candidates off into the social media void. Most attempts have fizzled (sorry, "Saw Patrol" ).
This weekend is perhaps the closest approximation yet as the Broadway musical adaptation "Wicked" opens Friday against the chest-thumping sword-and-sandals epic "Gladiator II." Two big studio releases (Universal and Paramount), with one-name titles, opposite tones and aesthetics and big blockbuster energy — it was already halfway there before the name game began: "Wickiator," "Wadiator," "Gladwick" and even the eyebrow raising "Gladicked" have all been suggested.
"'Glicked' rolls off the tongue a little bit more," actor Fred Hechinger said at the New York screening of "Gladiator II" this week. "I think we should all band around 'Glicked.' It gets too confusing if you have four or five different names for it."
As with "Barbenheimer," as reductive as it might seem, "Glicked" also has the male/female divide that make the fan art extra silly. One is pink and bright and awash in sparkles, tulle, Broadway bangers and brand tie-ins; The other is all sweat and sand, blood and bulging... Read More