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DGA QUARTERLY 19 PHOTOS: (TOP) TWITTER; SCREENPULLS: PROCTER & GAMBLE/GILLETTE N T H E #MeToo and Time's Up era, being labeled "woke" seems like a badge of honor, but Kim Gehrig doesn't necessarily view it that way. The decorated commercial direc- tor behind the recent Gillette re- make of its iconic 1989 spot "The Best a Man Can Get" and Nike's female-centric, Serena Williams-narrated "Dream Crazier," Gehrig has often gravitated to clients who want to make a statement in their marketing. But she isn't searching out potential lightning rods, per se, as a way to build her own brand. "If you examine it, 'woke' is just another pigeon- hole," says the Australian-born, London-based di- rector whose CV includes work for Uber, Honda and Gap. "I'm definitely open to projects with a social con- science, but it's not the only thing I do. Female direc- tors get pigeonholed enough as it is." At the moment, after three back-to-back high-pro- file campaigns she likens to "riding a roller coaster," she's perhaps best known for the 90-second Gillette ad that spotlights toxic masculinity, including bullying, sexual harassment and misogyny. Its intended mes- sage—Gillette believes men can rise above that kind of behavior—was lost on some vocal crit- ics, which took her by surprise. "I thought it was so refreshing that a brand was being self-reflective and reconfiguring its role in image-mak- ing," she says. "I hadn't seen a brand do that before, and I thought, 'That's a big idea.'" The spot also proved to be a magnet for haters and trolls, who took excep- tion to what they considered an anti- male sentiment. She thinks both she and Gillette ended up "on the right side of history," with the fervent response (pro and con) teaching her "a lot about what the current world is like," she says. The ex- perience won't change her criteria for choosing gigs, though, which starts with "a fresh and original concept" and "a firm hook." "I like to find something with a DIRECTOR KIM GEHRIG IS MAKING WAVES IN THE COMMERCIAL REALM BUT DOESN'T WANT TO BE PIGEONHOLED | BY T.L. STANLEY Making a Statement M A D I S O N A V E N U E FOCUS I » "I'm definitely open to projects with a social con- science, but it's not the only thing I do," says commercial director Kim Gehrig, above. Below and on the following page are stills from her work on campaigns for Gillette, Nike and others. chunky middle and a bit of bite to it, which doesn't have to be controversial," she says. "I ask myself if it's making a creative leap." A commercial Gehrig di- rected late last fall for Swed- ish feminine products brand Libresse certainly fit the bill. "Viva la Vulva," which features a mix of live action and anima- tion and, literally, singing vagi- nas, "felt so on the edge to me," says Gehrig, who added stra- tegically placed lip-synching to the musical ode to vaginal pride. "I wondered if we could get away with it." It became an instant classic, and Adweek named "Viva" one of its favorite ads of 2018, calling it "a visu- ally lush and wonderfully enjoyable piece of film." Her recent commercials, including the celebratory Nike ad featuring female superstars such as Chloe Kim, Simone Biles, Ibtihaj Muhammad and the U.S. women's