Slash Dynamic sign new directing duo The Chads
The Chads – Christian Uka (Left) and Kiran Koshy (Right).
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LA based Slash Dynamic's Managing Director Tanya Cohen, with her history in talent management, thought it would be a great idea to pair her comedic director, Kiran, with car specialist, Christian Uka.
They both share a passion for automotive advertising and could uniquely meet the changing production needs of auto brands.
When Christian (who’s African American) and Kiran (who was born in India) first met, the subject of diversity, or the lack thereof, in the advertising and production world came up. There was a serious dearth of directors of color within the saturated world of commercial directors.
They mused that they should perhaps give their collective a very white name… maybe the whitest name possible and use it to cheekily announce their extensive combined skill set. ‘The Chads’ rose to the top (The Cardigan Brothers came in second).
The idea of Kiran and Christian teaming efforts originated solely from a creative opportunity we saw in the marketplace. Their blended skillsets formed a powerful solution to a lot of the content we’ve been seeing produced over the last few years. Kiran comes from an agency background as a creative director, focused on humor, storytelling, performance and art direction. He's built a really inspiring body of work as a solo director. Christian comes from a more technical/product/design standpoint, having been on the brand side and also happens to be an amazing photographer.
“We are in an extremely competitive business. We want to present the most precise solutions to achieving the client & brand's creative vision. The Chads unique background allowed us to do that. Obviously early on we discussed the huge lack of diversity in the business, which is why the moniker made so much sense” said Tanya Cohen about the directing duo. “It was an amusing way to call out the lack of diversity in filmmaking. Kiran and I recently had deep and meaningful conversations about implicit bias and unconscious discrimination in marketing, and how it sometimes directly affected the decision-making process in advertising. We had been analyzing some of the projects we had bid, based on feedback from the clients and our interpretation of some interactions. Did they not want to give an Americana Beer Ad to someone they thought was culturally different? Lots of questions started coming up, and the answers were disheartening.”
While we were finishing our first spots as a collective, our world changed forever. We are currently witnessing a massive global movement of people who are demanding equality and embracing inclusiveness, while simultaneously dealing with the debilitating pandemic that shut down the world. The Chads global perspective and background can make a lasting impact on the Advertising business, while entertaining, engaging and informing. As a female-owned business, Slash Dynamic is highly motivated and inspired by our partnership with The Chads.
Hopefully, a better, more equitable industry will emerge from the ashes of 2020. In the meantime, we can’t wait to produce more cool work!
