GREEN PRODUCT PLACEMENT - Key Persons
Job Titles:
- Advertising Commercial Director
Over the past fifteen years Ali Selim has directed over 850 television commercials, five half-hour documentaries, television shows such as "Hand of God" and "Gracepoint", and several music videos.
Ali has worked as an advertising commercial director since 1989, during which time he has directed over 850 television commercials for advertisers such as Coca-Cola, Miller Brewing, Chase Financial, Pfizer, Nabisco and Saturn.
In recognition of his commercial work, Selim has received the Gold Lion- advertising's most coveted award-and a Bronze Lion from Cannes Advertising Film Festival, and a Gold Award from D&AD (British Design and Art Directors organization). His work resides in the permanent collection of the Museum of Modern Art in New York.
SWEET LAND was the first film written and directed by Selim. The film was nominated for two 2007 Film Independent Spirit Awards and won the award for Best First Feature. SWEET LAND was also named one of the Ten Best Films of 2006 by over a dozen critics, including the Los Angeles Times and Entertainment Weekly.
In 2010, Selim broke into television with HBO's IN TREATMENT, working with Gabriel Byrne, Debra Winger and Irfan Khan for several episodes. He has since directed several episodes of television for CBS, FOX, and Amazon.
He recently wrote and directed episodes of the critically acclaimed series THE LOOMING TOWER starring Jeff Daniels, Peter Sarsgaard, and Alec Baldwin which released on Hulu in 2018.
Asher Jay is an international adventurer and public figure whose compelling paintings, sculptures, installations, animations, ad campaigns, and films all have a single purpose: to incite global action on behalf of wildlife conservation.
Asher's travels to the frontline have made her witness and story-teller, combatting illegal wildlife trafficking, promoting habitat sanctuaries and illuminating humanitarian emergencies. Her core message, again and again: biodiversity loss during the Anthropocene - the Age of Man.
Jay just opened two permanent exhibits at National Geographic Encounter in New York's Times Square - a large scale wall-mounted installation entitled Piece of the Planet, and an immersive, soundscaped installation called "Message in a Bottle." Much of her best-known work spotlights the illegal ivory trade. In 2013, grassroots group March for Elephants asked her to visualize the blood ivory story on a huge, animated digital billboard also in main hub of the Big Apple, Times Square. Viewed by 1.5 million people, the internationally crowd-funded initiative aimed to provoke public pressure for revising laws that permit ivory to be imported, traded and sold. Asher also participated in the Faberge Big Egg Hunt in New York, where her oval ornament helped raise money for anti-poaching efforts in Amboseli.
A nomadic globe trotter who fell in love with New York while studying at Parson's New School of Design, Asher Jay is determined to motivate you to understand you have real power in determining nature's fate, and your - our - wild future.
"Conservation can no longer afford to be marginalized," she asserts. "Today, we need everyone.
Beth Bell - Founder, President
: Beth had a "lightbulb moment" following a live chat on the inspirational "TED" website with documentarian Morgan Spurlock. After spending many years in the Set Dressing and Decorating departments on such feature films as Game Change, The Replacements, Runaway Bride, Twelve Monkeys, Washington Square, Pecker, Contact and For Richer or Poorer, Beth was very familiar with the use of product placement to dress and prop feature films. But how great would it be to use that opportunity to help promote businesses with a Green, Social Enterprising and/or local entrepreneurial agenda?
Beth was inspired with the prospect of being able to use this very powerful and engaging marketing platform to promote products in line with her own personal purchasing ethics and the ethics of a very large, and growing, group of savvy consumers whilst at the same time making it easier for filmmakers, production designers, set decorators and prop people to find geographically correct, socially conscious, and green products for use in their films.
Drawing from her experience in business management- as a Freelance Consultant and as managing director for GreenBox Films, along with her experience in the national and international experiential marketing realm as a manager for Becker Group (for such clients as Westfield Group, Macerich, Emaar Properties, TLC, Radio Shack, Curtis Publishing and many others), Beth thought to combine the sum of her experience in film and television production, business management and experiential marketing to launch Green Product Placement.
Beth was trained virtually by Al Gore in summer 2020 and is now a Climate Reality Leader.
Beth Bell, Founder and President: Beth had a "lightbulb moment" following a live chat on the inspirational "TED" website with documentarian Morgan Spurlock. After spending many years in the Set Dressing and Decorating departments on such feature films as Game Change, The Replacements, Runaway Bride, Twelve Monkeys, Washington Square, Pecker, Contact and For Richer or Poorer, Beth was very familiar with the use of product placement to dress and prop feature films. But how great would it be to use that opportunity to help promote businesses with a Green, Social Enterprising and/or local entrepreneurial agenda?
Author of the award winning "The Green Marketing Manifesto" and several other books covering sustainability, branding and behavior change, John is a UK Royal Society of the Arts fellow, international speaker and consultant on marketing and innovation who has worked with many large multinational companies such as IKEA, Samsung, Philips and many others.
John's 7th book: BETTER: Wellbeeing and Human Friendly Business came out in March 2018. John is also the author of Made With (2013) and the award winning Green Marketing Manifesto (2007). His first book The New Marketing Manifesto was named one of the 10 Best Business Books of 1999 by Books Online. John started his career at ad agencies JWT and then BMP-DDB where he won the coveted IPA Effectiveness Grand Prix. He went on to become co-founder and head of strategy at creative agency St Luke's (as featured in the Harvard Business Review, Fast Company Magazine and Campaign Agency of the Year) in the mid 1990s.
Since then John has advised clients on brands, marketing, sustainability, culture, strategy and innovation. John's clients have included the BBC, Cafe Direct, Capco, Cisco, the Co-operative Bank, Daylesford, Ecotricity, Ernst & Young, Freshfields, The Guardian, Heidrick & Struggles, HSBC, IBM, IKEA, ING, innocent, LEGO, Lloyd's of London, Microsoft, Nandos, Natura Cosmetics, Nokia, O2, Pictet, Philips, Samsung, Shell, Sony Mobile, Unilever, the Royal Mail and various departments of the UK and Swedish governments. John has extensive international experience working with brands across Europe, the Americas and Asia.
John Rutherford Seydel III (John R.), an Atlanta native, is the Director of Sustainability for the City of Atlanta Mayor's Office of Resilience. Seydel works with department leads within the City of Atlanta, as well as with external community partners, organizations, and leaders to achieve Atlanta's sustainability and resilience goals.
While in his role, Seydel has worked through two administrations, currently working under Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms on sustainability efforts including projects supporting waste diversion, urban agriculture, energy and water efficiency, alternative fuel vehicles, and renewables. The Mayor's Office of Resilience was tasked to create a resilience strategy, representing a means to address the shocks, stresses, and greatest vulnerabilities in Atlanta based on feedback from thousands of Atlantan stakeholders. Seydel shares the responsibility with the Mayor's Office of Resilience team to implement the actions listed from the Resilient Atlanta Strategy.
Seydel received his Bachelors in Political Science from the University of Denver. He is a conservationist and an environmental justice advocate, previously serving as the CEO of Revolution Nation, an organization which aims to empower and connect millennials with their elected representatives. He has also worked in the renewable energy space with the United Nations Foundation and Southern Company.
In addition, he has worked with the Chattahoochee Riverkeeper, and is a board member for The Turner Foundation, Ideas for Us, CHaRM, the American Renewable Energy Institute, and the Captain Planet Foundation, organizations which promote hands-on environmental stewardship, ecological conservation, and education projects worldwide for youth.
LaKay Cornell is the Founder of Champagne Hippies, a brand that Celebrates, Connects, and Creates values-based businesses. Through consulting, collaboration, leadership development, writing and promotion, LaKay empowers founders, entrepreneurs, small business owners and corporate leaders to make money + do good. LaKay has worked with a variety of non-profits, social enterprises, hyper local businesses, and digital entrepreneurs.
Regardless of the size or budget of an organization, she approaches every partnership with the same two things: asking the questions no one else is asking and always considering the people who are part of every company, decision, and strategic plan.
LaKay graduated from Simmons College with a B.A. in Sociology, Society & Health, and Gender Studies, from UMASS Boston with a graduate certificate in Women in Politics & Public Policy, from Boston College Law School with a J.D., and from the University of Missouri Kansas City with an L.L.M. in Tax Law.
She writes regularly for Conscious Company Magazine, The Perpetual You, and other Triple Bottom Line Companies. She is a member of the MAG Social Impact Collective, the Social & Human Capital Coalition, Florida for Good, The Ethical Move, B Academics, and the Female Founders Collective. LaKay also speaks about Social Impact Business Strategy at a variety of events, usually her signature talk: "Move over coffee, today is a day for champagne!" She is currently working on her first book, "The Champagne Hippie's Guide to Making Money + Doing Good" which, like everything else in her life, is a mix of engaging anecdotes and data.
Lesley Chilcott is an award winning filmmaker, documentarian, and producer. She was a producer of the Academy Award-winning documentary, AN INCONVENIENT TRUTH and the rock documentary IT MIGHT GET LOUD. Other notable Chilcott-produced films include WAITING FOR SUPERMAN, for which she was awarded a win by the PGA for Outstanding Producer of Theatrical Documentary. Lesley directed the coffee documentary A SMALL SECTION OF THE WORLD and teen darling CODEGIRL, which after it's release toured embassies worldwide through a program with the US State Department. Her short film CODESTARS garnered over 20 million views online. Lesley directs commercials and branded content at Splendid & Co and hosts the popular screening series, THE DOC CLUB, for the Producer's Guild of America in Los Angeles. Lesley is an Executive Producer on AN INCONVENIENT SEQUEL and has just premiered her feature documentary WATSON about Paul Watson, founder of Sea Shepherd at the Tribeca Film Festival 2019.
Llewellyn is an Emmy award winning producer of such shows as "The West Wing", "Animal Kingdom" and "Designated Survivor".
Llewellyn has spent 28 years working in the entertainment industry. Early in his career he worked on such highly acclaimed independent films as Bagdad Café, The Grifters, Dogfight and Under Suspicion. Llewellyn won five Emmy awards, a Golden Globe and two Producers Guild awards as one of the original producers of The West Wing. He produced the first two seasons of the new hit series Animal Kingdom for WBTV/TNT and the second season of the ABC Series Designated Survivor starring Kiefer Sutherland. Llewellyn spent 8 years outside of the industry working in the renewable energy and environmental worlds, serving as VP of Communications for Rocky Mountain Institute before founding Living City Block in 2010.
Neil has built a 25 year track record of driving transformational growth within food and beverages, both in both small entrepreneurial ventures and mass marketed brands. Expert in defining visions and strategies based on insight and analytics and leading diverse teams to effect change. A strong general management perspective that comes from leadership experiences in Finance, Marketing, Strategy and from leading teams in the US and Internationally.
Currently, Neil is advisor and/or Board member to companies within the natural and organic food space including Vital Farms (leader in pasture raised eggs) and Vermont Smoke and Cure (leading brand of natural meat sticks). Prior to this, Neil was responsible for building the marketing function and mission at Applegate, driving a greater than 5X valuation increase in 4 years on the shoulders of brand building and distribution advances. Before Applegate, Neil held several leadership positions at Kraft Foods, including his last one driving unprecedented growth as VP and General Manager of a $2.3B refreshment beverage portfolio.
Barnaby set up Casual Films in London in 2006 years ago with university friend Nick Francis. Their first commission was a series of 15 films for travel company Expedia, shot, edited and uploaded on the road from London to Mongolia in a 1987 Mini. They opened an office in New York in 2012 and Barnaby moved full time to the US in January 2015. Casual Films employs 40+ staff across three offices, London, New York & San Francisco and the work with clients like PwC, Adobe and Bloomberg.
Job Titles:
- Communications Strategist
- Founding Director of the Casual Academy Charity
Nick Francis is a communications strategist, author and filmmaker. He co-founded Casual Films in 2006, to cover a 9,000-mile rally to Mongolia in a Mini, following a stint with BBC News. Casual Films is a socially enterprising, rapidly growing corporate production company with offices in London, New York and San Francisco, Casual Films is a multi-award winning company who have worked with some of the largest brands in the business, such as Adobe, Samsung, Marriott and Vodaphone
Nick has produced/directed films and animations all over the world, working with hundreds of clients and winning a range of awards in the process.
Casual has been voted No.1 corporate production company in the UK for three years running. The company has produced nearly 10,000 films for companies including Adobe, BMW, Facebook, Marriott, PwC, Red Bull and Vodafone among many others. Casual has offices London, New York, Los Angeles and San Francisco (where he now lives with his family).
Nick is a Founding Director of the Casual Academy Charity. He is a member of several industry bodies and sits on a number of panels and awards juries. He is a keen snowboarder, cyclist, photographer and cook. His book, The New Fire: Harness the Power of Video for Your Business was published in March 2019. It is a manifesto for the future of brand video.