Director Claude Mougin has signed for exclusive commercial representation in North America with Zero 2 Sixty Productions. The New York-based commercial house is under the aegis of principal/executive producer Doug Robbins and principal/head of sales Jennifer Hertslet. Mougin continues to be repped in Europe by a pair of Hamburg-based houses: HKF Film and E&P Commercial.
"We’re really in the process of building Zero 2 Sixty. Claude brings a strength and a vision to the company, and we’re thrilled about it," said Hertslet. "He’s an absolutely perfect fit."
For the past seven years, Mougin, who is best known for his emotional vignettes, capturing precious moments, and notable children’s advertising, has helmed commercials out of his own entity, New York-based Mougin Henry Films, which he has maintained with partner/ executive producer Jill Henry.
"It was a bit of the seven-year itch," the director explained. "Jill and I are great friends, and we’ll continue to work together, but it was time for a change for both of us. And I wanted to concentrate on being a director and not have to run a company." He added that Henry, who is based in New York, plans to freelance produce for the immediate future.
Mougin has been awarded his first assignment through Zero 2 Sixty, an ad for Johnson & Johnson’s Baby Magic via Grey, New York. That spot, set for an October shoot, follows on the heels of his final assignment through Mougin Henry-another ad for Baby Magic and Grey. Prior to joining Zero 2 Sixty, Mougin recently helmed an Oreo cookies commercial out of FCB, New York.
The director began his career in still photography. Having learned the craft as a camera assistant in his native France, he moved to Los Angeles in the late 1970s and found work photographing recording artists such as Tina Turner, Rod Stewart and Diana Ross for posters and album covers.
In ’80, Mougin moved to New York and spent the next few years shooting editorial fashion and travel spreads for magazines such as Vogue, Glamour and Harper’s Bazaar. He later segued into the print advertising arena, where he shot campaigns for clients such as Swiss Air, Norwegian Cruise Lines, Cover Girl, Maybelline and Bloomingdale’s.
Mougin’s close working relationship with Bloomingdale’s led to his directing career; the department store encouraged him to try working with moving images, and also offered him his first assignment, an ad out of Grey, New York. "It was so exciting, I never looked back," Mougin recalled.
The director was briefly repped by now defunct Jenks & Company, and later spent a year at Sandbank Film, New York, before launching Mougin Henry.
Mougin’s best-known work includes Visa’s "Fog City Diner," from the "It’s everywhere you want to be" campaign out of BBDO New York, and a noteworthy series of client-direct PSAs for the Literacy Volunteers of America. Mougin’s additional credits include spots for Fasolino pasta via now defunct Lord, Geller, Federico & Einstein; Sears via Ogilvy & Mather, Chicago; MCI via Messner Vetere Berger McNamee Schmetterer/Euro RSCG, New York; and Blue Cross via J. Walter Thompson, New York.
Mougin rounds out a Zero 2 Sixty directorial roster that includes director/cameraman Bob Mowen and director Alex Turner. Hertslet and in-house sales rep Caryn Adler handle the company’s sales.
