Work · Proof
Arroz Con Pollo
A creative studio where brand strategy, editorial work and production could develop together.
From 2019 to 2022, I co-founded and worked through Arroz Con Pollo with Nabil Nadifi. The studio brought strategy and production together for cultural, commercial and institutional work: Diptyk’s brand and digital transformation, Audi × Diptyk’s Driven By Art, OCP art-patronage films and an interview series for the Francophonie across 48 countries.
- Relationship
- Co-founder
- Role
- Co-founder
- Period
- 2019 – 2022
- Where
- Morocco · remote production across the Francophonie
- With
- Arroz Con Pollo
- Attribution
- Arroz Con Pollo (co-founded studio)
Building a creative studio
Nabil Nadifi and I co-founded Arroz Con Pollo in 2019. It gave us a setting in which strategy, editorial work and production could stay connected as a project developed. I left the studio in 2022.
Nabil carried project leadership, direction and production. My work covered strategy, marketing and digital content. Zahra Sebti designed Diptyk’s print direction; Simo Bakrim contributed podcast editing, filming and editing. The studio’s work grew through these complementary contributions.
Brand strategy put into practice
Diptyk’s CIO contacted the studio directly in October 2019 for a complete overhaul of the Moroccan contemporary-art magazine’s digital strategy and marketing communications. I led Brand Strategy & Implementation, working with Nabil and the team on the system from print to digital.
Zahra designed the new print direction from issue 52. Issue 53/54 was made available online during COVID. We created, recorded, produced and distributed the Diptyk podcast, hosted by co-founder, publisher and editor-in-chief Meryem Sebti, with editing by Simo.
The studio wrote, created and produced all of Diptyk’s social-platform content between October 2019 and August 2020. The Instagram strategy and its implementation led to @diptykmagazine’s selection in The New York Times’ Five Art Accounts to Follow on Instagram Now on 12 August 2020.
From editorial work to partnerships
The relationship grew into partnerships and activations across six seasons, including the 1-54 Contemporary African Art Fair in Marrakech and Driven By Art, the brand programme and 360° content campaign we produced for Audi and Diptyk.
In July 2020, with Diptyk, the studio produced two mini-documentaries on Mohamed Melehi and Chaïbia for OCP’s art patronage, with Nabil and me on creative direction and production. The magazine relationship had become a platform for cultural and commercial collaboration.
An idea developed for an institution
In 2020, OIF needed community management for a COVID-related project. I also conceived an interview series and sold it to the institution through Damien Van Achter: 66 entrepreneurs across 48 Francophonie countries, working on awareness or solutions related to COVID.
I conducted the remote interviews and carried the writing, direction and editing. Produced through the studio as published video capsules, the series connected an editorial idea with international institutional delivery.
What I take forward
The studio period brought brand decisions close to production, and let sustained client relationships grow into new kinds of work.
People
- Nabil Nadifi
- · Co-founder; project lead, creative direction and production
- Zahra Sebti
- · Print graphic design, Diptyk
- Simo Bakrim
- · Podcast editing, Diptyk; filming and editing
Sources
Related work
- DiptykThrough Arroz Con Pollo, I led the brand strategy and implementation that transformed Diptyk’s digital presence and led to its New York Times recognition.
- Audi × Diptyk · Driven by ArtBrand programming, content and live campaign
- OIF · Solidarité COVIDSpecial project manager: community management, and creator, interviewer, writer, director and editor of the interview series
- OCP · 1 Œuvre, 1 HistoireCreative direction and production, with Nabil Nadifi