Trailer Park has acquired goodness Mfg., a creative and strategy boutique based in Venice, CA. Beginning next week, goodness Mfg will combine their staff with Trailer Park, an integrated communications and postproduction company with nearly 300 employees.
The combined agency will pursue advertising business under the goodness Mfg. banner with Trailer Park serving as the calling card for its entertainment clients (as it has since Trailer Park launched in 1994). The terms of the deal are undisclosed.
Founded by five former execs at Crispin Porter + Bogusky (CP+B), goodness Mfg. recently gained a higher profile based on its online campaign and website launch for Google’s Nexus One smartphone. Additional goodness Mfg. clients include LucasArts, Nestle and American Cancer Society.
Prior to forming goodness Mfg, the three creative leaders of the agency–Paul Keister, Tom Adams and Bob Cianfrone–were best known for their contributions to groundbreaking campaigns at CP+B such as Burger King’s Subservient Chicken, the anti-tobacco campaign Truth, IKEA’s Lamp, and the launch of MINI. The trio, who will continue to lead creative at the combined agency, find themselves reunited with former CP+B colleague Matt Bonin. Formerly VP/integrated head of production at CP+B in Boulder, Colo., Bonin came aboard Trailer Park last September as senior VP/director of integrated production.
“Traditionally, thinking and doing have been very separate entities in advertising. It’s that separation that creates wasted time and missed opportunities,” said goodness Mfg. executive creative director, Tom Adams. “With goodness Mfg. joining Trailer Park, it enables collaboration much earlier in the process. As a result, we get creative alignment sooner–ensuring the work goes to market faster. This is especially critical as communications evolve into hundreds of micro-interactions, not just one big campaign.”
Trailer Park CEO Rick Eiserman added, “As marketers look to new partners to ensure their brand communications are keeping pace with increasingly demanding consumers and an evolving media landscape, Trailer Park and goodness Mfg. are really well situated. Our ability to provide unparalleled creative and production capabilities, without all the inefficiencies of an old world model, is a game-changer.”
Eiserman cited Goodness’ consumer insights practice and creative talent coupled with Trailer Park’s offerings spanning digital, design, postproduction and advanced content. These combined resources, he said, facilitates the creation of relevant content across multiple platforms.
Jennifer Kent On Why Her Feature Directing Debut, “The Babadook,” Continues To Haunt Us
"The Babadook," when it was released 10 years ago, didn't seem to portend a cultural sensation.
It was the first film by a little-known Australian filmmaker, Jennifer Kent. It had that strange name. On opening weekend, it played in two theaters.
But with time, the long shadows of "The Babadook" continued to envelop moviegoers. Its rerelease this weekend in theaters, a decade later, is less of a reminder of a sleeper 2014 indie hit than it is a chance to revisit a horror milestone that continues to cast a dark spell.
Not many small-budget, first-feature films can be fairly said to have shifted cinema but Kent's directorial debut may be one of them. It was at the nexus of that much-debated term "elevated horror." But regardless of that label, it helped kicked off a wave of challenging, filmmaker-driven genre movies like "It Follows," "Get Out" and "Hereditary."
Kent, 55, has watched all of this — and those many "Babadook" memes — unfold over the years with a mix of elation and confusion. Her film was inspired in part by the death of her father, and its horror elements likewise arise out of the suppression of emotions. A single mother (Essie Davis) is struggling with raising her young son (Noah Wiseman) years after the tragic death of her husband. A figure from a pop-up children's book begins to appear. As things grow more intense, his name is drawn out in three chilling syllables — "Bah-Bah-Doooook" — an incantation of unprocessed grief.
Kent recently spoke from her native Australia to reflect on the origins and continuing life of "The Babadook."
Q: Given that you didn't set out to in any way "change" horror, how have you regarded the unique afterlife of "The... Read More