Deutsch LA has hired Zach Gallagher to serve as executive VP, director of digital strategy, a new role at the agency. Gallagher will begin at Deutsch next week and report directly to Jeffrey Blish, chief strategic officer.
Over the course of his 18 year career in digital marketing, Gallagher has developed digital, social, commerce and CRM strategies for brands, including Virgin Atlantic, Toyota, Coca-Cola, American Express, Old Spice, Nike, Facebook and Sony, giving him experience in identifying brand and business problems—and opportunities to solve them—across many categories.
Most recently Gallagher led the Interactive, social and data strategy disciplines at Wieden+Kennedy in Portland, Ore. Before joining W+K in 2011, he was general manager of the IPG Emerging Media Lab in LA.
“Being able to work under Jeffrey Blish and [chief digital officer] Winston Binch to bring the best integrated strategic thinking to the table is sort of the dream scenario,” said Gallagher. “And the pressure to feed inspiration and opportunities to creative and design talent like Matt O’Rourke, Jerome Austria and Nathan Iverson is what strategists live for. I can’t wait to get started.”
Gallagher is best known for his work at TBWAChiatDay developing the strategy behind the Pepsi Refresh Project and more recently for building the social practice at W+K, winning social AOR duties for Coca-Cola, Powerade, Velveeta, Herbal Essences and others.
Rom-Com Mainstay Hugh Grant Shifts To The Dark Side and He’s Never Been Happier
After some difficulties connecting to a Zoom, Hugh Grant eventually opts to just phone instead.
"Sorry about that," he apologizes. "Tech hell." Grant is no lover of technology. Smart phones, for example, he calls the "devil's tinderbox."
"I think they're killing us. I hate them," he says. "I go on long holidays from them, three or four days at at time. Marvelous."
Hell, and our proximity to it, is a not unrelated topic to Grant's new film, "Heretic." In it, two young Mormon missionaries (Chloe East, Sophie Thatcher) come knocking on a door they'll soon regret visiting. They're welcomed in by Mr. Reed (Grant), an initially charming man who tests their faith in theological debate, and then, in much worse things.
After decades in romantic comedies, Grant has spent the last few years playing narcissists, weirdos and murders, often to the greatest acclaim of his career. But in "Heretic," a horror thriller from A24, Grant's turn to the dark side reaches a new extreme. The actor who once charmingly stammered in "Four Weddings and a Funeral" and who danced to the Pointer Sisters in "Love Actually" is now doing heinous things to young people in a basement.
"It was a challenge," Grant says. "I think human beings need challenges. It makes your beer taste better in the evening if you've climbed a mountain. He was just so wonderfully (expletive)-up."
"Heretic," which opens in theaters Friday, is directed by Scott Beck and Bryan Woods, co-writers of "A Quiet Place." In Grant's hands, Mr. Reed is a divinely good baddie — a scholarly creep whose wry monologues pull from a wide range of references, including, fittingly, Radiohead's "Creep."
In an interview, Grant spoke about these and other facets of his character, his journey... Read More