Toronto commercial studio Westside has added award-winning director Angie Bird to its roster for Canadian representation. Bird was previously handled in Canada by Skin & Bones; she continues to be repped by Chelsea in the U.S. market. The Melbourne-born and raised director is known for her captivating and visually striking work for a number of multinational brands, including P&G, Gillette, Dove, Kellogg’s, Allstate & Tim Horton’s. “First Shave,” her 2019 ad for Gillette documenting a father teaching his young trans son how to shave for the first time, won a coveted Glass Lion at Cannes and was shared online by celebrities including Laverne Cox, Wanda Sykes and Debra Messing. The ad also drew the ire of U.S. conservative commentator Tomi Lahren, which Bird considers a badge of honor. Bird also received the 2016 Young Directors Award at Cannes for “Mean Tweets,” a spot for the non-profit Raising the Roof which depicted the daily struggles of the homeless. She was also shortlisted for a D&AD Next Director award in 2017 for her Salvation Army “Give Registry” campaign. In 2019 Bird shot a national U.S. campaign for the brand Verzenio, traveling to multiple American cities to interview women surviving breast cancer, telling their stories in an emotionally raw yet empowering and uplifting way. In addition to her commercial work, Bird is also a film director whose debut short You Won’t Regret that Tattoo had its world premiere at Hot Docs. The film, which explores the meaning and memories behind the tattoos of an older generation, was a Vimeo staff pick….
Obele Brown-West Becomes President of Colle McVoy
Obele Brown-West has been named president of agency Colle McVoy.
The 20-plus year industry vet has supervised integrated communications, media and technology teams. Her expertise spans retail, commerce, CPG, travel, automotive, entertainment, agribusiness, education, healthcare and petcare categories. A sampling of brands she’s stewarded include Chips Ahoy!, Mars Inc. ALDI, MilkPEP, Headspace, Blue Cross Blue Shield, Sanofi, Cars.com, PacSun, TracFone Wireless, Dove Chocolate, United Airlines, the NFL, Unilever, Etsy and Mattel brands.
“A rare being, Obele is a born connector,” said Colle McVoy CEO Jessica Henrichs. “Her foresight for opportunity and command of end-to-end marketing is unrivaled—the partnerships she’s brokered, revenue and operating model evolutions she’s architected and how she’s championed brand authenticity are case studies for cutting through chaos.”
Brown-West stated, “At this point in my career, workplace culture is at the top of my decisioning chart. What Colle McVoy is doing for clients is exceptional, but the team orientation and culture powering the creative agency’s success is what resonated with me.” She added, “The whole interview process was very different. I was never being sold. Instead, it was free-flowing conversations about the love and shared respect people have collaborating, pride in the award-winning work and real talk about the challenges that come with rapid growth. Getting to connect with people who’ve been at Colle McVoy less than a year all the way to a person celebrating their 25th anniversary spoke volumes.”
Brown-West’s career highlights include:
--Most recently leading AI-powered Tracer to the forefront of data intelligence conversations as president... Read More