English Entertainment
Michelle Guthrie & Anthony Wong to head APAC Effie Awards 2016 jury
MUMBAI: Asia Pacific Effie Awards has named Michelle Guthrie and Anthony Wong as the first two heads of jury for the 2016 awards.
Google managing director APAC Guthrie is responsible for driving the company’s strategy and relationships with marketing and advertising agencies across Asia. Prior to joining Google in Singapore in 2011, Guthrie was managing director and senior advisor of Providence Equity Partners from 2007 to 2009. She has held several key executive positions, culminating as CEO from 2003 to 2007 since she began her career in Asia at News Corp’s Star.
“I am delighted to join the APAC Effie as a Head of Jury and review some of the best marketing works in Asia Pacific. I look forward to a very stimulating experience while sharing my perspectives and playing a role in driving marketing effectiveness in the region,” Guthrie said.
On the other hand, Wong is Ogilvy & Mather Group worldwide effectiveness director and WPP global client leader – team Huawei. Since he joined Ogilvy in 2006, he has helped his teams and clients achieve best-selling brand and product launches across categories and borders, and win marketing effectiveness awards. Over the years he has also served in various roles at the China EFFIE and APAC Effie Awards.
Wong said, “I am honoured and excited to be appointed a Head of Jury at the APAC Effies, as I believe Asia Pacific should, and will, set new global standards for effectiveness.”
2016 Awards chairman Cheuk Chiang added, “With experience comes great wisdom so it’s fantastic that the Effie Awards have been able to attract high calibre, seasoned experts like Michelle and Anthony. Both are sure to bring an unsurpassed level of knowledge to help elevate and drive a new standard for effectiveness.”
English Entertainment
Ellison takes his Paramount-Warner Bros case straight to theater owners
The Skydance chief goes to CinemaCon with promises and a skeptical crowd waiting
CALIFORNIA: David Ellison strode into a room packed with thousands of cinema owners and executives at CinemaCon in Las Vegas on Thursday and did something rather bold: he looked them in the eye and asked them to trust him.
The chief executive of Paramount Skydance vowed that his company would release a minimum of 30 films a year if regulators greenlight its proposed $110 billion acquisition of Warner Bros Discovery, a deal that has made theater owners deeply, and loudly, nervous.
“I wanted to look every single one of you in the eye and give you my word,” Ellison told the crowd. “Once we combine with Warner Bros, we are going to make a minimum of 30 films annually across both studios.”
It was a confident pitch. Whether it landed is another matter. Cinema operators have already called on regulators to block the deal, and scepticism in the room was hardly concealed.
Ellison pushed back by pointing to recent form. Paramount, born from the merger of Paramount Global and Skydance Media last August, plans to release 15 films this year, nearly double the eight it put out in 2025. Progress, he argued, was already underway.
He also threw theater owners a bone they have long been chasing: all films, he pledged, would run exclusively in cinemas for a minimum of 45 days, drawing applause from a crowd that has spent years fighting for exactly that commitment across the industry.
“People can speculate all they want,” Ellison said, “but I am standing here today telling you personally that you can count on our complete commitment. And we’ll show you we mean it.”
Fine words. The regulators, however, will have the last one.
