Final Frontier Debuts 'Forever Bold' Film at 2024 Clio Awards
The Shanghai office of production company Final Frontier has reached an inflection point. "We feel that we're at a decisive moment to bring everything we've been building and experimenting with around the world to the United States," says Gustavo Karam, co-founder and chief strategy officer.
The company debuted film "Forever Bold," created for the Clios, at the organization's annual awards gala last night in NYC.
Final Frontier 's Latin American founders saw potential for creativity in Shanghai and set up shop there in 2018. It also operates in Buenos Aires (HQ), Madrid and California.
"We began internationalizing 13 years ago when Skype was the only tool, and remote work was still daunting for many clients," says Karam. "At Le Cube (his previous venture), we learned how to collaborate with talents from all over the globe on projects anywhere. We learned that curation and systematic production were the ways of scaling creativity worldwide."
Recently, the company has ventured into entertainment, producing Disney's first 2D animation film in more than a decade. Final Frontier is also producing a new series, Common Side Effects for Mike Judge and Greenstreet Pictures for HBO and Adult Swim.
Muse chatted with Gus Karam, co-founder/director Ralph Karam and ECD Claus Cibils about working across the world and targeting the U.S. for expansion.
MUSE: Can you talk about your journey to creating “Forever Bold?”
RALPH KARAM: In this film, we reflect on the creative process and how it works for us, from the genesis of a raw stone with multiple possibilities and potentials to the final bold idea. The polished diamond that emerges from the raw rock—that was the concept behind our film for the Clio Awards, and it's also a very good visual and sensory metaphor for how our creative process unfolds. For us, designs are always the starting point, and that's what we bring to this year's Clio campaign—meaningful designs. In a world where beautiful images are easily attainable, we sometimes forget that it's not just about the image itself. It's about the process behind it, the process of making it, which is also part of the result.
What was the spark for the creative?
CLAUS CIBILS: Clios' "Forever Bold" permeates everything: it is about pushing for an idea to become a concept, a campaign, and transmuting it into something else, something greater. A multidisciplinary notion that calls for creatives to fight for their ideas, transform and develop them until they become "Forever Bold." This concept was born from the core fact that the Clio Awards are known for, once a year, becoming the place, the moment--a spotlight for creativity, its celebration, and inspiring collaboration towards a more significant, common goal. This drive resonated with Final Frontier — so we embraced the Clios' boldness by delivering a loud message, rich designs, and fearless animation for the campaign to speak volumes.
How did you land the Clios gig for 2024?
CLAUS CIBILS: 2023 was the year we officially opened Final Frontier in the U.S., so it was natural to find partners that have the same high standards in creativity as us. After so many years in the global creative industry, teaming up with the Clios to bring our craft to their powerful name and award was a natural progression.
What is it like working across the world—and specifically in New York for this event?
GUS KARAM: Working across the world has been part of what we have done since our first year, but NYC is always an exciting stage to be on. It's a city that we love and that has been part of our story since we started working in creativity. At the end of last year, we had the pleasure of being at Seventh Avenue and Third Street with a Naked Eye billboard featuring Little Simz for the Knu Stack campaign for Vans. Now we're back again at Gotham Hall with Clio.
