VMLY&R has appointed Noel Cottrell as chief creative officer in its Kansas City shop. In his new role, Cottrell will lead the office’s creative department, and report to co-chief creative officer of North America John Godsey. A key focus for Cottrell will be on the continued development of world-class creative work for the Wendy’s account.
Cottrell joins VMLY&R from Fitzco in Atlanta, where he served as CCO for nearly a decade. Cottrell was instrumental in growing the agency through his work on brands like Coca-Cola, Sony, Navy Federal Credit Union, French’s Mustard, Harry’s, and Checkers and Rally’s. Under his leadership, Fitzco’s creative work garnered accolades from the Cannes Lions, One Show, Effies, and more. This made Fitzco the most awarded agency in the Southeast and a major contender on the international stage.
Early in his career, Cottrell co-founded two successful South African advertising agencies–Joe Public and FoxP2. He later moved to the U.S. where he worked as executive creative director at Grey New York on celebrated campaigns such as E*TRADE’s “Talking Babies” and P&G’s Febreze “Breathe Happy” blindfold campaign.
“VMLY&R is an agency that creates powerful cultural connections between brands and consumers. The work coming out of the Kansas City office is some of the best in our industry, from Wendy’s voice on social to the amazing Fortnite activation and ‘Feast of Legends’ game,” said Cottrell.
The hiring of Cottrell builds on the creative momentum for VMLY&R’s Kansas City office, which ranked among the top 10 offices in North America according to the Cannes Lions Festival in 2019. The office has garnered 26 Cannes Lions for Wendy’s alone in the past few years and has received honors from the industry’s leading competitions including the One Show, D&AD, Clio Awards, Effies and more for its award-winning work on a range of blue-chip clients.
Carl Loredo, chief marketing officer of Wendy’s, said, “As we continue to distinguish what make Wendy’s unique, different and special, Noel will be able to bring his past experiences and creative perspective to continue to help us on our journey to make authentic connections with our customers and to create groundbreaking work.”
VMLY&R is a global brand experience agency made up of nearly 7,000 employees worldwide with principal offices in Kansas City, New York, London, São Paulo, Shanghai, Singapore and Sydney. VMLY&R works with client partners including Colgate-Palmolive, Danone, Dell, Ford, Office Depot, Pfizer and Wendy’s.
Jennifer Kent On Why Her Feature Directing Debut, “The Babadook,” Continues To Haunt Us
"The Babadook," when it was released 10 years ago, didn't seem to portend a cultural sensation.
It was the first film by a little-known Australian filmmaker, Jennifer Kent. It had that strange name. On opening weekend, it played in two theaters.
But with time, the long shadows of "The Babadook" continued to envelop moviegoers. Its rerelease this weekend in theaters, a decade later, is less of a reminder of a sleeper 2014 indie hit than it is a chance to revisit a horror milestone that continues to cast a dark spell.
Not many small-budget, first-feature films can be fairly said to have shifted cinema but Kent's directorial debut may be one of them. It was at the nexus of that much-debated term "elevated horror." But regardless of that label, it helped kicked off a wave of challenging, filmmaker-driven genre movies like "It Follows," "Get Out" and "Hereditary."
Kent, 55, has watched all of this — and those many "Babadook" memes — unfold over the years with a mix of elation and confusion. Her film was inspired in part by the death of her father, and its horror elements likewise arise out of the suppression of emotions. A single mother (Essie Davis) is struggling with raising her young son (Noah Wiseman) years after the tragic death of her husband. A figure from a pop-up children's book begins to appear. As things grow more intense, his name is drawn out in three chilling syllables — "Bah-Bah-Doooook" — an incantation of unprocessed grief.
Kent recently spoke from her native Australia to reflect on the origins and continuing life of "The Babadook."
Q: Given that you didn't set out to in any way "change" horror, how have you regarded the unique afterlife of "The... Read More