Toygar Bazarkaya has been appointed chief creative officer for We Are Unlimited, McDonald’s creative agency of record. He is the first creative hire for the DDB Network since Ari Weiss started as chief creative officer of DDB North America (part of Omnicom) in February. Weiss has been overseeing the full-service advertising agency’s creative department and will continue to do so until Bazarkaya begins on May 15. Bazarkaya will report directly to Weiss, and lead the agency in partnership with CEO Brian Nienhaus and the Unlimited executive team.
Weiss stated, “Toygar is one of those rare creative leaders who moves mountains. He didn’t earn his stripes working in the margins. He does award winning work that drives real business forward. Businesses like Mercedes, Gillette, Dos Equis and Visa. I can’t wait to see what he does with the Golden Arches.”
Bazarkaya said, “Unlimited is what happens when the stars align, when one of the most iconic brands and agencies create a blueprint for the future of our industry. It’s a new way of collaboration that our industry hasn’t seen yet. Great things happen when the best from every discipline collaborate with one common goal and one voice. I couldn’t be more excited to join the team”
With more than 10 years of international experience, Bazarkaya’s work has won over 600 awards, including more than 20 Cannes Lions for a dozen brands.
Most recently, Bazarkaya was chief creative officer of the Americas and chairman of the Global Creative Council for Havas Worldwide. In this role, he elevated the creative profile of the New York agency and built a creative network across the North and South American talent. Bazarkaya focused on strengthening the network’s creativity and innovation.
During his tenure at Havas, Bazarkaya oversaw the work for brands such as IBM, Liberty Mutual, Dos Equis, Sony, TD Ameritrade and Reckitt Benckiser.
Prior to Havas, Bazarkaya spent six years at BBDO New York where he led global brands like Visa, Gillette, Campbell’s, HP, Mars and MLB. Before that, Bazarkaya was the CCO of BBDO Germany, where he helped the agency become the country’s most awarded network at the 2008 Cannes Festival.
Throughout his career Bazarkaya gained extensive experience building brands in the U.S. and internationally having worked at Jung von Matt and Springer & Jacoby in Hamburg, DM9DDB in São Paulo, Mullen in Boston, and DDB New York.
In 2017, Bazarkaya will be the foreman of the Craft in Advertising jury at D&AD and he also will be the jury president for the TV/Cinema/Online Film category for the London International Awards. In 2015 he sat on the Cannes jury for the Outdoor category.
First-Time Feature Directors Make Major Splash At AFI Fest, Generate Oscar Buzz
Two first-time feature directors who are generating Oscar buzz this awards season were front and center this past weekend at AFI Fest in Hollywood. Rachel Morrison, who made history as the first woman nominated for a Best Cinematography Oscar---on the strength of Mudbound in 2018--brought her feature directorial debut, The Fire Inside (Amazon MGM Studios), to the festival on Sunday (10/27), and shared insights into the film during a conversation session immediately following the screening. This came a day after William Goldenberg, an Oscar-winning editor for Argo in 2013, had his initial foray into feature directing, Unstoppable (Amazon MGM Studios), showcased at the AFI proceedings. He too spoke after the screening during a panel discussion. The Fire Inside--which made its world premiere at this year’s Toronto International Film Festival--tells the story of Claressa “T-Rex” Shields (portrayed by Ryan Destiny), a Black boxer from Flint, Mich., who trained to become the first woman in U.S. history to win an Olympic Gold Medal in the sport. She achieved this feat--with the help of coach Jason Crutchfield (Brian Tyree Henry)--only to find that her victory at the Summer Games came with relatively little fanfare and no endorsement deals. So much for the hope that the historic accomplishment would be a ticket out of socioeconomic purgatory for Shields and her family. It seemed like yet another setback in a cycle of adversity throughout Shields’ life but she persevered, going on to win her second Gold Medal at the next Olympics and becoming a champion for gender equality and equitable pay for women in sports. Shields has served as a source of inspiration for woman athletes worldwide--as well as to the community of... Read More