Susan Credle has been named chief creative officer of Leo Burnett USA, effective October 5. Credle formerly served as executive VP/executive creative director at BBDO New York.
In her new role, Credle will have oversight of both Leo Burnett and Arc USA. She will report to Mark Tutssel, chief creative officer of Leo Burnett Worldwide.
For over a decade, Credle has been leading BBDO’s creative development on M&M/Mars and Cingular/AT&T, among other brands. Under her direction, these brands have won numerous awards, including Cannes, One Show, Andy’s and Clios, and meshed themselves into pop culture.
For instance, Credle’s contributions to BBDO New York were noteworthy when that shop was named SHOOT’s Agency of the Year in 2007. In many respects, her exploits in ’07 reflected the wide ranging creative at BBDO. For example, Credle made what she characterized as her first significant high-profile move into “new media” with Mars/M&M’s “Inner M” campaign in which TV spots showing what people would look like when turned into M&M characters helped drive traffic to BecomeanM&M.com.
Visitors (there were 2 million in just the first three weeks) got in touch with their “Inner M,” building their own avatar M&M character based on their self-image, selecting such features as color of the candy shell, eye shape and hairstyle. The campaign brought a new dimension to branding. While it’s great to bring consumers to a brand, the “Inner M” initiative had them become the brand.
Also on the ’07 awards show front, Credle scored with AT&T/Cingular’s “Battle,” which was not only nominated for a primetime commercial Emmy but also won a Gold Effie Award for its effectiveness in the marketplace, and an AICP Show honor in the Performance/Dialogue category. The commercial shows a mother and teenage daughter “arguing”–at least that’s their tone–but the incongruity is that they are conveying positive messages to each other, as the parent entrusts her teen with a cell phone.
Particularly appealing about “Battle” to Credle was that it respected the audience’s intelligence. “The human brain is a problem-solving mechanism. This spot requires you to work a little bit,” she observed back in ’07. “If you lay something out that requires no activity for the brain, you might be missing more of a connection that you can make with the consumer.”
Of Credle’s appointment, Burnett’s Tutssel stated, “Creativity is the heartbeat of this agency. There is no role that is more important in powering this agency to the top than the U.S. CCO role. We have found the perfect leader to take on this responsibility. Susan is a creative powerhouse with a demonstrated ability to lead blue-chip clients to outstanding creative heights while creating work that truly matters to people.”
Review: Director Bong Joon Ho’s “Mickey 17” Starring Robert Pattinson
So you think YOUR job is bad?
Sorry if we seem to be lacking empathy here. But however crummy you think your 9-5 routine is, it'll never be as bad as Robert Pattinson's in Bong Joon Ho's "Mickey 17" — nor will any job, on Earth or any planet, approach this level of misery.
Mickey, you see, is an "Expendable," and by this we don't mean he's a cast member in yet another sequel to Sylvester Stallone's tired band of mercenaries ("Expend17ables"?). No, even worse! He's literally expendable, in that his job description requires that he die, over and over, in the worst possible ways, only to be "reprinted" once again as the next Mickey.
And from here stems the good news, besides the excellent Pattinson, whom we hope got hazard pay, about Bong's hotly anticipated follow-up to "Parasite." There's creativity to spare, and much of it surrounds the ways he finds for his lead character to expire — again and again.
The bad news, besides, well, all the death, is that much of this film devolves into narrative chaos, bloat and excess. In so many ways, the always inventive Bong just doesn't know where to stop. It hardly seems a surprise that the sci-fi novel, by Edward Ashton, he's adapting here is called "Mickey7" — Bong decided to add 10 more Mickeys.
The first act, though, is crackling. We begin with Mickey lying alone at the bottom of a crevasse, having barely survived a fall. It is the year 2058, and he's part of a colonizing expedition from Earth to a far-off planet. He's surely about to die. In fact, the outcome is so expected that his friend Timo (Steven Yeun), staring down the crevasse, asks casually: "Haven't you died yet?"
How did Mickey get here? We flash back to Earth, where Mickey and Timo ran afoul of a villainous loan... Read More