VIVA LOS MOTO!

When Motorola reintroduced the Razr flip-phone in 2019 after a brief detour into smartphones, the brand shed relationships with the behemoth legacy agencies that previously promoted their mobile products (McCann, Leo Burnett, BBDO and Ogilvy) and began partnering with the small, lesser-known independent creative studio LOS YORK. Their partnership has since blossomed into a new kind of agency relationship that provides end-to-end services for Motorola from strategy through execution. This close-hold modern creative partnership has been dubbed internally by LOS YORKers as LOS MOTO.

That collaboration has resulted in “Flip the Script,” one of Motorola’s highest profile global campaigns in decades, featuring full CG product films of Motorola’s razr and razr+, social films, photography, poster art and the :60 live-action film "Saltare In Giro," which you can see here on Adland Motorola razr+ "Jump Around" 1:00 (2023)

A brilliant team of artists and creatives joined forces for this global launch from the United States, Uruguay, London, Munich, Brazil, Hungary. The team included celebrity choreographer (and “So You Think You Can Dance” contestant) Noelle Marsh to develop the dance sequences for the film. The protagonist is Italian-born Adriano Bettinelli. His modern, fluid dance style, and unignorable personality made him the perfect choice to anchor the film. Styling was the vision of Anne Marie Hoang, whose projects include styling for Rihanna’s iconic Super Bowl LVII halftime show. Award-winning Hungarian-born cinematographer Marcel Rév ("Euphoria," "The Idol") helped bring the film to life with his mastery of light and color. Directorial responsibilities sat on the shoulders of award-winning filmmaker Courtney Phillps (London Alley), who brought his kinetic approach to filmmaking to the campaign.

Following this campaign launch, LOS YORK solidified the relationship with Motorola by hiring the globally renowned creative director Kevin Cabuli as the shop’s new CD who is now anchoring the Motorola account. Over the past decade, Kevin has created some beautiful, breakthrough, award-winning work.

LOS MOTO is a milestone in the historic right-sizing of Madison Avenue that began with the rise of “hybrid” shops that could bypass the big-agency holding company models, which had become positively lethargic next to clients’ needs for increasing quick outcomes to keep pace with fast-moving consumers. While many of these new hybrid connections resulted in exceptional short-term project work, LOS MOTO has matured into a long-term alliance and the next closest thing to the once-prized now-demised AOR or Agency Of Record relationship.

“The industry has come a long way over the past five to ten years with clients moving from big agencies to fast moving, creative-forward, production-central relationships,” says Los York Executive Creative Director Scott Hidinger. “We have a seat at the table with this massive global brand, influencing strategy, creative direction and design. It is an evolved way of working that works for Motorola and us, and proof of concept is the six successful years of our partnership.”