Madheart Signs Director Jonas Arnby and Viral Media Specialist The Brainstormclub

Madheart, Los Angeles, has signed internationally acclaimed commercial director Jonas Arnby for exclusive representation in the United States. The company will also serve as the U.S. representative for The Brainstormclub, the Munich-based creative collective, (co-founded by Arnby) whose ingenious and hugely popular viral ads have sparked controversy and racked up top advertising awards across Europe.

The moves are part of a new effort by Madheart, which also represents director Jan Gleie, to grow its creative roster and ramp up its sales effort. The company plans to add more directing talent shortly and has appointed Catherine De Angelis as head of sales. De Angelis will also serve as Madheart’s sales representative in the Midwest, through her company Hot Betty.
Arnby is a Danish-born, British-educated filmmaker who has worked with top agencies across Europe and the United States for such brands as Sprite, Harley-Davidson, Peugeot, Quiksilver, TDC Mobile and McDonald’s. He is the recipient of numerous awards for his advertising work, including Clio, Cyber Lion, Creative Circle and Mobius awards. He has also directed several short films and music videos, and will direct his first feature next year.
“Jonas has a wonderful touch for comedy, and his work continues to impress and get better,” says Madheart executive producer Lisa Phillips. “The opportunity to also represent The Brainstormclub is a huge bonus. They have a special genius for guerilla marketing and can be a tremendous resource for brands that are looking for fresh, innovative creative thinking.”
The Brainstormclub is a collective of young filmmakers, advertising creatives, designers and artists that was founded in 2007 by Arnby, managing director Yves Peitzner, creative producer Hondo Raktkovic, and sales director Dalibor Tomasevic. Its work, for such brands as Sony Ericsson, BMW, Beck`s and HBO, primarily consists of viral ads and other viral media, but it has also produced environmental advertising, broadcast commercials, music videos and even fine art installations.
The Brainstormclub won a Bronze Lion at the 2010 Cannes International Advertising Festival for a viral BMW ad in which a motorcycle is used to pull the cloth off a long table set with elegant dinnerware. Last month, the same ad took top honors at the Gold Award of Montreux for Best Use of Viral Media.
“We believe that advertising in its present form will be less and less effective as the public changes its media usage habits,” explains Peitzner. “We are convinced that viral marketing, or rather contagious, branded entertainment, is the future.”
The group sees great potential for its particular brand of irreverent, provocative guerilla marketing in the United States. “It’s an interesting opportunity to introduce our business model,” Peitzner said. “We aren’t a film production company or an ad agency in the traditional sense so we can be very flexible. We see many possibilities for working with agencies, or clients directly.”
Madheart is based in Los Angeles. For further information, call 213.995.4555 or visit www.madheart.com. The company is represented on the West Coast by Lisa Gimenez Toliver (lisa@lisareps.com), Hot Betty in the Midwest (cat@hot-betty.com) and Dana Dubay on the East Coast (dana@dubay.tv).