Film marketing agency Creative Partnership has expanded its U.S. operation and leadership team. Managing director Michelle Gardiner is relocating from London to the West Coast where she will head up the company’s existing Los Angeles operation as executive VP. Taking over at the agency’s London headquarters is film and entertainment marketing executive Chris Warrington, who joins as managing partner.
“The aim of this new leadership structure is to strengthen our client offering and reinforce the connection between our international presences on both sides of the Atlantic,” said Gardiner.
“With these two contact points we’re able to offer a more transparent chain of brand and creative custody for clients, deliver them more integrated global campaigns, protect their valuable assets and drive their businesses. This is an exciting time of change for Creative Partnership and I’m delighted to be based stateside and to continue to work closely with creative director Mia Matson, Chris and our L.A. team to deliver exceptional creative.”
Creative Partnership, which became part of the AKA Group in 2012, has nearly 40 years of experience in delivering creative campaigns for some of the biggest names in film and TV distribution and has seen significant growth under Gardiner’s direction. Recent projects include international print, digital and social campaigns for Mary Queen of Scots, Johnny English 3, and Mamma Mia 2. The agency also ran origination work and U.K. distribution campaigns for The Little Stranger and Goodbye Christopher Robin.
Warrington brings extensive experience in film and entertainment marketing, both client- and agency-side, at companies including Twentieth Century Fox, Icon Film Distribution, and most recently Trafalgar Releasing, where he led the campaigns for Peter Jackson’s They Shall Not Grow Old and this year’s record-breaking global release of The King And I: From The Palladium.
“I’ve been a great admirer of Creative Partnership for many years, ever since being awestruck by their iconic designs for Reservoir Dogs! The legacy of the agency’s work speaks for itself and with Michelle and Mia’s direction, the CP team has created campaigns that capture the essence of a story and what attracts an audience to it,” said Warrington.
Civil rights groups call on major corporations to stick with DEI programs
A broad group of civil rights organizations called on the CEOs and board members of major companies Thursday to maintain their commitments to diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives that have come under attack online and in lawsuits.
An open letter signed by 19 organizations and directed at the leaders of Fortune 1000 companies said companies that abandon their DEI programs are shirking their fiduciary responsibility to employees, consumers and shareholders.
The civil rights groups included the NAACP, the National Organization for Women, the League of United Latin American Citizens, Asian Americans Advancing Justice and the Human Rights Campaign Foundation.
"Diversity, equity and inclusion programs, policies, and practices make business-sense and they're broadly popular among the public, consumers, and employees," their statement read. "But a small, well-funded, and extreme group of right-wing activists is attempting to pressure companies into abandoning their DEI programs."
Companies such as Ford, Lowes, John Deere, Molson Coors and Harley-Davidson recently announced they would pull back on their diversity, equity and inclusion policies after facing pressure from conservative activists who were emboldened by recent victories in the courtroom.
Many major corporations have been examining their diversity programs in the wake of a Supreme Court decision last year that declared race-based affirmative action programs in college admissions unconstitutional. Dozens of cases have been filed making similar arguments about employers. Critics of DEI programs say the initiatives provide benefits to people of one race or sexual orientation while excluding others.
In their letter, the civil rights organizations, which also included... Read More