Tor Myhren has been promoted to president of Grey New York. He remains the agency’s chief creative officer and becomes the first creative ever to lead the agency’s flagship office.
“This well-deserved promotion, coming as we close the best year in Grey New York’s history, recognizes the pivotal role Tor has played in our successful revitalization and opens a new chapter in our emergence as an industry leader,” said Jim Heekin III, chairman and CEO of Grey Group.
Over the past two years, Grey New York has won 33 out of 37 pitches, over $1 billion in new business billings, from such clients as the NFL, DirecTV, Red Lobster, T.J. Maxx, Bausch & Lomb, Sargento Foods, Mayflower/United Van Lines, Allianz, America’s Natural Gas Alliance and TruTV, along with major new assignments from GSK, Boehringer-Ingelheim, Procter & Gamble, Eli Lilly and Diageo.
Under Myhren’s leadership, Grey has turned out such notable work as the ETrade Baby, a lauded, buzz-generating Super Bowl campaign; Ellen DeGeneres for CoverGirl; DirecTV’s Russian oligarch; the NFL’s first integrated campaign which went on to score a Cannes Lion; and Canon’s “Beyond the Still,” an Internet sensation.
As president and CCO of Grey NY, Myhren will continue to drive the agency’s creative vision, be responsible for all creative development and be an integral member of the new business team. Additionally, he will oversee the office’s Operating Group, with Heekin, and work even more closely with clients.
Myhren joined the agency as CCO in 2007. Earlier, he served as executive creative director of Leo Burnett Detroit for three years overseeing the General Motors business, spearheading the famous Oprah car giveaway and The Apprentice episode that sold out a year’s supply of the Pontiac Solstice in 41 minutes. He has also served as a creative director at TBWAChiatDay and was a founding member of Wongdoody, both in Los Angeles.
A winner of nearly every major creative award in the industry, Myhren’s work in digital, branded entertainment and content and experiential branding has added a new dimension to Grey’s creativity.
His first feature-length film, City Lax: An Urban Lacrosse Story (SHOOTonline, 6/21) aired on ESPN this year and won the Grand Jury Prize for Best Documentary at the Sonoma International Film Festival.
Ron Cicero and Bo Clancey Launch Production House 34North
Executive producers Ron Cicero and Bo Clancey have teamed to launch 34North. The shop opens with a roster which includes accomplished directors Jan Wentz, Ben Nakamura Whitehouse, David Edwards and Mario Feil, as well as such up-and-coming filmmakers as Glenn Stewart and Chris Fowles. Nakamura Whitehouse, Edwards, Feil and Fowles come over from CoMPANY Films, the production company for which Cicero served as an EP for the past nearly five years. Director Wentz had most recently been with production house Skunk while Stewart now gains his first U.S. representation. EP Clancey was freelance producing prior to the formation of 34North. He and Cicero have known each other for some 25 years, recently reconnecting on a job directed by Fowles. Cicero said that he and Clancey “want to keep a highly focused roster where talent management can be one on one--where we all share in the directors’ success together.” Clancey also brings an agency pedigree to the new venture. “I started at Campbell Ewald in accounts, no less,” said Clancey. “I saw firsthand how much work agencies put in before we even see a script. You have to respect that investment. These agency experiences really shaped my approach to production--it’s about empathy, listening between the lines, and ultimately making the process seamless.” 34North represents a meeting point--both literally and creatively. Named after the latitude of Malibu, Calif., where the idea for the company was born, it also embraces the power of storytelling. “34North118West was the first GPS-enabled narrative,” Cicero explained. “That blend of art and technology, to captivate an audience, mirrors what we do here--create compelling work, with talented people, harnessing state-of-the-art... Read More