A Steal: Society Signs ‘Thief’ Director

Society, a creative production company based in Los Angeles, announced today that Joachim Zunke, a German Director and DoP, will join its roster of directors on 1st June.

Zunke, known as JoJo, rose to international prominence earlier this month with the highly acclaimed commercial spot, "The Thief", heralded as AdWeek Ad of the Day: "The production here is lovely - postmodern… and vaguely surreal." Zunke directed the spot for the international haircare brand Syoss, in conjunction with Walker Zurich.

“Sometimes you just get a feeling,” said Society Founder / EP Harry Calbom. “The spot surprised me on every level. It’s so much more than a shampoo commercial, and feels more like a film than an ad. The agency deserves credit for a great script, but the director brought it to life in such an artful way. I immediately knew I had to work with this person.”

Several emails and two Skype conversations later, Zunke agreed to exclusive U.S. affiliation with Society, the West Coast company that only two weeks ago signed Director David Holm - another creative force with numerous international campaigns to his credit.

“I was surprised and flattered and a bit overwhelmed to get so many inquiries from US production companies," commented Zunke from his home in Berlin, “but the more I found out about Society the more I liked the fit. You can tell they value what I like to think is a European sensibility from the directors they represent. I’m very excited to have found such a creative and supportive partner in the US. You can tell they are a company on the rise, and that’s good for all of us.”

Zunke grew up in several different cities in Germany, from small towns to urban sprawls, and traces his creative roots to an appreciation of diverse environments and the way people react to them. Skilled in music as well as the visual arts, he takes pains to look for "relationships between everything that flows," and considering new ways to present traditional products and people.