Wieden+Kennedy (W+K) has pegged Iain Tait to be its global interactive executive creative director, effective April 1. Accomplished in the digital advertising space, he will join executive creative directors Dan Wieden and John Jay, and COO Dave Luhr on the global management team that oversees all seven W+K network offices. Tait is the first addition to the global team since its formation in 2006.
Tait spent the past eight years as creative director and head of strategy for independent agency Poke in London, where he was a founding partner and driving force behind lauded work for clients such as American Express, Orange, Topshop, Yahoo! and Zopa.
Among the awards his endeavors have won over the years are Webbys, One Show Pencils, ADC Cubes and Cannes Lion recognition. He is the author of a well read industry blog, crackunit.com, and has been named jury chairman for this year’s One Show Interactive Awards.
“Iain is one of the industry’s most influential and respected digital leaders,” said Wieden, co-founder/exec creative director of W+K. “He understands the remarkable relationship between people, culture and business, and his background as a strategic, creative business leader complements our global management team’s abilities.”
Prior to his work at Poke, Tait was a part of the management team for Oven Digital, a global digital agency in London, and director of product development for First Tuesday in London, where he worked in the startup space responsible for developing and delivering new online business models.
Tait will relocate to W+K’s Portland office.
Netflix Series “The Leopard” Spots Classic Italian Novel, Remakes It As A Sumptuous Period Drama
"The Leopard," a new Netflix series, takes the classic Italian novel by Giuseppe Tomasi di Lampedusa and transforms it into a sumptuous period piece showing the struggles of the aristocracy in 19th-century Sicily, during tumultuous social upheavals as their way of life is crumbling around them.
Tom Shankland, who directs four of the eight episodes, had the courage to attempt his own version of what is one of the most popular films in Italian history. The 1963 movie "The Leopard," directed by Luchino Visconti, starring Burt Lancaster, Alain Delon and Claudia Cardinale, won the Palme d'Or in Cannes.
One Italian critic said that it would be the equivalent of a director in the United States taking "Gone with the Wind" and turning it into a series, but Shankland wasn't the least bit intimidated.
He said that he didn't think of anything other than his own passion for the project, which grew out of his love of the book. His father was a university professor of Italian literature in England, and as a child, he loved the book and traveling to Sicily with his family.
The book tells the story of Don Fabrizio Corbera, the Prince of Salina, a tall, handsome, wealthy aristocrat who owns palaces and land across Sicily.
His comfortable world is shaken with the invasion of Sicily in 1860 by Giuseppe Garibaldi, who was to overthrow the Bourbon king in Naples and bring about the Unification of Italy.
The prince's family leads an opulent life in their magnificent palaces with servants and peasants kowtowing to their every need. They spend their time at opulent banquets and lavish balls with their fellow aristocrats.
Shankland has made the series into a visual feast with tables heaped with food, elaborate gardens and sensuous costumes.... Read More