The creative team of Sergio Takahata and Nellie Santee, formerly with DAVID Miami, has joined AMV BBDO.
Copywriter Santee teamed up with art director Sergio Takahata in 2019 after meeting at DAVID Miami. They were the main team behind the Burger King account, responsible for product launches and cornerstone creative ideas. They also worked on Budweiser, Sour Patch Kids and Heinz Ketchup, delivering famous, engaging, and award-winning ideas.
Santee was born in the U.S. and grew up in Brazil, starting her advertising career in the countryside. After finishing a master’s degree in communications, she moved to the U.S and started at DAVID Miami in 2018. In less than two years, she had won eight Cannes Lions–three of them Golds–four D&AD Pencils and six awards at One Show. She also made the top ten most awarded copywriters list in the Cannes Lions Festival in 2019–the only woman.
Takahata, a Brazilian, has won over 12 Grand Prix in major international festivals. His awards haul includes nine Cannes Lions, including one Grand Prix and four Golds, 11 D&AD Pencils, including one Black and four Yellows. He was part of the team that helped DAVID Miami to be nominated Agency of the Year at the One Show, Clios, and D&AD. According to the Cannes Global Creative Report, he ranked as the #7 most awarded art director in 2020/2021. He also ranked as the #1 most awarded art director at the One Show 2020.
A joint statement from Santee and Takahata read, “We are very excited to join AMV with all its creative history and even more with the exciting fresh leadership. It feels like the perfect time to be here and make awesome work”.
AMV BBDO chief creative officers Nadja Lossgott and Nicholas Hulley shared in a joint statement, “We are huge admirers of Nellie and Sergio’s work, so to have them join us with our other brilliant creative talent at the agency is very exciting. We look forward to more potent ideas that can add to the explosion of creativity at AMV.”
DreamWorks Animation Hits 30 With A New Hit Different From The Norm: “The Wild Robot”
Filmmaker Chris Sanders had finally cracked "The Wild Robot."
Peter Brown's middle-grade book, about an intelligent robot living in the wilderness, had been sitting on the shelf at DreamWorks Animation for a bit. No one had quite figured it out. Then Sanders, the man behind beloved animated features from "Lilo & Stitch" to "How to Train Your Dragon," came along.
His vision, however, was different from the norm: The story started without zippy dialogue and didn't follow traditional beats. He also wanted to embrace a more illustrated style that melded analog warmth with computer generated imagery capabilities, which was finally technologically possible. Before he got too deep, he needed to make sure the studio was on board.
"They said, 'That's the reason we bought the book. We want to do something different,'" Sanders said. "One of the great strengths of DreamWorks is they're willing to try new things. To everybody's credit, they stayed the course."
And it's already paying off. "The Wild Robot" opened No. 1 in theaters nationwide this weekend, riding in on a wave of critical acclaim. Sanders didn't know it at the time but something bigger was at play too: "The Wild Robot" would be released coinciding with the studio's 30th anniversary.
It wasn't so long ago that DreamWorks was the new kid on the block. The upstart, founded by Jeffrey Katzenberg, Steven Spielberg and David Geffen, was in October 1994 the first new studio in 60 years. Since their first animated release ("Antz," in 1998), DreamWorks Animation has released 49 feature films that have grossed more than $17 billion at the box office. They have major franchises, including "Shrek," which became the first best animated feature Oscar winner, "Kung Fu Panda" and "How to... Read More