Icon for Grom was a highly disputed Pitch. Just as everybody else we are very curious to see the winning Solution! Until that will be possible, lets learn more about mxone the Creator who managed to impress the rigorous client.

What was the key success factor of his Solution, where did he find inspiration, did he ask for feedback, did he complain in the Comments section :) All these and many other interesting details will be revealed!

Let’s get to know Massimo!

BootB: Who’s behind the mxone username?
mxone: Ok, not a hard question! My name is Massimo and I’m Italian pretty obvious from my name I guess :) I am a 31 years old director with a degree in Industrial Design. At the end of my studies I did an internship in the TV Production Department of McCann Erickson it was a life changing experience. I fell in love at first sight with what was going to be my job further on it happened as soon as I put my foot on a film set. With time I have learned editing and compositing by adding firsthand experience to my studies.

Thanks to this set of skills, some time ago I won the Jury prize in the Robbie Williams Competition for filming and post producing The 80s, a Rudebox Short. At the end of 2007 I founded Pandua, my own production company. On certain design projects I use to work closely with MIDEA, a design and architecture studio.

When and why did you decide to participate to the Pitch signed by Grom?
I found the Grom Pitch more or less a week before its deadline. Reading the Brief and its update I felt really inspired. Above all I liked the references they gave - Mura Mura land and the lake, the world they were suggesting and their philosophy in general. Then I discovered they had a shop nearby my house, which gave me a very important reason to participate!




According to you, what triggered the success of your Solution?
The Brief itself was quite illuminating to me, especially the update provided after the prolongation. I think the key success factor was that I gave a good interpretation to the Brief I read between the lines and guessed their creative needs pretty well.

How many Solutions did you submit in total?
I published only one solution twice! The first time I made a mess when uploading the PDF file :) Funny thing is that I published my Solution just a few hours before the deadline I wasnt even sure I succeeded.

You said you found the brief quite inspiring. Was there anything else stimulating your creativity?
Indeed, the brief gave me the main creative direction. Then I spent two days trying to develop graphically the icon one that could resume the whole brief. The next step was discussing and sketching the idea together with the guys in MIDEA. That proved to be an extremely useful experience as thanks to them I had flashes that helped me solve Groms challenge.

What do you think about the evolution of the Grom Pitch?
As in the offline professional world, it can happen that the Brand doesnt have a clear idea of what it expects, therefore the brief it gives may seem incomplete. Not receiving feedback is another frequent situation and there is not much to do about it. My approach is to do the best I can everytime, without complaining and avoiding polemics.

Speaking of Grom, I think they have provided legitimate information in the initial Brief. The additional instructions were very helpful. Probably they got a better idea of what they wanted at the end of the first term and they were not fully satisfied with the Solutions submitted till that date. The next obvious step was to ask for more Solutions giving ideas and sensations in THEIR language. Probably my Solution wasnt the best, but they found that it represented the Brand in the best way.

I read in the Comments section that many people are curious to see the winning Solution and I am sure there will be some not liking it. Fortunately for me, Grom did like it just as many others will this is absolutely normal!




What advice would you give to our Creators in terms of Pitch participation?
Firstly, never give up! I didnt participate in a lot of pitches but I understand that, when you dont win, the first feeling you try is that it was a waste of time. But that is wrong. If I think of all my rejected Solutions, Im actually proud of them and I see them as just another step in my working experience.

Secondly, read carefully what the Brand says, try to understand its needs and go the extra mile when working on the proposal. Again, one should keep in mind that while the Solution may be absolutely the best, for various reason it just doesnt fit 100% the Brands needs. Thats why studying the Brand itself might prove useful - just get as much info as you can starting with the website.

Thirdly, face a Pitch hoping to win but keeping your feet on the ground. Many other Creators will participate, so always remember that you might not win. When that happens - take it easy!

Last but not least, unleash your creativity!

We think this is absolutely great advice. By the way we’ve noticed you have your own business in the creative environment. Tell us more about pandua.com
Pandua is a small production company. Were mainly focusing on web video production, but last year we also had the opportunity to produce some TV commercials.

As soon as we can, we will invest in personal projects and we would like to improve in general web content production, not just videos. Our dream is Cinema, anyway.

Were aiming at bringing Pandua to the international market. Were looking to expand our creativity, to get into contact with many more production realities and to gain new interesting opportunities. For those of you interested to see some of our works, we invite them to visit pandua.com. Please keep an eye on us though as we are a bit lazy in updating it. By the way, next month we will post a lot of new stuff!

What do you with your free time?
I love to travel, to experience other cultures and visit wonderful places. Unfortunately its an expensive hobby, so I dont do it as often as I would like to! Im also interested in aviation and airplanes do you think its connected to my first passion?

I actually dont have a lot of free time, and when I do, if Im not watching TV (FlashForward and The Simpsons), I am checking out movie trailers, graphics, designs or I read news on the Internet. To be honest, most of my spare time is spent with my love!

Do you actually like ice-cream? Do you have a favorite flavor?
Hahaha! Nice question! I LOVE ice-cream! And I love the kind of ice-cream Grom makes. Actually the only industrial one I eat is Magnum - just because it really cracks when you bite it! My favorite flavor is chocolate, possibly dark with orange, but I also enjoy a lot all the particular ones like cookies and things like that!

It was a pleasure to discover mxone: ice-cream lover running a small production company, enjoying travelling and dedicating most of his free time to his love.

Questions for him?