The first film campaign for fashion brand Louis Vuitton punctuates what’s been a coming out party of sorts over the past six months for music house Apollo US which opened earlier this year under the aegis of executive producer/partner Koo Abuali. Based in Marina del Rey, the shop extends the geographic reach of the long-standing Canadian music and sound company Apollo Studios, which maintains offices in Montreal, Toronto and Vancouver, and has turned out work for assorted clients over the years, including McDonald’s Nike, Adidas, Coca-Cola and Perrier.
Now adding to that mix of branded fare is Apollo US which teamed with talent from its sister offices in Montreal, Toronto and Vancouver, B.C., on the Louis Vuitton initiative which pays tribute to Muhammad Ali with Yasiin Bey, a.k.a. Mos Def, reciting two poetic speeches made famous by the iconic athlete. Bey’s performance, Ali’s words, and calligraphy by Niels Shoe Meulman that bring an extra dimension to those words highlight two recently debuted films and a teaser (with two more films slated to roll out in the fall) directed by Stuart McIntyre of Steam Films for Ogilvy Paris. Apollo handled music and sound with Abuali sharing music supervisor and executive producer credit with Apollo colleagues Benedicte Luneau in Vancouver and company co-founder Philippe-Aubert Messier in Montreal. Yan DalSanto of Apollo’s Toronto office was the sound designer as well as an exec producer. Composers were Mathieu Brault, Mike Wise and Daenen Bramberger from Apollo Studios, Montreal.
This broad-based Apollo collaboration had for instance Luneau and Abuali working for months to secure Bey for the project–Luneau on the French-speaking side as the direct liaison to Ogilvy and Abuali in the U.S. with Bey’s management. Messier also liaisoned with Ogilvy and brainstormed with Luneau and Abuali about possible artists to contact, with Bey being the ultimate choice.
Another key component of the Louis Vuitton campaign is a website with photos of Ali and recordings of his most notable speeches/soliloquies. This ambitious Ali homage comes on the heels of other notable work from Apollo US, including a three-spot web campaign for Verizon out of Moxie Interactive, Atlanta, and “AXE Anarchy: The Graphic Novel” for Razorfish, N.Y., which won a One Show Entertainment Gold Pencil for Innovation In Branded Content.
For the latter, Abuali brought in a couple of independent U.S.-based composers, Randy Emata and Troy MacCubbin, with whom she has a working relationship. For the Verizon assignment, Apollo US collaborated with composers Sule Heitner, Etienne Gaudreau and Mathieu Dubus of Apollo Studios in Montreal.
Feature experience
Abuali also brings a feature film pedigree to Apollo US. A 15-year music and film industry vet, she was music supervisor on Fireflies in the Garden, starring Ryan Reynolds and Julia Roberts, music supervisor on Jesus Henry Christ starring Toni Collette and produced by Roberts, and music consultant on the Tarsem Singh-directed Mirror, Mirror, released this year and also starring Roberts. (Tarsem directs commercials and branded fare via @radical.media.)
It was during Mirror, Mirror, which had her up in Montreal, that Abuali was brought together via a mutual agency producer friend with Paul Maco, co-founder of Apollo Music. They developed a rapport, she got to know the company over a stretch of time and developed an affinity for the people and their high caliber work, thus laying the foundation for her decision to eventually come aboard to spearhead the U.S. effort.
Maco and Messier founded Apollo in 1995 and are Abuali’s partners in Apollo US.
Here are the two recently released Louis Vuitton films:
AD&Co. Launches Studio A; Davida Hall To Head New Venture As Sr. Director of Creative Content
Female-founded and led creative marketing agency AD&Co. has opened Studio A. The new venture will serve as AD&Co.’s in-house social brand content division, focused on developing and producing digital programming for advertising, social media, and influencer marketing campaigns designed to reach today’s audiences on the most popular and pivotal platforms. Davida Hall has been named to head Studio A as sr. director of creative content. She shifts over from AD&Co. where she held the same title since December 2023. Hall’s affiliations prior to AD&Co. include PopSugar and Studio71.
Amy Demas, founder and chief creative officer of AD&Co., said, “We understand content is king-—or queen—and that our clients need to engage their customer communities where they live. That inspired the logical expansion of AD&Co with Studio A, which is committed to producing only the most engaging and authentic brand stories.”
Studio A will harness both AD&Co’s and Hall’s deep expertise in the lifestyle sector, as content creators and avid consumers. Specializing in reaching audiences where they spend their time, the studio is immersed in social media, pop culture, and current trends, expertly crafting visuals, language, and storytelling to reinforce client brand identities and cut through the noise.
Studio A debuts with the “This Is Me” campaign for Love + Craft + Beauty, a brand dedicated to embracing and promoting diversity within the beauty space. “This Is Me” highlights Gen Z’s affinity for radical self-expression that allows individuals to tell their own stories, free from labels, using beauty and fashion as tools of authenticity. The campaign showcases models celebrating their unique qualities to present... Read More