Creative Director & Artist.
Saks Afridi is an art-based Creative Director and multi-disciplinary artist with 17 years of both US and global experience. He's the proud recipient of 2 Gold Cannes Lions, 3 D&AD, 2 One Show pencils and a UN award for peace and understanding, in 2015.
His last full-time position in advertising was as a Group Creative Director at Merkley + Partners. He oversaw the marketing for Daimler-Benz Smart Car, Ferrero's Tic Tac, Nutella and Ferrero Rocher, as well as Mitchells Restaurant Group. He was also responsible for several campaigns for Mercedes-Benz. During his time at Merkley, he helped pitch and win Dave & Busters, Zonnic, Smart Car and Preen.
Prior to Merkley, Saks was a Creative Director at TBWA\RAAD in Dubai. He headed the regional creative work for Nissan Motors, Mars Foods, Axiom Telecom and MTV.
Prior to TBWA, Saks co-founded and ran GreenSoap Design, a digital design firm in San Francisco. Saks works seamlessly between digital and traditional advertising and sees no difference between the two, as ideas are at the core of everything, regardless of platform.
He has lived in several places around the world, including Dubai, South Africa, Sri-Lanka, Saudi Arabia, Pakistan, San Francisco and finally, New York City. He speaks English, Arabic, Urdu, Hindi and Pashto. A random fact about him. He once studied Hair and Make Up at the Paul Mitchell Institute.
Saks is a multi-disciplinary artist. His main mediums are sculpture, installations and digital media. He is one-half of the artist duo BOLO (bolo-art.com).
His work has been featured in The New York Times, The Guardian, Vice, Huffington Post, Al Jazeera, CNN, Mashable, Buzzfeed, Upworthy and The Colbert Report.
Art Exhibitions:
Children's Museum of Manhattan (Fall 2015)
Museum Boijmans Van Beuningen, Netherlands
Tate Modern, BP Art Exchange
Phyllis Harriman Mason Gallery, New York City
Dumbo Art Festival, SAWCC
Miami Art Basel, The Fridge Art Fair
The Society of Domestic Museology
Advertising/Design Recognitions:
United Nations Award for Peace & Understanding
D&AD
Cannes Lions
The One Show
Art Directors Club
Communication Arts Typography Annual
Communication Arts Advertising Annual
Communication Arts Design Annual
Clio Awards
New York Festivals
Dubai Lynx Awards
OBIES
The Loerie Awards