By: Brittany Nicole La Hue
2015 was a year of newsworthy campaigns, award-winning spots, new hires, office expansions and notable firsts for Press Kitchen clients. Below is a roundup of some of the top news from PK clients in 2015 – and here’s looking to a great 2016!
Animated Storyboards
Animated Storyboards brought mining to life by showing us the myriad of ways that we interact with minerals in our daily lives for Camimex out of Y&R Mexico. The animated spot was picked up in many different outlets, from Post Perspective to Below the Line News and Creativity.
Backyard
Girl power was the theme of the year at Marina del Rey-based production company Backyard. Director Kim Nguyen released her fourth campaign for MTV Awards, gaining coverage in The Brief and Broadcasting Beat, and was promptly interviewed by Advertising Age on the lack of women directors in the industry.
Bodega
Bodega aimed to take over the football promo world, producing openings for the Super Bowl in February and Sunday Night Football in September. The star quality, production value and catchy tunes of the openers earned Bodega press coverage in Post Magazine, Creativity and Animation World Network.
Butter Music + Sound
Butter Music + Sound provides the soundtrack to the long-awaited and much buzzed-about mobile game Clash of Clans. The campaign was even lauded in Fast Company Co.Create.
Cutting Room
Budding editor Jamie Connors headed to Cutting Room this year, and promptly jumped on a campaign for Dentyne and McCann Erickson.
ELIAS
ELIAS crafted the music for Toyota’s adrenaline-pumping inspiring Super Bowl spot. “How Great I Am,” featuring extreme sports athlete Amy Purdy, shows Purdy succeeding despite two prosthetic feet. The spot received high-profile buzz from the Huffington Post to USA Today and the Washington Post.
Fluid
Fluid got naked with Coffee-mate, staging the “Natural Bliss Cafe” in New York where baristas went bare (with body paint) to emphasize the natural ingredients in Coffee-mate creamer. The hilarious prank captured startled coffee drinkers’ attention and garnered media buzz in Creativity and AdWeek.
Globetops
Nonprofit organization Globetops released a new video, in conjunction with Northern Lights editor Chris Carson, telling the story of just a few people whose lives were forever changed with the donation of a used laptop. The inspirational story was highlighted in Post Perspective.
Hey Baby
Hey Baby director Johan Tappert was profiled in My First Shoot, telling readers about directing in Sweden, trusting your instincts and winning a Cannes Lion.
Honor Society
In December, Honor Society announced its official launch, with EP/Managing Director Megan Kelly and EP/Head of Sales Eli Rotholz spearheading the bicoastal production company. The studio already has work in the pipeline for WSJ, Target, Oral B and Verizon.
Mr. Bronx
In December, New York-based audio post shop Mr. Bronx expanded, adding two new mix rooms, Mixer/Sound Designer Eric Hoffman and Producer Claudia Gaspar. The announcement garnered high-profile press coverage like AdAge, SHOOT and Shots.
Mr. Wonderful
Mr. Wonderful teamed up with content creation company Roundhead Creative to design the brand package for the brand-new EDAN Network, the first Franco-African global TV network.
Northern Lights
Northern Lights editor Glenn Conte directed an eight-episode satirical web series, “Cop Show,” created by Saturday Night Live alum and comedian Colin Quinn. Conte worked with a line-up of A-list stars from Jerry Seinfeld to Amy Schumer, Michael Che, Jim Gaffigan, Peter Grosz and Griffin Newman.
Park Pictures
Production company Park Pictures won their first Grand Prix Cannes Lion for the witty Geico “Unskippable” spots. The self-aware campaign delves straight into the controversial concept of video “pre-roll” and made ad agencies and consumers alike laugh. The spot is being heralded by one of the best of 2015 by numerous sources, including AdWeek, FastCoCreate and The Wall Street Journal.
Reel FX
In 2015, Dallas and Santa Monica-based creative studio Reel FX launched their Virtual Reality division and immediately took the industry by storm. This year, Reel FX created VR experiences for The Hunger Games, JCPenney, Maria Sharapova, AT&T, GE, the US Air Force and the WWE.
Sawyer Studios
Sawyer Studios EVP Zachary Soreff was promoted to President & Partner, joining Founder & CEO Arnie Sawyer at the top. This marks the first equity partner for the NY-based entertainment advertising and marketing agency in its 35 years in business.
Scout
Bicoastal design studio Scout paired up with popular animal portrait illustrator Ryan Berkley to bring the Marriott Residence Inn to life. The much buzzed-about campaign, featuring Instagram-ready 15-second videos, show gorillas, owls and other creatures enjoying the hotel’s amenities and perks.
Sonic Union
Sonic Union jumped on the Star Wars hype, providing sound design and mixing for the trailer for the new Playstation Star Wars Battlefront video game. The nostalgia-heavy spot, directed by Park Pictures’ Lance Acord, was named “Ad of the Day” by AdWeek, an “epic ad” by Fast Company and “the best gaming ad of the year” by Forbes.
Specular Theory
Virtual reality studio Specular Theory founder Morris May was interviewed in depth by the Huffington Post, with topics ranging from the future of VR to entrepreneurship and upcoming work. HuffPo highlighted some of Specular Theory’s most talked-about experiences, including a tie-in with Paramount Studios and YouTube’s Terminator: Genisys movie and a surfing experience for Jeep.
Sugar Film Production
The San Antonio Spurs were featured in GQ, with the magazine calling them the funniest team in the NBA. The man behind the compliment? Sugar’s Chris Smith, who has been directing the basketball team in hilarious H-E-B campaigns for a decade.
SuperExploder
SuperExploder signed senior producer Meredith Nazzaro to the team. Nazzaro brought over ten years of experience in post-production to the audio house, and began overseeing all mixing, sound design and original music composition projects.
Vagabond Production Services
In 2015, Vagabond Production Services expanded to the Dominican Republic and Cuba, opening doors for production companies worldwide to film in these countries’ urban centers, lush beaches and historical landmarks. The news was widely covered in the industry in outlets from Production HUB to SHOOT and Little Black Book.
Washington Square Films
Acclaimed directing duo Spielbergs joined Washington Square Films in 2015. Alex Karpovsky, known for acting in and directing HBO’s “GIRLS,” and Blanks has produced title sequences for over 50 films and TV shows. The duo hit the ground running, already directing three music videos at WSF.
Zoic Studios
Visual effects shop Zoic Studios got to show off their skills in Big Eyes, Tim Burton’s live-action feature. The team at Zoic completed 155 visual effects shots for the film, including the big eyes themselves for Amy Adams, Christoph Waltz and Jason Schwartzman.