At press time, director Ago Panini was in Milan for his first project under the bicoastal Moxie Pictures banner: a national BMW commercial out of Publicis, Dallas. During pre-pro on the job, Panini formally signed with Moxie for U.S. spot representation, finalizing a deal that he and Moxie partner/director Dan Levinson, had laid the groundwork for last year.
As it turned out, Levinson played a role in helping to secure the BMW assignment for Panini. Levinson had recently wrapped a Nestlé job for Publicis, working with an agency team that included producer Lisa Berg. When Berg later had the BMW project, she ran the boards by Levinson, who responded by relaying Panini’s reel to her.
"Some of the choreographed car moves we saw in the first spot on Ago’s reel hit me immediately," recalled Berg via phone from Milan. "It was the look and feel we wanted to capture before we even fully knew that’s what we wanted [for the BMW spot]."
Panini is well established in Europe, where he’s repped for spots in Italy by Film Master, Milan and Rome, and in Germany by Munich-based GAP. A Milan resident who maintains an apartment in New York, he said that he’s committed to making his schedule accommodating to U.S. projects in 2002. The BMW job—a mix of action and humor—is Panini’s second assignment for a U.S. agency; the first came over a year ago: a two-spot package for the Aluminum Association via Washington, D.C. agency Adworks. That job was produced by Tate & Partners, which informally handled Panini in the U.S. up until last summer.
Panini broke into the ad biz as a copywriter at the Milan office of then London-headquartered agency InterBrand. After some six years on that side of the business, he decided to pursue a directing career in 1995, gaining hands-on experience as a photographer before establishing himself with a short film, Scorpions, which he helmed, wrote and financed. The short went on to be honored at numerous competitions, including the Venice Film Festival in ’96. This in turn caught the attention of Film Master, which signed him for commercials in ’97. As a director, he has assembled assorted European spot credits, including work for such advertisers as Peugeot, Alfa Romeo, Daewoo, Aqua Panna bottled water, Studio Universal and Euronics electronic retail stores, as well as public service work for the Italian Association for Parkinson’s Disease. Panini has also been active in music videos, which he continues to pursue. In fact, he hopes to garner some American music clips via Moxie, which is formulating a relationship with New York music video house Notorious (see SHOOT’s "Street Talk," p. 22).
Panini gravitated to Moxie based on the company’s reputation and the rapport he’s developed with Levinson, who came out to Milan last summer to meet him. That lunch meeting lasted some four and a half hours. Levinson sought out Panini after being favorably impressed by the visual storytelling on the reel of DP Paolo Caimi. Much of that work was helmed by Panini, who frequently collaborates with Caimi. In fact, Caimi is the DP on the current BMW job. Caimi is no stranger to Moxie, having worked on jobs there and for it sister bicoastal shop, The Industry.
"Ago’s work has a soul to it—it definitely has a European feel, but it’s more accessible than the normal European visuals," assessed Levinson. "He brings something different to the American market."
Concurring were Moxie’s executive producer/partner Gary Rose and executive producer Damian Stevens. Rose noted that Panini’s work has "a strong thumbprint, with a sensibility that is a bit ethereal in nature but still not so out there that you don’t know what’s going on … His style and technique stood out among the many reels we get."
The commercial for BMW, which promotes the automaker’s 5 Series, is apparently slated to run during the Winter Olympics in February.
Panini joins a Moxie directorial roster that also comprises Levinson, Bob Purman, Pam Thomas, Yariv Gaber, Christopher Guest and Todd Phillips. The shop’s sales force consists of independent reps Sarah Holbrook on the East Coast, Renee Case in the Midwest, and Rebecca Reber and Brooke Covington of Reber Covington on the West Coast.
