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Chris Cullari is a writer/director based out of Los Angeles. His most recent film, THE AVIARY, is available for streaming on Paramount Plus and Showtime. You can find him tweeting about monsters, pro-wrestling, and horror movies.
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On June 6th, 2023, the AICP Awards kick off three days of AICP shows in NY that celebrate the best work in the commercial world. Not only do these three ceremonies - the AICP Awards, AICP Next Awards, and AICP Post Awards - honor the artists in our industry, but also they act as an archive to preserve the work for future generations.
At Wrapbook, we’re thrilled to be partners with AICP for this year’s event and doubly excited for our clients who have been nominated in advance of this year’s AICP show.
These awards, chosen by the Association of Independent Commercial Producers (AICP),
“Honor the art of the commercial, recognizing all moving parts of commercial-making.”
The show is judged by over 400 advertising and production professionals, making the winners a true representation of the best the industry has to offer.
And that’s not all the AICP Awards do. The show serves as an ongoing archival project, with its honorees being preserved in the MoMA for future generations to study and admire.
Because we have so many partners with multiple appearances in this year’s nominations, we’re going to organize this list by spot, with nominations for each ad listed below the video.
Kicking things off is Wrapbook client SMUGGLER and their work on the hilarious, “Twilight Zone” influenced “Singularity” ads SMUGGLER created for Squarespace. This campaign consisted of two ads (one aired during the Super Bowl, the other as “Behind the Scenes” online) as well as an experience tied to Squarespace’s “Singularity” website.
The flagship spot has been nominated for the following AICP Awards:
Because “The Singularity” represents a perfect blend of celebrity, tone, and hook, its appearance in this category is well deserved. Adam Driver’s droll tone that treats Squarespace’s potential with the weight of a God like being is the cherry on top.
The outstanding neo-retro design of the “Singularity” ad for Squarespace makes the ad immediately engaging. It sets the product in a space beyond “just another website” and into a world adjacent to the worlds of Christopher Nolan. The humor crackles, but the grounded design of the ad makes the entire piece feel elevated and elegant.
It comes as no surprise that SMUGGLER and Cinematographer Khalid Mohtaseb’s superlative work on the “Singularity” ad would get an additional nod at AICP Week. Somehow classic and futuristic all at the same time, the style of this spot stands out as much online as it did the night it first aired during the Super Bowl.
This “behind the scenes” spot tied to the flagship spot also received two nominations of its own.
For as perfectly cast as Adam Driver is in the main spot, he’s even better playing against himself in the “behind the scenes” spot Smuggler produced for Squarespace. It’s impossible to choose which ad works better, hence both the original and the BTS being nominated for the top prize.
As if one Adam Driver isn’t enough to steal the show, this “behind the scenes” of SMUGGLER’s “Singularity” spot finds a whole studio worth of Adams hanging out and interacting. It’s a technical feat, sure, but the reason it’s being nominated for in the Performance category is how many variations of himself Adam gets to play.
If the AICP Show awards Adam the win here, can we get a whole movie of this?
SMUGGLER could also take a prize at AICP Week for their work on the clever and whimsical “Data Auction” spot for Apple. It imagines the sale of customer data as an actual auction attended by all manner of ne’er do wells looking to buy a young woman’s data.
Of course, her iPhone puts a stop to that.
“Data Auction” has been nominated for the following AICP Awards:
Nothing like having to compete against yourself - which is exactly the situation SMUGGLER finds themselves in here. Either spot is deserving of the top prize, and we wish them luck, whichever way the results pan out.
The visual style of SMUGGLER’s “Data Auction” spot makes a striking impression. Somewhere between “Harry Potter” and Wes Anderson, this ad is a quirky, charming trip through a fantasy world of wealthy data dealers. The look of the piece is so specific that it’s easy to imagine an entire movie made with this aesthetic.
SMUGGLER’s “Data Auction” spot wouldn’t be half as whimsical without nominated director Ivan Zachariáš’ attention to colorful detail and clever manifestations of data. This well-deserved nomination underlines the importance of a director’s vision, even when working with an already intriguing concept.
SMUGGLER also teamed with Upwork to create a stylish and hysterical campaign about the death of traditional work. It encourages businesses to use Upwork’s tools to reinvent the idea of what work can be. The fact that it does this through a musical number and bone-dry humor (sorry!) is just a bonus.
This ad was nominated for two awards:
This campaign also includes the spots “Speed” and “Nepotism.”
It’s no surprise that SMUGGLER is getting a nod at 2023’s AICP Show for the humor on display in their Upwork campaign. It’s a fever dream of mid-century production design and cutting edge comedy. Filled with singing and dancing, stodgy boardrooms ripe for reinvention, and a rotting corpse ready to help work kick the bucket (so to speak), it will be well deserved if the AICP Show awards our clients the top prize in this category.
SMUGGLER’S fourth appearance in the AICP Show awards nominations comes courtesy of their work for Allianz. Nominated for “Advertising Excellence - Campaign” and featuring Christoph Waltz, these short spots illustrate a series of investing tips in strange and charming vignettes such as the one below.
This campaign also features the spots “Start Early” and “Diversify.”
SMUGGLER lands this nomination for a campaign that illustrates the dangers and difficulties of being a teenage girl on social media. The “Cause” award is given to work that is more than just eye popping, exciting, and funny. It’s reserved for pieces like “Toxic Influence;” ads designed to illustrate the ways that brands are shaping the world around them for the better.
The “Toxic Influence” campaign brings mothers and daughters together to scroll through social media before using advanced AI tech to put the toxic advice they find into the mouths of the mothers themselves. It’s an unsettling and powerful ad that hits home for anyone with a child.
SMUGGLER also is nominated in the Performance category for Charles Hunter as Perry, Rae’l Ba as Bridgett, and Tsalta Baptiste as Dorian in the true story of George Perry Floyd and his sister. The performances feel lived in and heartfelt well before the twist reveals that the characters we’re watching on screen are real people.
We hope the AICP Show awards these touching performances with a win.
SMUGGLER pulls down one more nomination in the “Performance” category of the AICP show awards - this time for the charming work of Lewis Griffin and Rosa Escoda in “A Christmas Love Story” for the UK’s National Lottery.
It takes a lot of talent to convey a love story in three minutes. Luckily, Lewis and Rosa - along with director Tom Hooper - are up for the task.
This slice of awe-inspiring sci-fi finds a trio of friends encountering a strange, tentacled creature on their way home from a movie. But the creature doesn’t want to hurt them… It wants to dance? Play? The interpretation is left up to the viewer.
Riff Raff’s work is nominated in the following categories:
With a style befitting a major science fiction film, this ad could end up taking home the top prize. Most striking is the creature at the center of the piece; truly strange, unknowable, a sentient sculpture like nothing we’ve ever seen.
Riff Raff Film’s showstopper for Burberry makes another appearance - this time for Megaforce’s outstanding direction. The spot’s sleek, nighttime look, combined with the otherworldly creature and the lights emanating from its…feet?...arms?...results in a visual treat that makes the Burberry products look great.
Mounting a production of this scope is like mounting a mini Marvel movie, complete with heroes and monsters. The entire team deserves this nomination for their hard work and ingenuity.
Wrapbook clients Object and Animal collaborated with Nike to build a campaign around the way Air Force Ones have been embraced by different dance cultures the world over - from Memphis, to Tokyo, to Soweto, South Africa.
Their work resulted in a well deserved “Advertising Excellence - Campaign” nomination.
Object & Animal find also find themselves nominated in the “Cause” category for a spot that highlights the difficulty of working while undergoing cancer treatments. While many people fear to tell their bosses about their diagnosis for fear that they will suffer consequences, this ad encourages the viewer to pledge to abolish stigma and insecurity at work for those with cancer.
Though the spot itself is brief, Kamaya Jones gets her own Michael Jordan moment in Object & Animal’s ad for Jordans. She makes the most of her time on screen and leaves a searing impression.
Wrapbook clients Happy Place scored a “Humor” nomination for their collaboration with Tyler The Creator’s fashion brand, GOLF le FLEUR*. In this spot directed by Tyler himself, a cop finds himself facing off with a particularly stubborn driver - a woman who refuses to do anything that might mess up her nails. It features Tyler’s unmistakable style and sense of humor, giving the rest of the spots in this category a run for their money.
Our clients at Riff Raff get another nod - this time for a much sillier spot than their Burberry ad. For Samsung, Riff Raff take us on a trippy journey through a neighborhood of awesome as a father and son find all the ways that Samsung’s new Galaxy phones can make their lives awesome.
Video is currently not available.
The piece that goes for the biggest belly laughs is this short and sweet spot from our clients at Goondocks. Tricking your kids into eating vegetables has never been this funny!
For the first music video nomination on this list, Wrapbook clients Freenjoy collaborated with pgLang/project3 and Red Productions to bring this Kendrick Lamar video to life. It’s loaded with gorgeous black and white photography and surreal imagery to accompany Kendrick’s spectacular flow.
Meanwhile, Wrapbook client Field Trip Media produced one of the most boundary pushing videos of the year - the violent, sexy “Crazy” by rising artist Doechii.
Happy Place bounces from the comedy of Tyler The Creator’s le FLEUR* ads to the gritty world of A$AP Rocky’s “D.M.B.” video. If there’s one thing we love about our clients, it’s how comfortable they are working across a complete spectrum of genres and styles.
Wrapbook client Untold Studios delivers fantastic, flowing locks of hair and nuanced expressions on the face of a cow on the ride of his or her life. The lively character work on display more than earns its VFX nomination.
The AICP Next Awards are the second set of awards presented during AICP week. These prizes are given to outstanding work that effectively utilize new technologies and work that finds new modes and models for storytelling.
We’re happy to announce that a number of our clients are nominated in this day’s show as well.
Kicking off the noms is a familiar spot from the previous list: SMUGGLER’S “Singularity” campaign. It makes a repeat appearance with two additional nominations.
More than just an ad, this multi-nominated campaign for Squarespace is an introduction to an entire experience that can be found here. Not only can users watch the spots, but also they can explore all corners of the Singularity as envisioned by Squarespace.
Finally, “The Singularity” gets one last AICP Next Award nomination for the way the campaign is integrated across both television, web, and socials to create vibrant, modern brand awareness.
SMUGGLER gets another nomination at the AICP Next Awards for “A Christmas Love Story,” which previously received a Performance nomination for its two stars, Lewis Griffin and Rosa Escoda.
Here, it shines in the Branded Content category for how cleverly it integrates a National Lottery ticket into the story of two star-crossed lovers at Christmas.
SMUGGLER’s third nomination in AICP Next Awards is for the richly stylized “A Hero’s Journey with Jalen Ramsey” for GUCCI x GQ.
This spot finds Jalen Ramsey interviewing himself and telling his story, from his youth in Smyrna, Tennessee, to the heights of the NFL - all while dressed head to toe in Gucci.
And finally, SMUGGLER is nominated again for its “Toxic Influence” Dove spot. Much like its nomination in the first wave of AICP Awards, its appearance in the AICP Next Awards is due to its powerful, purpose driven message that exposes the dangers of social media.
The daringly named Liars and Thieves! score a stand out nomination in this category for their hour long film, “The Scale of Hope.”
This branded content was made in collaboration with Patagonia and shines a spotlight on former White House climate advisor Molly Kawahata. She shares her recollections of the Obama White House, her struggles with her mental health, and her views on how to create a positive response to the climate crisis.
Congratulations to Wrapbook client Hornet for their nomination collaborating with Spotify’s in-house team to create “Wrapped On Platform Experience,” a breakdown of what data Spotify Wrapped illustrated in 2022.
Video is currently not available.
Hornet is nominated for their work on Spotify’s “Wrapped On Platform Experience” in this category as well.
Our client ArtClass Content gets the nod for this category for their innovative use of (possibly AI animated?) animation to illustrate how communities come together to help each other in times of need.
The AICP Post Awards go to outstanding post production work in a given year.
Prizes for AICP Post Awards are given to artists and engineers across fields as diverse as sound mixing, compositing, cinematics, color grading, character design, and more.
This category of the AICP Post Awards represents outstanding achievement in docu-style post production. We have two clients nominated this year. First, Liars and Thieves! score another nomination here for the post-production on their hour long documentary “The Scale of Hope.”
Greenpoint Pictures makes their first appearance in the nominees list for their post-production on New York Presbyterian’s “Peter” spot. This gripping spot tells the story of Peter Killinger, a firefighter who found out he was suffering heart failure at a local hospital before being raced to New York Presbyterian hospital.
The regional editors of Greenpoint Pictures nab their second nomination for their work on the true story of Peter Killinger and the doctors at New York Presbyterian who saved his life.
See video above.
We weren’t surprised to see this spot turn up in the AICP Post Awards nominations. The charm and detail in Untold Studios’ bovine creation deserves as many awards as it can get.
We only have one client represented in this category: the team at Ways & Means, who brilliantly cut together “The Story of Netflix” using only existing footage. It’s a crafty and clever look at one of the most game changing companies of the past quarter century and the nomination is well deserved.
While we’ll have to wait and see who wins at the AICP Show in NY on June 6th, 7th, and 8th, we want to offer our congratulations to all of the nominees one more time. Wrapbook is proud of the community of artists we support and honored to be able to be a part of their business.
For more on how Wrapbook has helped some of our commercial partners, be sure to take a look at our case studies with GhostRobot and Mekanism.
