Susie Lyons and Tricia Russo have been appointed to top strategy roles at DDB’s U.S. offices. Russo joins as DDB Chicago’s chief strategy officer while Lyons becomes head of strategy at DDB New York. Both Lyons and Russo will partner with their respective local office’s leadership and work alongside Eric Zuncic, DDB North America’s chief strategy officer, on formalizing the agency’s strategic thoughtware and developing new tools and resources.
Russo is a seasoned agency strategist with 15 years of shaping, growing and activating successful brands. With experience in almost every category, her philosophy is to build strategy through the lens of creativity. Prior to joining the DDB Chicago team, Russo most recently served as BBDO Atlanta’s chief strategy officer. Russo’s experience includes growing and reshaping agency strategy departments to respond to a constantly changing marketplace and the expanding demands of creativity. She has led multi-disciplinary teams to develop highly effective and impactful campaigns for a wide range of clients, including Hilton, Craftsman, BMO Harris Bank, Hotels.com, Heinz, HoneyBaked Ham, and Norwegian Cruise Line.
With nearly 15 years of agency experience, Lyons joins DDB New York most recently from Lifetime Networks where she drove brand and creative strategy as the network’s VP of consumer marketing. Prior to that she held strategy roles at agencies such as Deutsch and 180. Lyons brings a love for people and all things pop culture, two passions that have helped her develop emotionally resonant and culturally relevant ideas for a wide range of clients, including Target, Volkswagen, Nintendo, Expedia, Bacardi, Kia, The California State Lottery, Verizon Wireless, The U.S. Tennis Association, Universal Studios, Lexus and the American Red Cross at agencies across both coasts, winning numerous Cannes Lions and Effies.
Russo and Lyons are the latest hires made by Zuncic since he joined DDB North America as chief strategy officer in October 2017. At the beginning of this year James Lou joined We Are Unlimited as chief strategy officer, and in May Sam Renbarger was named group strategy director at DDB San Francisco. Additionally, this year DDB North America has won several new clients including Blue Moon, VMWare, and Symantec, and received awards at Cannes, the One Show, and D&AD.
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