“I worked with Joe on his first agency side job at Gardner Geary Coll and immediately saw he was incredibly intuitive, decisive and creative,” said Kaboom owner/EP Lauren Schwartz. “I’ve followed his career and admired his creativity since. He has a big ‘get it’ factor when it comes to serving agency needs and is a truly original thinker and ideas person, not to mention a good friend.”
“Bringing together people you trust to develop and create projects is what our industry is all about,” said Stevens. “When you add a long history and friendship into the equation, becoming a part of the kaboom family was an easy and welcome decision.”
Over the past 15 years Stevens has created and directed dozens of projects for MTV and collaborated with some of the world’s top advertising agencies, including Wieden+Kennedy Amsterdam, Publicis Mojo Melbourne, as well as BBDO and BBH in NY. His film Made In Queens, which was produced by MTV, profiles a teenage gang from Trinidad who blast 15,000 watts of music from enormous, homemade stereos jury-rigged onto rusty bmx bikes. Last year Newscorp commissioned Stevens to write and direct a series of documentary films celebrating contemporary subcultures. This ongoing body of work has become the Americana series on the iPad platform known as The Daily.
Stevens is also the brain trust behind the fictitious Manhattan Airport Foundation, a viral art project created to satirize urban development initiatives and draw public attention to the shortcomings of our air transportation infrastructure. It was tweeted repeatedly by David Pogue of the New York Times resulting in so many hits it crashed GoDaddy’s biggest server and generated significant conversation throughout the blogosphere, Twitter and Facebook.
His latest project, a collaboration with U.K. director Nicolas Randall, is a multiplatform experience brand merging film, music and gaming called Vandroid.
