Havas begins new year with integrated work for Moen

HAVAS STARTS THE NEW YEAR with a new integrated account: Ohio-based Moen, a popular line of kitchen, bathroom and bar faucets, for creative, media, digital and content.  The account moved from The Martin Agency, which handled traditional and print, while Critical Mass had digital creative and media.

Havas said it’s being charged with reinventing the Moen brand for emerging and multicultural customs and the future generation of “centennial” shoppers.

Moen spent nearly $13 million Q3 last year. 

CHICAGO FILM ARCHIVES hired Amy Belotti as Digital Archivist and Collections Manager, from the George Eastman Museum, Rochester, N.Y., where she’d been digital archivist in the moving image department. Belotti has a BFA in film and an MLIS with a concentration in archives management from the Pratt Institute.

At the same time, CFA announced the promotion of processing archivist Brian Belak, to client services manager. He is a recent graduate of the U of C’s Department of Cinema and Media Studies.

Sidebar: CFA’s board president is Jim Benoit, a former longtime VP/executive producer at BBDO. Executive director and founder is Nancy Watrous.

CFA’s first 2016 event is “A Windy City: Songs of Dissent,” Thursday, Jan. 21, ay the Block Museum in Evanston, 7 p.m. Free and open to all.

FILM RESTORATION IS THE GOAL of director/editor Jerry Vasilatos’ Kickstarter campaign to raise the final $2,000 needed towards his $15,000 goal in order to digitally scan the original negative of “Solstice,” the indie feature he produced 20 years ago in Chicago. It aired on Lifetime as its first original holiday movie.   

The star, Mike Kelley, moved up to create and EP ABC’s “Revenge” series.  “Restoring the film will preserve a film that had a loyal following for a new audience,” Vasilatos says.

FORMER CHICAGO FILMMAKERS, the adventuresome Misty Tosh and Lisa Colangelo of Fatcake Productions created an 8-episode docu-series, “Big Fish Texas” for the National Geographic Channel, airing Wednesday, Feb. 3 at 8 p.m.  They used their own money to make a show about a subject matter they’re passionate about – the future of the ocean. 

Shot in the Gulf of Mexico, the series follows the hectic lives of a commercial fishing family as they fight fish fraud, tangle with the government nd navigate intense family politics.  Director/DP was another Chicagoan, Kuba Zelezak.

AD WOMAN OF THE YEAR Trish Chuipek will be the keynote speaker at the Chicago Ad Federation’s 34th Annual Career Day, Feb. 12 at the Swissotel.  The intensive educational program will provide college students and career changers with an in-depth look at the ad industry and give them a leg up on finding a job in Chicago’s competitive market.

And just to let you know just how big and competitive the market is, consider:  Chicago is home to 1,605 ad/marketing and digital agencies and employs 25,000 people.

DON’T BE SHY.  Send news and notes of your company to Ruth@reelchicago.com and let our far-flung but targeted readers know what our $700 million market is up to.