Career – Page 4 – universal positive

What’s the impact of winning a Cannes Lion?

May 10, 2024June 26, 2015 by Roger Darnell

Happy Friday, friends! I hope your work week is wrapping up nicely and that you’ll soon be able to enjoy some well-earned downtime, like a lot of people have been doing all week in Cannes (kidding, of course). Before ending this week, I wanted to share this video I’m embedding here from experience design agency Freestate, and a few more comments about the significance of winning a Cannes Lion award.

As you can hear first-hand from FreeState’s creative director Adam Scott in this video directed by Ilan Metev, FreeState won a Gold Design Lion at Cannes in 2013 after designing the world’s largest kinetic sculptures for Blackpool’s promenade. Under the heading of “Why Winning a Lion Matters – An Agency’s View,” Mr. Scott enlightens us while pedaling his bike around the city: “Sometimes it’s hard to find your way, and especially hard given it’s so darn crowded out here…. How do you stand out,” he asks.

And about the results of winning Cannes Lion Gold, he continues: “I would say people are far more interested in our approach, and that has to be a good thing. And well, if it can happen to us then it can certainly happen to you.”

Isn’t that lovely? Also, to me, it’s a perfect summation to what it means to win a Cannes Lion.

Meanwhile, the image I’m providing here offers a newer angle into this discussion. Taken hours ago

On-the-go with my hero and mentor Randy Baker

May 10, 2024March 16, 2015 by Roger Darnell

I had some very good luck in my budding career about 22 years ago, when many disparate activities started leading in some positive directions for me. One of those new avenues was my first gig as a television writer, which came about because of prolific producer, director and videographer Randy Baker. Although that project never quite made it on the air, it led to a lot of collaborations with Randy over the next several years, all of which impacted me profoundly.

Before any of that happened, back when I was still a student at the University of Central Florida and president of the film club, Randy was one of the esteemed guest speakers I’d invited in. Already well known for his career achievements and knowledge, Randy’s knack for stepping forward as a local industry leader was in many ways just getting started. So all those years later when I was concepting shows, writing business plans, grant proposals and news releases and doing audio for him on shoots, he was also teaching me what it meant to be productive, to be a leader, to earn money, and to live as a freelance business professional.

Sharing secrets: Venture capitalist Charlie O’Donnell

March 21, 2024February 23, 2015 by Roger Darnell

I love finding people who are so successful in business that I learn great deals and become inspired just by reading their blogs and following them on social media. A few years ago when I was getting up-to-speed for a new client based in Brooklyn, I learned about venture capitalist Charlie O’Donnell, who founded the seed-stage investment firm Brooklyn Bridge Ventures in 2012. I’ve been doing my best to keep up with Charlie ever since! Here’s an introduction to his background from his personal This Is Going to be Big blog, where he’s been writing about sales, hiring, the venture business, startup communities and New York in his very straightforward, no-BS style for over 10 years.

Charlie is a partner at Brooklyn Bridge Ventures working on very early stage investments in the Greater Brooklyn area, which also includes Manhattan and the other boroughs of New York City. He was previously with First Round Capital, where he sourced the firm’s investments in GroupMe (sold to Skype), Backupify, chloe + isabel, Refinery29, Docracy, Singleplatform, and Salescrunch.

Read moreSharing secrets: Venture capitalist Charlie O’Donnell

Visual timeline and PR case study: Sid Lee USA

May 10, 2024January 21, 2015 by Roger Darnell

In-depth PR case study materials follow. Last Updated 21 Jan. 2015

Great to know: Anson Williams

March 13, 2024December 16, 2014 by Roger Darnell

My relatively short career as a professional working in episodic television production took a giant leap forward in 1995, when I was hired to assist the Florida-based producers for NBC, Universal Television and Amblin Entertainment’s SeaQuest 2032. The year before, I had worked on a different series for Fox, BBK Productions and Columbia Pictures TV, where the many producers, directors and talents I met became inspirations for me. Nonetheless, I was very surprised to meet – and have lots of opportunities to work with and get to know – director Anson Williams as one of the many all-stars involved with SeaQuest.

Best known for his Golden Globe-nominated role as Potsie Weber on Happy Days – the single greatest TV series of my youth – Anson is also an award-winning television director, as well as being a writer, singer, producer and entrepreneur. By 2014, Anson has directed over 300 hours of television for scores of world-famous TV series, including Beverly Hills 90210, Melrose Place, Sabrina the Teenage Witch, and The Secret Life of the American Teenager, to name but a few.

Sharing secrets: Scion Motivate’s “Visual Identity” panel

May 10, 2024August 25, 2014 by Roger Darnell

I have written in the past about the serious 2013 campaign automotive brand Scion launched to help motivated young professionals scale their careers upward. Those multifaceted efforts included a series of brand films where they convened very bright and successful creative industry achievers to provide spot-on insights about key business imperatives. You can see for yourself that what they created packages the real, proven stuff. In the 10-minute episode embedded above, in order of appearance, you get to meet Justin Thomas Kay of Doubleday & Cartwright, Joshua Prince aka Dust La Rock of Fool’s Gold Records, Cody Hudson of Struggle Inc. and Longman & Eagle, and artist Kenton Parker… and hear their candid responses to these questions:

Days we are sure to remember

March 21, 2024June 16, 2014 by Roger Darnell

Richmond, California-based Mountain Hardwear creates performance apparel and equipment designed to empower outdoor athletes to live boldly. At the time when this post is going live here, if you wanted to find me, you’d have to travel to the Kalaloch Campground in Forks, Washington, along the outer edge of continental USA’s northwesternmost coastline in Olympic National Park. My family and I have been planning this excursion for the past couple of years, and it’s a dream come true. Apparently, my dreams are a lot like those of the individuals behind Mountain Hardwear… and their customers.

Earlier this year I started noticing the company’s “Days You Remember” video series, and I bookmarked it as the perfect thing to share in today’s blog post. All the videos are tagged with this statement that resonates very deeply with me:

Forces for good: Creativity + John Cleese

March 21, 2024June 9, 2014 by Roger Darnell

Today’s post is a mash-up featuring clever ideas from a highly esteemed master of creativity, and 99U, which is the education arm of Behance, the world’s leading online platform for showcasing and discovering creative work. So literally, there should be something here for everyone. Let’s begin!

Flavor’s on the rise at Cutters Studios…

May 9, 2024June 5, 2014 by Roger Darnell

It’s been almost 10 months since Cutters Studios rebranded its design and VFX division, which since 1997 had built a solid reputation in Chicago as Sol Design FX. With the addition of executive creative director Brad Tucker and executive producer Darren Jaffe, last August the company opened-up shop in Santa Monica and began life with a new name: Flavor.

At the time, Cutters Studios president and CEO Tim McGuire shared these insights: “Something new and exciting is happening in the design industry and it’s time to refocus our talent and effort to make a statement. Brad and Darren are true leaders in motion design known throughout the industry. They will work closely with all of the Cutters Studios locations.”

Read moreFlavor’s on the rise at Cutters Studios…

Stacy Peralta: Thanks for the documentary

May 10, 2024May 27, 2014 by Roger Darnell

I have expressed my appreciation in the past for LJ Jeneski of Nonfiction Unlimited, the LA-based commercial production company that since 1995 has been built upon the idea of exclusively representing the planet’s best documentary filmmakers for commercial and creative assignments. We worked together over the period that launched us all into a very busy 2007, and I feel we accomplished a lot together. At that time, the company’s elite roster included directors Rob Bindler, Paul Crowder, Steve James, Robby Kenner, Barbara Kopple, David McNamara, Stacy Peralta, Earle Sebastian, Ondi Timoner and Jessica Yu. It was my introduction to most of these incredible talents, and through the process of updating bios and promoting their newest projects, I got to know many of them pretty well.

Among my early assignments was touching-up an already stellar bio for Mr. Peralta. Here’s a snip from that writing amalgam I can only take a little credit for.

So far, the life of award-winning documentary filmmaker, accomplished television producer/director and Nonfiction Spots commercial director Stacy Peralta is literally a Hollywood movie – or more precisely, several of them.