Independent creative agency Zambezi has named Josie Brown as its first executive director of marketing and business development. The move follows a steady stream of new business wins for Zambezi, which has recently been named lead creative agency for Cox Automotive and The Venetian, whose properties include The Palazzo in Las Vegas.
Brown brings 14 years of account management and business development leadership to the role. She joins the agency leadership team and is tasked with optimizing the agency’s ability to manage an increase in high-value opportunities. Brown will be reporting directly to Chris Raih, founder & CEO of Zambezi.
Previously, Brown was partner, head of business development at Omelet where she led efforts to land several new clients during her tenure, including The Pokémon Company, Amazon, Ubisoft, SquareEnix, NBC Bravo, Gardein and Orbit Baby. Other accounts she supported include AT&T, Moet & Chandon and Lenovo. In 2015, Brown negotiated Omelet’s first Super Bowl content for Pokémon during Super Bowl 50. The campaign, “Train on,” drew more than 20 million views on YouTube.
A New Zealand native, Brown spent eight of the past 12 years in the United Kingdom and previously held Account Director positions at London agencies; McCann Erickson, Saatchi & Saatchi, and RKCR/Y&R–and across global businesses including, Revlon, L’Oreal Paris and Colgate.
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