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Category
Long Form Video / Single
Annual ID
OS23_BE058M
About the Work
For people from multiple cultures, they often get asked the question - “where are you really from?”. Society pressures you to choose one.
WhatsApp, the connector for billions of diasporas worldwide, wanted to turn having to choose between cultures into a celebration of cross-cultural identity. And needed a hero to represent this huge community for the first time.
Like so many, Giannis stood between two cultures…Greek and Nigerian. And the world chose his identity for him - nicknaming him “The Greek Freak” from the moment he entered the NBA.
Just like it was time for Giannis to take control of his own narrative, it was a transitional moment for WhatsApp to grow as a brand from a platform that 2 billion people use, but don’t think deeply or emotionally about, into a brand that they love and associate with multi-cultural pride.
This required a deep, nuanced, and emotional sharing of Giannis’ story, a story that so many people around the world experience but one that had yet to be brought to life at a global scale. That story came together in a 12 minute short film titled Naija Odyssey. A Nigerian twist on the famous Greek journey where Giannis reconciled his roots, birthplace, and sense of belonging between cross-cultural worlds. The film premiered at the Metrograph Theater in New York City before releasing worldwide on Amazon Prime Video.
Thousands of people flooded the comments on social posts that promoted the film to share their own cross-cultural background, and to express their excitement that Giannis was getting in touch with both sides of his heritage. Altogether we saw 8M+ views on YouTube, 23M social media impressions, 244M organic impressions from film premiere alone, and $17M earned media value generated - all to the tune of 91% positive sentiment around Giannis Antetokounmpo and WhatsApp, unifying so many cross-cultural people under a shared message, that There’s No One Like Us.
2023 Awards
Total Points: 3
Merit
Credits
Agency
Translation
PR / Marketing Agency
LEDE / New York
Client / Brand
WhatsApp / New York
Production Company
Partizan / Los Angeles
Music / Sound Production Company
Heard City / New York
Walker / Brooklyn
Copywriter
Soham Chatterjee
Animator
Nicholas Principe
Chief Creative Officer
Jason Campbell
Chief Marketing Officer
Chaucer Barnes
Creative Director
Belén Márquez
Editor
J. Matthew Jacob
Group Creative Director
Alex Little
Karsten Jurkschat
Product Designer
John Dasta
Account Supervisor
Anthony Williams II
Associate Producer
Victoria Pita-Romero
Business Affairs Manager
Nick Sempertegui
Paul Rodarte
Chief Executive Officer
Steve Stoute
Senior Account Director
Jared Leake
Senior Art Director
Jon Krippahne
Senior Copywriter
Patrick French
Strategy Director
Rex Nwerem
Visual Effects
Mathematic / Paris
Account executive
Katelyne Maroney
Assistant Account Executive
Jonathan Castaneda
Associate General Counsel, Brands & Marketing Legal
Varty Hindoyan
Chief strategy Officer
Sandi Preston
Color
Company 3 / London
Context Planner
Raven Heinz-Garcia
Creative Director, Design
Veit Moeller
Director of Business Affairs
Librado Sanchez
Director of Global Brand Strategy & Integrated Marketing
Vivian Odior
Director of Project Management
Matthew DeSimone
Editorial
Rock Paper Scissors / New York
Group Account DIrector
Celeste Toffanello
Group Strategy Director
Geoff McHenry
Head of Client Services
Susanna Swartley
Head of Community & Culture
Helen Lawrence
Head of Consumer Marketing, Whatsapp, Instagram and Facebook:
Eshan Ponnadurai
Head of Creative
Rodrigo Moran
Head Of Design
Jason Nuttall
Head of Engagement Planning
Joel Rodriguez
Head of Integrated Production
Alison Hill
Manager of Brand & Integrated Marketing
Ghada Soufan
Music and Sound Design, Original Score
Paulo Gallo
Music Licensing
Melissa MacMaster
Paralegal, Brands & Marketing Legal
Kendyll Flanagan
President
Ann Wool
Producer, Brand & Integrated Marketing
Vida Habibi
Senior Context Planner
Alex Glaum
SENIOR PRODUCER
Ava Rant
Senior Project Management
Michael Gonzalez
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