John Norman, currently executive creative director at Wieden+Kennedy’s (W+K) Amsterdam office, will join The Martin Agency in February as chief creative officer.
During his first year with the Richmond-headquartered Martin, Norman will share the CCO title with Mike Hughes, president of the agency.
“I’m not going anywhere,” said Hughes. “I’m planning to remain as president of the agency for as long as our clients will put up with me. And I’ll stay in the creative department as long as John wants me there. That said, all of our creative directors, writers and art directors will report up to John from his first day at the agency.”
During the course of two stints at W+K, Norman created notable work for Coca-Cola, Microsoft, Nike, Tanqueray Gin, Electronic Arts, Nokia, Heineken and Honda. Among his notable credits is the lauded Coke spot “Happiness Factory.”
“It’s been an incredible experience working with the talented international team at Wieden+Kennedy Amsterdam,” said Norman. “Making the decision to leave was not easy, but I could not pass up the opportunity to work alongside Mike Hughes and [CEO] John Adams at one of the best agencies in the U.S.
Norman, 43, a native Texan, has a range of experience that extends well beyond W+K. He earlier served as a graphic designer for Nike in Oregon, a design director for Benetton in Treviso, Italy, and a director for Benetton’s Fabrica creative laboratory. As a group creative director at Goodby, Silverstein & Partners in San Francisco, he helped develop the acclaimed “+HP” campaign (with its “Picture Book” TV spots) for Hewlett-Packard.
Review: Director Bong Joon Ho’s “Mickey 17” Starring Robert Pattinson
So you think YOUR job is bad?
Sorry if we seem to be lacking empathy here. But however crummy you think your 9-5 routine is, it'll never be as bad as Robert Pattinson's in Bong Joon Ho's "Mickey 17" — nor will any job, on Earth or any planet, approach this level of misery.
Mickey, you see, is an "Expendable," and by this we don't mean he's a cast member in yet another sequel to Sylvester Stallone's tired band of mercenaries ("Expend17ables"?). No, even worse! He's literally expendable, in that his job description requires that he die, over and over, in the worst possible ways, only to be "reprinted" once again as the next Mickey.
And from here stems the good news, besides the excellent Pattinson, whom we hope got hazard pay, about Bong's hotly anticipated follow-up to "Parasite." There's creativity to spare, and much of it surrounds the ways he finds for his lead character to expire — again and again.
The bad news, besides, well, all the death, is that much of this film devolves into narrative chaos, bloat and excess. In so many ways, the always inventive Bong just doesn't know where to stop. It hardly seems a surprise that the sci-fi novel, by Edward Ashton, he's adapting here is called "Mickey7" — Bong decided to add 10 more Mickeys.
The first act, though, is crackling. We begin with Mickey lying alone at the bottom of a crevasse, having barely survived a fall. It is the year 2058, and he's part of a colonizing expedition from Earth to a far-off planet. He's surely about to die. In fact, the outcome is so expected that his friend Timo (Steven Yeun), staring down the crevasse, asks casually: "Haven't you died yet?"
How did Mickey get here? We flash back to Earth, where Mickey and Timo ran afoul of a villainous loan... Read More