Creative agnecy JohnXHannes New York’s Super Bowl commercial for Squarespace starring John Malkovich has won the 2017 Emmy Award for outstanding commercial at the creative arts Emmy Awards this weekend.
Australian expat John McKelvey co-founder and executive creative director of JohnXHannes New York, along with creative partner Hannes Ciatti, co-founder and executive creative director, won an Emmy Sunday evening in Los Angeles, California. The pair met whilst working in Sydney and achieved global recognition since working together in New York.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YjzYaLxplbw
The Super Bowl film was one of their agency’s first projects for Squarespace. Their previous work at Droga5 for US apparel maker Under Armour was a viral sensation featuring Misty Copeland and Gisele Bündchen which won a Cannes Lions Grand Prix and was honored by United Nations Women, the UN organisation dedicated to gender equality and the empowerment of women.
The Emmy winning commercial “Calling JohnMalkovich.com” aired during Super Bowl LI and featured the actor-turned-designer setting up a website to launch his fashion brand. The world got to enjoy John Malkovich calling another John Malkovich to ask for his domain back.
Commenting on the win, McKelvey said: “We are honored to have our work recognized by the National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences. We wanted to cut through over-the-top Super Bowl films with simplicity – an intimate, relatable moment of panic when you realise your own name as a domain is gone.”
Added Ciatti: “Our creative industry is evolving and the lines between entertainment and commercials have blurred. We founded JohnXHannes to further explore these new ways of creative thinking. The Emmy Awards are a great showcase for this and to win one in our first year for the John Malkovich Squarespace campaign is a good sign that we’re heading in the right direction.”
The Super Bowl commercial was part of Squarespace’s “Make Your Next Move” campaign, a multi-spot TV and digital series about the Oscar nominee’s transition to fashion designer. The actor, who began his career as a costume designer, launched his first menswear line at JohnMalkovich.com in January of this year.
The campaign by JohnXHannes was created with production partner Smuggler and director Miles Jay. The campaign has been honored with awards at the Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity, The Webby Awards, The Clios and The AICP Show.
