NEWSFounders Of Empowering Art Brand Ikonick Seek 'To Break The Traditional Agency Model' With Launch Of Open Residency
After more than a decade of collaborating with high-profile brands and inspiring people through art, Ikonick co-founders and friends Jeff Cole and Mark Mastrandrea are branching out and launching a brand new creative agency: Open Residency.
Open Residency will deliver groundbreaking campaigns and design work that will change the game when it comes to brand partnership deals with the help of the proven successful Ikonick in-house creative team — a group of world-renowned artists hand selected by Cole.
Cole, known to his 750K Instagram followers simply as @cole, has established a cult following by taking his creative eye and collaborating with iconic brands such as NBA, Hasbro, Nike, Jordan, Adidas and others to create viral and visually stunning campaigns.
His one-of-a-kind works of art have caught the eyes of some of our favorite celebs, including Lebron James, J Balvin, Lewis Hamilton and singer Chris Brown.
“It’s time to break the traditional agency model. Now more than ever, creativity needs to live at the forefront of brand campaigns to win over the hearts and minds of consumers,” Cole said in a statement. “We’re living in a digital age and from first-hand experience building our own brand, we know that marrying creativity with the overall business strategy is key to success.”
Mastrandrea added: “Open Residency is a passion project for us, it’s a natural extension of the work we already do behind the scenes with Ikonick. We receive frequent inbound inquiries from brands and individuals looking for creative guidance, advice and support. We’re bringing together best in class artists and digital marketers to build an unmatched creative hub that blue chip brands and individuals can trust to execute campaigns at the highest level. We’re excited to represent brands that fight our ethos and vision of storytelling above all.”
The Open Residency artist management roster at launch includes Israeli-born 3D artist and 21st-century sculptor Gal Yosef (@galyosef) and award-winning Disney Animation artist Alex Alvarado (@babygotbackhead).
Open Residency looks to disrupt everything we know about marketing and creative design by providing innovative services to brands, including: 3D animation, NFT design and distribution, motion graphics, video editing and visual effects, concept creation, art directing and storyboarding.
Their experience in creating engaging and shareable moments on social media will guide brands through strategic social development to help them connect with consumers in a new-age digital world.
