Mauro Alencar joins AKQA as creative leader!

[pApA SmerF01]

yet another nice piece of info from teamxbox.com:

AKQA announced today that Mauro Alencar has joined AKQA as Creative Director and will be leading AKQA's creative efforts for the Microsoft Xbox business. A client for the past four years, Xbox recently assigned AKQA with the global interactive marketing duties for the Xbox 360 brand as well as launching all first party titles for Microsoft Games Studios and Xbox's online console gaming service, Xbox Live.

This latest Xbox assignment comes on the heels of two recent high profile projects from AKQA: the global launch of Halo 2 and development of the Xbox 360 user interface, the latter being a 16-month project from start to finish.

Alencar began his career in the creative industry in Sao Paulo, Brazil at DM9DDB, J. Walter Thompson and AgenciaClick, Brazil's leading interactive agency.

It was at AgenciaClick where Alencar joined forces with PJ Pereira, now AKQA's Executive Creative Director, San Francisco, who most recently served as Jury President of the 2005 Cannes Cyber Lions.

Prior to joining AKQA, Alencar was the Executive Creative Director at Blast Radius, in Vancouver, BC. There he developed web sites, mobile interfaces, Interactive TV, films, print and interactive advertising campaigns for clients such as Nike, Nintendo, DIRECTV, Heineken, BMW Canada, and Electronic Arts.

"Mauro is part of a new breed of creative professional who was born of the digital revolution, much like Xbox's target," said Tom Bedecarre, CEO of AKQA. "He is an avid gamer who can provide an authentic brand experience yet he is able to connect to a broader digital entertainment audience."

Alencar's award-wining creative has earned him top honors at The One Show, Clios, London International Advertising Festival and the Cannes International Advertising Festival, including the Grand Prix Cyber Lion. In 2002, he was named one of the Top Five Interactive Creatives by the German Institute for Idea Management.

"Mauro has had the opportunity to define brand and web presence strategies for some of the world's top brands," said Pereira. "I'm thrilled that he has decided to join AKQA to develop inspiring creative work by exploring all the possibilities that take advantage of all medias."

AKQA will create online campaigns for the full lineup of holiday games titles for the new Xbox 360 system, including Perfect Dark Zero, Project Gotham Racing 3 and Kameo: Elements of Power. Additionally, AKQA has launched the official site for Xbox 360 and is developing an in-store kiosk that will allow gamers to demo the new entertainment system prior to its release.