“It’s hard to overstate the collective capability of this group,” noted Howell. “This is an incredible team of professionals, each with an individual portfolio that would be substantial to represent the work of an entire company. These guys are driven, creative, innovative, and just plain fun to work with. I really can’t wait to see what the combined talents of the group will produce.”
With offices in New York, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Brussels and Paris, Rabbit will be a collective of directors, creatives, web technologists, designers, animators, editors and brand experience creators. Using traditional and emerging media, the company will focus on everything from ideation through distribution, with a management arm that will form in the very near future.
“There is going to be literally nothing this company can’t do,” said Rabbit Creative/Director Lee Einhorn. “From traditional to groundbreaking; from concept to completion; from production to distribution, Rabbit will be everywhere, doing everything.”
Each member of the team will bring a unique skill set and resume to Rabbit:
NY-based Douglas Howell will officially be the CEO and EP of Rabbit and unofficially the dreamer, the magnetic force, and the fearless leader. He will head the company’s development, and ensure that it continues to attract the best talent. Prior to founding Rabbit, Howell played a significant role in marketing and building the likes of Smuggler, Go Film, Believe Media and Framestore in the U.S.
South African-born, and NY-based Director Brent Harris travels the globe shooting commercial campaigns for Nike, MTV, Virgin, Axe, Nintendo, Volkswagen, BMW, and Smirnoff, among other leading brands. His recent Just Do It ad, telling the courageous life story of double amputee Oscar Pistorius, is typical of his arresting style. His many awards include five Cannes Lions in 2006 and two 2007 AICP awards for the notorious MTV Fetish spot, Rabbit’s first-ever commercial.
Executive Producer Ruben Goots will head Rabbit’s European offices and will operate out of the Brussels office. Prior to joining Rabbit, Goots’ many accomplishments included transforming media production company Czar into one of the top production companies in Europe and the world; cofounding successful production company CCCP; and work on an extraordinary variety of award-winning commercials, documentaries and feature-length and short films. His awards include Golden Lions at the Cannes Advertising Festival, Grand Prix Awards at Eurobest and the the New York Festivals, The Clios, Mà©ribel, London Advertising Festival, The One Show and BTAA. In 2003, he was awarded by the Belgian advertising industry with a special mention for his contribution to the advertising world. He is President of the Commercial Film Producers of Belgium.
Lee Einhorn will act as Creative Director at Rabbit. Einhorn recently established the studio’s branded entertainment and integrated group in San Francisco and Los Angeles. With more than a decade of experience on the agency side of brand storytelling, Einhorn has worked with prominent studios including Blowtorch Entertainment, Mekanism, Arnold, and Hal Riney, writing, directing and producing short films and large-scale integrated campaigns for prominent clients such as Sprint, HP, and PG&E. His commercial awards include The One Show, Cannes, The Andy Awards, The Art Directors Club, The Clios, The Kelly Awards, Communication Arts, AICP, Hatch Awards, and the London International Advertising Awards.
Eric Filler joined Rabbit in 2008 as chief operating officer after having most recently spent seven years at Google. While at Google, Eric served as the Director of Business Operations, North America Sales and Operations from 2002 to 2006 and concurrently as the Director of Finance, North American Sales and Operations from 2002 to 2008. In these capacities, Eric provided underlying analysis, modeling support and recommendations for numerous company wide initiatives, managed acquisitions and integration, and played a key role in developing and managing the strategic plans and relationships critical to growing Google’s advertising customer base. Eric brings a unique perspective to Rabbit’s creative enterprise in his focus on innovation in operations, strategic alliances, and technology. Prior to joining Google, Eric worked as an analyst, specializing in emerging media at Salomon Smith Barney, Volpe Brown Whelan and Prudential Securities.
Executive Producer Tom Wright joins Rabbit to lend his experience to its integrated group in San Francisco. He spent 16 years producing advertising campaigns and content, most recently at Cutwater in San Francisco, where he developed a strength for gathering talented individuals to create integrated branded experiences that engage consumers.
Kevin Lake is a film and TV producer/manager based in Los Angeles who will bring the marriage of Hollywood and Madison Avenue to Rabbit. He joins the collective as its branded-content liaison, focusing on longer format, feature-length and television projects. Prior to joining Rabbit, Lake worked in the film division of Mel Gibson’s Icon Productions, developing several notable projects at Paramount and Twentieth Century Fox, including Apocalypto, Passion of the Christ, and What Women Want. He also directly oversaw and developed 25 projects with distinguished directors, including Gavin O’Connor, Gary Fleder, Antoine Fuqua, Gregor Jordan, Andy Fleming, Francois Girard, and John Boorman.
George Johnson will head Rabbit’s digital practice, focusing on the future of media consumption in a networked world of multiple screens and increasingly socially driven and rich media interfaces. Prior to joining Rabbit, Johnson helped Fortune 500 companies acquire, convert and retain customers through technology-enabled solutions at ARC Worldwide/ Semaphore Partners/Novo Interactive. Johnson grew this limited-design competent agency into an award-winning comprehensive creative practice both organically and through acquisition. He creative directed the architecture, build, and launch of Orbitz, creating what was, at the time, the most successful Web launch in history, with 3.7 million unique visitors in its first month, and $100 million in sales in its second month.
Anura Idupuganti joins Rabbit as its Executive Producer and head of US production. She is a prolific producer of every type of content imaginable – feature film, television, documentary, shorts, commercials and music videos. As both an executive producer and producer, she is known for bringing independent-thinking to her work with a broad scope of agencies and brands, from Dentsu to JWT, Honda to Microsoft. She has produced for celebrity talent such as Madonna, Uma Thurman, Christopher Walken, Christy Turlington, Depeche Mode, Gnarls Barkley and Fall Out Boy, as well as fashion icon Karl Lagerfeld. Recent films and TV shows include Guest of Cindy Sherman, Man Push Cart, Highway Courtesans, and Jack’s Big Music Show. Her long-form work has been distributed globally and has garnered recognition and awards at Sundance, Cannes, Venice, BAFTAs and the Independent Spirit Awards. Idupuganti’s entertainment career began with her acceptance into the prestigious DGA Trainee program upon graduation from Williams College. She joined the DGA soon after as an assistant director working on shows like Sex and the City and Tim Burton’s Sleepy Hollow before embarking on her producing career.
“In legend, literature, and popular culture, the Rabbit is characterized as a mischievous sort, an upstart, a lovable rogue. I sincerely hope we live up to our name…” says Harris.
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