21st Century Fox is home to great stories, driven by unique characters of all stripes. The rich patchwork, the mix of different voices keeps us vital, fertile, thriving. It sparks new ideas and ambitions that pull us forward.
And it's that very same mix that makes our company, our brands, and our stories among the best in the world.
Villain or Legend? I based the overall creative strategy, concept development, and copywriting on Castro's controversial and conflicting world figure. The marketing campaign aired on the American Heroes Channel and on Discovery Networks International’s factual channels in more than 220 countries.
Channels: AHC; Discovery LATAM; Discovery Networks International; Media: On Air, Digital.
Year: 2015
Genre: Unscripted.
In-house production, editing and design by The Discovery Agency.
Full list of credits on my Vimeo page.
My Own Path is a series of documentaries about extraordinary and inspirational women who are changing the world around them. Revolutionary female explorers who took the road less travelled. As a creative writer consultant, I had the honor to curate the process of idea creation and knowledge development behind this extraordinary creative campaign, providing the international marketing team with insights about the contemporary female culture.
Investigation Discovery’s two-time Emmy-winning series, "A Crime to Remember", returns for a provocative third season, showcasing the most compelling crimes that shook the nation during the 1950s and ‘60s.
As consultant Creative Director, I wrote and actively participated to the design/art direction pitch to launch “A Crime to Remember” season 3 in the U.S. and Europe.
Channels: Investigation Discovery; Discovery Networks International. Media: On Air, Digital.
Year: 2015
Genre: Unscripted.
In-house production, editing and design by The Discovery Agency.
Discovery Network International acquired the rights to air the prestigious RBS 6 Nations 2015 tournament at the very last minute. We had 1 month to set up a creative strategy, go through all approvals and 4 hours to shoot the on-air, off-air and digital campaign in 23 °F. At the end of the day, the Italian rugby team didn't win the tournament, but we shot a killer campaign that reached a record 4.5% share. As Brand and Creative Manager, I led the campaign's creative direction, collaborating with the in-house digital team to develop an app that allows users to transform themselves in rugby players and spread their team spirit. I assigned the on-air and off-air production to Karen Films, photography by Alessandro Dealberto.
Genre: Live sport event.
Full credits available on my Vimeo page.
DMAX won the European Eutelsat TV Award in 2014 for “Best Lifestyle TV Channel” of the year for its innovative brand strength and outstanding content. Back in the days, our aim was to create a playful and witty visual identity and tone of voice for the channel, consistent across all communication points: on-air, off-air and online, to embrace DMAX’s positioning as "The new channel for men with more than one thing on their mind". Our promos and marketing campaigns delighted our viewers, boosted channel ratings and received several nominations and shiny awards. As Brand and Creative Manager, I led the channel's creative team from 2011 to 2014.
Full credits available on my Vimeo page.
How about a street food challenge?
Chef Rubio seeks out the best street-food chefs in Italy. The show is reaching stellar ratings on Discovery Italy’s Dmax channel, with the street-food show "Unti e Bisunti" (Greasy and Greasier). I had the privilege of leading Discovery Italy's creative department in developing “Unti e Bisunti”’s integrated marketing campaign for the show's first and second season, outsourcing the production to Ang Films. The first season's on-air campaign won a Silver Award as Best Promotional Campaign at PromaxBDA Global Excellence 2014.
Genre: Unscripted.
Full credits available on my Vimeo page.
What happens when you and your team have to produce a new brand campaign for the Discovery Channel's Southern Europe regions, but you don't actually have footage from the new shows? My solution was to come up with the idea to add motion to pictures and bring them to life by adding layers and particles. These camera mapping animations are developed by the motion design studio Nerdo Collective. Make sure to check their video scenes breakdown.
A few months later we partnered with our friends at Discovery Latin America and design studio Totuma, to apply the same technique and promote the stunning award-winning project Adventure Thursday (Jueves de Aventura).
Full list of credits on my Vimeo page.
Can you imagine the four Top Gear protagonists in a James Bond adventure? Dmax and Discovery Channel Southern Europe present "Top Gear Bond Special", a one-off program to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the most well loved spy of all time. As the Channel's Brand and Creative Manager, my directions was to have an animated Bond-ish story without cuts, with an original music composition that fans could recognize as the Top Gear theme in the infamous Bond style. I outsourced this 30 second masterpiece illustration to motion design studio Nerdo Collective, and it received tons of press and nominations at the PromaxBDA Europe and PromaxBDA Global Excellence Awards 2013 as Best Design in Promotion, Best Special Event Promotion and Best Use of an Original Composition in a promo.
Full credits available on my Vimeo page.
Focus is a factual TV channel owned by Discovery Networks Italy and a magazine distributed by Mondadori. It's topics include science, technology, history, health, and social issues. The on-air rebrand is fruit of the collaboration between the Discovery Italy in-house creative team and the Milan-based motion design studio Alkanoids. As Brand and Creative Manager I was asked to develop the channel's proposition and set up a new creative strategy, overseeing the new visual identity. Focus channel's ratings more than doubled after rebranding in 2013.
Full credits available on my Vimeo page.
"The old glories are back" is the concept that drove this (not-so politically correct) creative campaign across on-air and social media. Wheeler Dealers is a show for classic cars lover and a successful format originally created in the UK. Discovery Communications Italy produced its own version starring real car dealers whose aim is to bring old Alfa Romeo, Ferrari and Maserati back to life. I had a lot of fun writing this idea and see it coming to life thanks to directors I Love Cut and production company JumpcutMedia.
In honor of Italy's Labour Day, Dmax Italy celebrated the everyday worker, eating against the clock like Adam Richman (Man vs. Food) can be real work. The channel' heroes are portrayed in constructivist posters, evoking images of the stereotypical Soviet propaganda. This amazing masterpiece won a Silver award as Best Art Direction & Design spot in the "special events" category at PromaxBDA 2014 Global Excellence. Concept, writing and visual strategy by the Discovery in-house creative team, illustrations, animation and direction in collaboration with the motion studio Ditroit.
Full credits available on my Vimeo page.
This is a cross-promotional campaign for the Olympic related programs on the Discovery Portfolio channels. As the Creative Supervisor, I managed the Discovery in-house creative department, assigning the motion design to Nerdo Collective. The project received several recognitions around the web, and won a Silver award as Best Art Direction and Design spot at PromaxBDA Global Excellence in 2013.
Full credits on my Vimeo page.
Check out how football and physics have something to share. Discover the science behind football. "How Football is Made" is a Southern Europe local production by Discovery Communications.
I had the honor to conceive, write and subsequently develop this project with ILoveCut, and it earned me a Rocket Award and a Silver Award at PromaxBDA World Gold in 2011 as Best Program Campaign.
Please scroll below to watch the subtitled version.
Genre: Factual-entertainment.
Full credits available on my Vimeo page.
In my career first as Copywriter and later as Creative Director, I had to write and develop a large number of branded entertainment short-formats. “Hyundai XPossible XPerience” for Discovery Communications Southern Europe and "Campari" for Fox International Channels are among the best which I had the chance to create.
“Hyundai XPossible XPerience” is Dmax Channel’s first ever Branded Content, conceived and written by me, developed and produced by Jumpcut Media. As Southern European Creative Supervisor for factual channels, I was in charge of all branded entertainment activities of the ad sales business unit at Discovery Communications. “Hyundai XPossible XPerience” is a low budget short-format consisting of four episodes, it develops and interacts with the public via a custom-built web site. On the interactive website, viewers have access to behind the scenes and unedited footage and can cast their vote to decide which final adventure the two protagonists will embark on.
Campari and Fox partnered together to produce one of the very first co-branded commercials that Italy had ever seen. The commercial aired during a TV marathon that gathered together the best magic-themed TV series, giving the viewer advice on how to make the perfect drink recipe, adding the magic of Campari.
Curiosity is a series that premiered internationally on the Discovery Channels. Each episode focuses on one question with regards to science, technology, and sociology, like "Why is Sex Fun?", "How Will the World End?" or "Alien Invasion: Are We Ready?". As Creative Supervisor, I needed to come up with 4 teaser campaign ideas and no show footage available.
The Discovery in-house creative team, which I had the pleasure to guide, delivered this original 3D piece of work collaborating with motion design studio Nerdo Collective.
Full list of credits available on my Vimeo.
"Nat Geo Music Earth Day" is a big music event championed by National Geographic. The concert was held in Italy, aired live on the Nat Geo Music Channel and streamed worldwide on nationalgeographichannel.com. The creative campaign brought 400,000 people onto the streets of Rome and millions of viewers watched the concert on air on Nat Geo Music Italy and online worldwide.
As the writer-producer responsible for the Nat Geo Music network promotion, I created, wrote and coordinated the integrated creative campaign that saw big World Music performers, such as Ben Harper & Relentless7, NNeka and Bibi Tanga, live on stage.
The creative campaign got a Gold Award at PromaxBDA Global Excellence and several nominations at the New York Festival in 2009.
Genre: Live event.
Here's a list of commercials I wrote and supervised during my 10+ years in this industry. Each of them remind me of the pleasure it was to work with fantastic creative teams, the weird encounters I had on set, and the everlasting friendship I developed with some of the people I worked with.
Full credits available on my Vimeo page.
