AKQA has hired Sergio Mugnaini to join its San Francisco office as a creative director. He will be working on a number of clients, including Audi of America, and will report to Pierre Lipton, executive creative director.
Mugnaini’s experience includes serving as a creative director at Goodby, Silverstein & Partners, a digital creative director at AlmapBBDO, Sao Paulo, Brazil, and a sr. art director at DDB Brasil
Over the years, he has created interactive campaigns for clients such as Audi, Volkswagen, Pepsi, IBM, Unilever, Havaianas, Philips, and Greenpeace. Notably, during his tenure at AlmapBBDO, the agency was consistently ranked in the top 10 most awarded agencies in the world.
Among the notable work he did at AlmapBBDO was Audi A3’s “Robots,” in which two massive robots sculpted the new A3 Sportback vehicle in a polyurethane box, a process documented by four webcams over an eight-day stretch. He served as a creative director and art director on “Robots.”
During his career, Mugnaini has garnered assorted awards, including nine Cannes Lions as well as Gold Awards from One Show Interactive, Art Directors Club and the London International Awards.
Utah Leaders and Locals Rally To Keep Sundance Film Festival In The State
With the 2025 Sundance Film Festival underway, Utah leaders, locals and longtime attendees are making a final push — one that could include paying millions of dollars — to keep the world-renowned film festival as its directors consider uprooting.
Thousands of festivalgoers affixed bright yellow stickers to their winter coats that read "Keep Sundance in Utah" in a last-ditch effort to convince festival leadership and state officials to keep it in Park City, its home of 41 years.
Gov. Spencer Cox said previously that Utah would not throw as much money at the festival as other states hoping to lure it away. Now his office is urging the Legislature to carve out $3 million for Sundance in the state budget, weeks before the independent film festival is expected to pick a home for the next decade.
It could retain a small presence in picturesque Park City and center itself in nearby Salt Lake City, or move to another finalist — Cincinnati, Ohio, or Boulder, Colorado — beginning in 2027.
"Sundance is Utah, and Utah is Sundance. You can't really separate those two," Cox said. "This is your home, and we desperately hope it will be your home forever."
Last year's festival generated about $132 million for the state of Utah, according to Sundance's 2024 economic impact report.
Festival Director Eugene Hernandez told reporters last week that they had not made a final decision. An announcement is expected this year by early spring.
Colorado is trying to further sweeten its offer. The state is considering legislation giving up to $34 million in tax incentives to film festivals like Sundance through 2036 — on top of the $1.5 million in funds already approved to lure the Utah festival to its neighboring... Read More