CHRISTIAN FONTANA CCO - CW
Let's talk business first.
I’m a Brazilian with Italian passport / citizenship and Swedish ancestry (some sort of tropical smörgasbord-eating Luigi?) who started this ad thing in São Paulo back in 2001 - yeah, it’s been one hell of a Kubrick’s odyssey: from junior copywriter to Creative Director, then Executive Creative Director, CCO of former BBH Brazil’s partner brand new agency, Vice-President Creative Director and now, a Freelance Independent Creative.
Throughout my 20-year tenure in the Ad World, I have consistently worked at the big network agencies with the big clients: Ogilvy, Leo Burnett, VMLY&R, Thompson, Africa (DDB) and DPZ (Publicis). The brands? Coca-Cola, Fiat, Ford, Honda, Visa, Ab Inbev Beers, Unilever, Procter & Gamble, Johnson & Johnson, Microsoft, Vivo-Telefonica Mobile, Bic, Danone, Itaipava Beer, Natura, Bradesco (bank), BB Seguros (insurance) and many others. I can’t really remember a business segment that I have not yet worked with. I know I may look young despite having 20 years of experience under my belt, but that photo over there is the real deal. (If I were to shave my trimmed beard off, I could easily pass for a college frat boy – probably why I choose to keep it.)
Even though I've been in various creative leadership positions like CD, ECD, VP, and CCO, what I’m actually pretty proud of is that all the recognitions my work got from awards and festivals came when I was simply copywriting. Just me and my partner art director. No hiding behind other people’s work. No “safety in numbers”. Because let’s be honest here: it's way tougher to rack up Lions and trophies when you're not the big boss, commanding an army of thirty-something creatives melting their brains down for you. All their achievements become your own. However, as a copywriter, all you have is your partner AD. No one else will save your back.
So here comes that famous list of accomplishments. In my case, as already mentioned, solely as a copywriter. This makes me one of the most awarded Brazilian copywriters of my generation.
All awards below won only as a copywriter:
-World’s 2nd most awarded Copywriter (Cannes Report 2014).
-Gunn Report’s 2nd most awarded campaign ("All Guns Blazing" 2014 - Bentley Burial).
-Top 3 in Gunn Report’s "Cases For Creativity 2014" (campaigns that won Gold both in Cannes and in the Effie Awards, attesting their creativity and efficiency - Bentley Burial).
-Cannes Lions: 21 Lions. Gold, Silver and Bronze in Film, Outdoor, Cyber, Media, Direct, Press, Radio, Promo & Activation, Design, Creative Effectiveness and Health Lions. Shortlist in PR.
-Clio: 2 Golds (one in Content & Contact, sort of a Clio "Titanium"), 1 silver and 4 Bronzes.
-D&AD: 3 Graphite Pencils, 2 Yellow Pencil Nominations and 1 Wood Pencil.
-One Show: 1 Silver, 1 Bronze and 11 Merits.
-Effie Awards: Grand Effie (Grand Prix), 1 Gold and 1 Silver.
-London Festival: 2 Golds.
-#1 in Archive’s copywriter’s ranking (2014).
-Facebook Studio: Gold.
-Art Directors Club NY: Silver in Film.
-El Ojo de Iberoamerica: Gran Ojo (Grand Prix) and 5 Golds.
-FIAP: Grand Prix, 2 Golds and 2 Silvers.
-Wave Festival: Blue Wave (the Grand Prix of all the other GPs).
-And also: Young Guns, NY Festivals etc.
Now we can get personal.
I’m happily married with three kids. The oldest is a 7 year-old boy, and I hope we didn’t traumatize him when he stopped being the only child with the arrival of two (TWO!) siblings at the same time: a now 4 year-old little girl and her twin brother.
I live diversity under my own roof everyday, not only gender diversity, but also neuro diversity. Our beautiful youngest little boy is an autistic who loves music.
Talking about music, that cutie little fella got it from his dad:
I’m the songwriter-drummer-singer for the infamous
punk rock band Dead Clones.