By Robert Goldrich
LOS ANGELES --Apple’s “The Greatest”–directed by Kim Gehrig of Somesuch–won the primetime commercial Emmy this evening (1/7) during the second of two Creative Arts Emmy Awards ceremonies held this weekend in the Peacock Theater at LA Live.
“The Greatest” features a cast of real people who are quite able even though they each have varied so-called “disabilities” impacting mobility, vision, hearing, cognition and so on. Thanks to different innovations from Apple, these people are able to deftly navigate everyday life. The film represents and depicts the physically/cognitively challenged community in a new positive light, showing how technology can help, providing different forms of accessibility and capabilities. The commercial’s track, “I am the Greatest,” used lyrics from the speeches of the legendary Muhammad Ali, who himself became an advocate for disability after developing Parkinson’s late in life. Australian choral group Spinifex sang the song which was remixed by one of the cast, Cola Boyy, a music artist and producer who opened Coachella in 2022. Jazz pianist Matthew Whitaker then improvised on top of this track, and the resulting collaboration was woven throughout the fabric of the film.
The Emmy is the latest major accolade won by “The Greatest.” In 2023 it earned the Advertising Excellence honor at the AICP Show while also coming up a winner in the categories of Direction, Performance and Licensed Soundtrack or Arrangement. “The Greatest”–for which Apple served as the creative agency–was also one of the spots which helped Gehrig win the DGA Award last year in the commercials category.
In the Emmy competition, “The Greatest” topped a field of nominated commercials which included three other Apple projects: “Call Me” with Timothee Chalamet for Apple TV+, directed by Tom Kuntz of MJZ for TBWAMedia Arts Lab; Airpods’ “Quiet the noise” helmed by the directing collective Megaforce via production company Iconoclast for TBWAMedia Arts Lab; and “R.I.P. Leon” directed by Andreas Nilsson of Biscuit Filmworks.
Rounding out the primetime commercial Emmy nominees were: Dove’s “Cost of Beauty” directed by Henry-Alex Rubin of SMUGGLER for Ogilvy London and Toronto; The Farmer’s Dog Super Bowl commercial, “Forever,” directed by Goh Iromoto of Sanctuary; and another Super Bowl ad, Squarespace’s “The Singularity” directed by Aoife McArdle of SMUGGLER.
Apple has found a place in the spot Emmy nominees’ circle for five consecutive years. And in four of those years, Apple has annually scored at least two Emmy nominations.
“The Greatest” joins two other Emmy-winning spots for Apple in years past–”Think Different” in 1998, and “Misunderstood” in 2014.
Apple, WWF, CeraVe, Sydney Opera House Among Those Having A Grand Time At CICLOPE
An awards ceremony last night (10/10) capped three days of CICLOPE in Berlin, marked by talks by notable speakers, collaborative Craft Sessions, and attendees making global connections.
Drawing nearly 1,700 entries, culled down to 370 finalists across 18 different countries, the competition saw judges award seven Grand Prix winners, 45 Gold, 51 Silver and 61 Bronze trophies.
Grand Prix winners were:
--Apple’s “Flock” directed by Ivan Zacharias of SMUGGLER for TBWAMedia Arts Lab, Los Angeles.
--WWF’s “Up In Smoke” directed by Yannis Konstantinidi via production company NOMINT.
--A$AP Rocky’s “Tailor Swif” from directors Vania & Muggia of production company Iconoclast.
--Spotify’s “Spreadbeats” directed by Maldita via production house The Youth for FCB NY.
--CeraVe’s “Michael CeraVe” from directorial duo Tim & Eric via production company PRETTYBIRD for WPP Onefluence team, led by Ogilvy PR North America.
--Sydney Opera House’s “Playit Safe” directed by Kim Gehrig via Revolver x Somesuch for agency The Monkeys.
--Gucci’s “Who is Sabato De Sarno? A Gucci Story” directed by Henry Joost & Ariel Schulman via Moxie Pictures.
Special Awards--Year’s Best
CICLOPE Special Awards went to:
Production Company of the Year: SMUGGLER
Director of the Year: Ivan Zacharias
Editing Company of the Year: Work Editorial
VFX Company of the Year: Electric Theatre Collective
Animation Company of the Year: Untold Studios
Sound Company of the Year: Barking Owl
Music Company of the Year: String & Tins
Agency of the Year: TBWAMedia Arts Lab
Brand of the Year:... Read More