Cedric Gairard

Cedric Gairard, 180 Amsterdam's head of production, is moving to the vendor side to join Nexus Productions in London as executive producer.

Beginning September 1, the 39-year-old agency veteran will work alongside Nexus co-founders Chris O'Reilly and Charlotte Bavasso and head of productions Julia Parfitt to develop new business opportunities for the animation company in both interactive and traditional production techniques.

After 16 years in the Amsterdam agency world, Gairard says he's looking forward to expanding his expertise into the worlds of animation, music video and live event production. "London is the Mecca of production in Europe," he says. "In London you cross over so many different disciplines, meet so many different people and get involved in so many different projects."

A French native, Gairard moved to Amsterdam in 1995 to work at Wieden + Kennedy as an account manager on Coca-Cola. Two years later he joined 180 to work on the adidas account, eventually making the move to the production department, where he rose to the position of head of production.

As a producer, he spent time in Los Angeles producing adidas Impossible is Nothing campaign with director Lance Accord and worked with Nexus in 2007 on the sneaker brand's Predator vs. F50 campaign.

When asked why he was interested in Nexus, Gairard said he was attracted to the hands-on, "open source" nature of animation production. "There's more conversation going on," he says. "Like every head of production, you become more of a manager and it's always a bit difficult to dive back into what you were passionate about: the making of the project."

Gairard says he is especially looking forward to working on interactive music projects, music videos and short films and says Nexus is looking to add more interactive directing talent to its roster this year.

www.nexusproductions.com