VFX industry veteran Tony Robins has joined Harbor as Managing Director of Advertising, the company’s CEO, Zak Tucker, recently announced.
Robins joins from The Mill’s New York studio, where he spent 14 years as a pioneering artist and creative leader, rising from Head of 2D to Director of Operations and then to Managing Director.
Over the past 30 years, Robins has forged top creative relationships and been a driving force behind a host of award-winning creative successes with multiple agencies on thousands of commercials across the globe.
He has worked with major brands including Samsung, Geico, Ford, Mercedes, Porsche, Cadillac, AT&T, Jeep, Aflac, Duracell, Liberty Mutual, HPE, United, Visa, and Capital One, and he has relationships with major agencies such as Havas, Publicis, Arts and Letters, FCB and BBH. The list of directing talent for whom he has VFX supervised includes Janusz Kaminski, Max Malkin, Simon McQuoid, Spike Lee, Markus Walter, David Shafei, Aaron Stoller, Antoine Bardous-Jacquet, Steve Ayson, and Wayne McClammy.
Career highlights have included award-winning spots for Nike’s “Michael Jordan-Bugs Bunny,” Geico’s “Hump Day Camel,” and Bud Light’s award-winning “Game of Thrones” Super Bowl campaign.
Other award-winning campaigns include collaborations with Wieden+Kennedy on such Nike spots as Michael Jordan/Bugs Bunny, Bo Knows, Deion Sanders, Coca Cola, and the launch of Euro Disney. Upon moving to NYC, he was hired to start Spontaneous Combustion as ECD, which under his guidance, grew more than 5x in two years. He then freelanced for five-plus years at the top shops in NYC, such as Chrlx, The Mill, and MTV.
“I have always gravitated towards opportunities where I can participate with like-minded people to make a difference. Harbor offers that opportunity to participate in the growth of the company while helping the staff achieve their goals, which has always been a core value for me,” said Robins. “I am excited to bring my experience as an artist, manager, and leader, and join forces with the community at Harbor.”
“Harbor’s philosophy has always been to lead with top-flight artistry, purposeful workflows, and frictionless execution, all leading to an elevated creative experience,” added Tucker. “Tony’s background as an artist, and extensive track record executing premium advertising, dovetails with his workflow innovation, and business development expertise allowing him to approach operations holistically for clients, artists, and production. His thoughtful and humanistic approach to people management means that Harbor will continue to be a place where talent from all backgrounds and disciplines will seek to call home. Tony is a significant addition to our team, and we look forward to his contribution in expanding our operations and capabilities in delivering premium advertising.”
In 2012, the Harbor Picture Company was launched as an independent studio crafting premium content for the feature film, episodic, and advertising industries. Founded as a home for moving image creativity at the forefront of the digital media era, Harbor disrupted a fragmented approach to filmmaking by bringing together all production and post-production disciplines under one roof, offering a unified creative process.
Since then, Harbor has grown into a global company with operations in New York, Los Angeles, London, Chicago, and Atlanta. Relentlessly focused on talent, technical innovation, and protection of artistic vision, Harbor hones every detail throughout the moving image-making process: live-action, dailies, creative & offline editorial, design, visual effects, and sound and picture finishing.
The company’s notable feature and episodic post-production projects include Quentin Tarantino‘s Once Upon a Time in Hollywood, Martin Scorsese‘s The Irishman, Denis Villeneuve‘s Arrival, Ron Howard‘s Solo: A Star Wars Story, Gary Ross‘ heist movie Ocean’s 8, Rebecca Hall‘s directorial debut Passing, Andy Serkis‘ Venom 2: Let There Be Carnage, A24’s adaptation of The Humans, and Thomas Kail‘s film presentation of Hamilton for Disney+, as well as Showtime’s Billions, Netflix’s Halston, and the Apple series Lisey’s Story. Harbor’s advertising brand clients include American Express, Nike, Adidas, Swarovski, Gap, Victoria’s Secret, Dior, Versace, Estee Lauder, Tommy Hilfiger, Ralph Lauren, Tide, Mercedes, Toyota, Walmart, Citibank, Eliquis, Humira, Sanofi, Bounty, Olay, Crest, and Cascade.
