On the heels of Stephanie Yung’s promotion to chief design officer, and Brian Murray’s to chief creative officer, Zulu Alpha Kilo has hired Jenny Glover as a chief creative officer. Glover is replacing Wain Choi, who is departing the agency at the end of March.
Throughout her 25-year career, Glover has won golds across all the major international award shows–28 Cannes Lions, Grand Prix, and 15 coveted D&AD Pencils to name a few. But it almost didn’t happen. To the delight of her parents, she completed her law degree in 1996 before landing a job as a writer at TBWAHuntLascaris in South Africa, one of the world’s top creative agencies. During this time, she worked for the legendary John Hunt, TBWA/Worldwide’s global creative chair, who was recently inducted into The One Club Creative Hall of Fame.
In 2018, after a stellar 20-year run, Glover moved to Canada with her family and joined Juniper ParkTBWA as executive creative director, eventually moving into the CCO role last year. Most recently, Glover worked on Signal for Help for the Canadian Women’s Foundation, helping to win Canada’s first ever Cannes Glass Lion. This initiative provided a way for victims to communicate during lockdown without being detected, a discreet one-handed gesture designed as a single continuous hand movement that’s visible over video call.
Throughout her career, Glover has led financial accounts, retail, consumer goods, travel, telecoms and automotive for brands like Apple, Mercedes-Benz, Nissan, Visa, Virgin Air and Pepsico. She has even presented a Cannes master class on her award-winning Mercedes-Benz campaigns.
On a personal level, Glover co-founded Open Chair, the South African industry’s gender equity initiative aimed at “filling chairs” with talented young women and putting the onus on leaders to offer opportunities to them. This initiative connected with Zulu founder and creative chairman, Zak Mroueh, who created the 20Doors Scholarship Fund to help BIPOC creative talent get their foot in the door to the industry through education assistance and personal mentorship.
“From the moment we first started talking, Jenny and I were aligned on so many levels. From where we want to push the boundaries of Zulu’s work to the direction we believe the industry needs to move forward,” Mroueh said. “I’m so excited to work with her. She’s going to be an amazing addition and collaborator along with Stephanie and Brian.”
With her creative pedigree and credentials, Glover has been asked to serve as the Audio Jury president and Black Pencil judge at this year’s D&AD awards in London. This will mark the second time she’s been asked to serve as Jury president at D&AD. Glover last presided over a D&AD jury in 2017. Over the years, she’s also been a judge at The One Show, Clios and Cannes multiple times. Locally, she co-chaired the Marketing Awards in 2022.
Glover has been on Mroueh’s radar ever since she moved to Canada. Glover added “I’ve also been following Zulu’s work for years and am eager to help us become the number one creative company in the world. I love ideas that push boundaries through innovation and new technology. Which is why I’m so excited to be joining such a forward-thinking, highly creative agency.”
Glover officially joins Zulu at the end of March.
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