AKQA Parts Ways with Creative Director Simone Nobili

AKQA confirmed this week that creative director Simone Nobili is no longer with the agency. According to his LinkedIn page, he is currently working as a freelance creative director/copywriter.

Nobili joined AKQA as a creative director last August and has focused on the agency’s Activision (Black Ops III and Infinite Warfare) and Levi Strauss & Co. accounts.

Before joining AKQA he spent a little over a year as a creative director with Cutwater, also in in San Francisco, working across all accounts including Google, Georgia Pacific, Ubisoft and Luxottica. That followed around two and a half years as a creative director with San Diego agency Vitro, working with brands including Toyo Tires, ASICS and Taylor Guitars.

Nobili began his career in Europe, making the leap across the pond to join TBWAChiatDay L.A. as a CD in November of 2008 after holding the same position in the London office and spending two years as a senior copywriter at Jung von Matt in Hamburg. He also worked as a CD at Digitas New York and Amirati, where he worked on brands including Kawasaki Motorcycles, Autumn Games and Marvel vs. Capcom.

An AKQA spokesperson declined to comment on the reasons for the split. We hear that Nobili had been working with the agency as a non-billable staffer after leaving the Levi’s team.

ASICS Prepares Us For ‘What’s Next’

Over the past few years, VITRO’s work for ASICS has been consistently high-quality, doing a remarkable job of depicting products’ ability to allow athletes achieve the impossible but not quite the unbelievable. I’m talking, of course, of popular spots that feature athletes out-running arrows and kind of walking on water, which I would link here but I know you’ve seen them hundreds of times already.

Because of this history, a new spot, “What’s Next” is a bit surprising. There’s nothing superhuman or jaw-dropping here. Just some good ol’ fashioned working out. In a note from VITRO, they mention that the spot was “shot in three days, in two countries, 4 parks, 3 gyms and an Italian restaurant, using 3 Olympians (Bryan Clay, Andy Potts & Ms. Lolo Jones) 12 elite US athletes in all — a hurdler, shot putter, javeliner, golfer, tennis star, triathlete, decathlete, pole vaulter, and track star. Cool Stuff: Our creative director wrote the lyrics for the song which provides the backbone of the piece.” Even more cool stuff: “Javeliner” is apparently a word. Try to use it in a sentence sometime this weekend!

While “What’s Next” certainly looks beautiful, and is very well directed (by some dude named “Xander”), it doesn’t exactly employ an execution brand new to the area of sports apparel. Perhaps as a results of heavy marketing, ASICS feels it doesn’t need to be different to stand out, having gained that brand recognition of the last few years. In short: It’s great, but not the groundbreaking work we’ve come to expect. Credits after the jump.

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