Advocacy Shop Goes Hollywood

As an agency known mostly for its advocacy work—including Oxfam and the ACLU—Benenson Janson might not seem an obvious candidate to advertise films. But with the recent addition of seasoned movie-marketing executive Neal Lemlein as evp of client services, the independent shop is banking that Hollywood could use some of its cause-related savvy.

The strategy? Apply what it knows about advocacy to the projects of small, independent directors. “They won’t just work on the marketing, but as ambassadors and pseudo-agents,” said Gavin Dougan, who signed the Studio City, Calif.,