Meagan Cignoli
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{{Infobox person
| name = Meagan Cignoli
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| birth_place = Suffolk County, New York
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| occupation = {{hlist|Photographer|filmmaker|businessperson}}
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| known_for = Creative director of Visual Country
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| website = {{URL|visualcountry.com/}}
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Meagan Cignoli is an American photographer, filmmaker, and businessperson who is the founder and creative director of Visual Country, a video production agency. Cignoli was a Vine personality, accumulating around 750,000 followers before the platform was shut down. She was known for her stop-motion videos, and created ad campaigns in that style for brands like Lowe's, GE, and eBay.
Early life and education
Cignoli was born{{cite news | last=Padilla Dalmau| first=Camille| title =How Meagan Cignoli Became the Queen of Branded Vines| work =Contently| date =November 13, 2014 | url =https://contently.com/2014/11/13/how-meagan-cignoli-became-the-queen-of-branded-vines/| access-date =June 28, 2019}} and raised in Suffolk County, New York. When she turned 18, she started traveling around the world to locales like Thailand and India.{{citation needed|date=January 2021}} In 1999, she moved to New York City to study fashion design at the Fashion Institute of Technology. She studied photography at the School of Visual Arts and the International Center of Photography. She later studied fine arts at Polimoda in Italy and Spanish at the University of Havana in Cuba. After a year in Cuba, she began studying French.{{cite news | title =This Is What the American Dream Looks Like Now| work =The Cut| date =September 20, 2016 | url =https://www.thecut.com/2016/09/this-is-what-the-american-dream-looks-like-now-c-v-r.html| access-date =June 28, 2019}}
Career
Cignoli began her career as a freelance photographer,{{cite news | last=Dreyfuss| first=Jeremy| title =This woman was a genius at stop-motion Vine videos, so she turned her hobby into a business| work =Business Insider| date =October 26, 2015 | url =https://www.businessinsider.com/meagan-cignoli-stop-motion-vines-2015-10| access-date =April 25, 2019}} working in fashion, advertising, and portraiture.{{cite news | last=Biddle| first=Sam| title =This Person Earns $400 Per Second Making Vine Ads| work =Gawker| date =July 22, 2013 | url =http://valleywag.gawker.com/this-person-earns-400-per-second-making-vine-ads-871395624| access-date =April 25, 2019}} She first gained a following largely through her stop-motion videos on the six-second video-hosting platform, Vine, in early 2013.{{citation needed|date=January 2021}} Two of her videos were finalists in the "#6secfilms Vine contest" at the Tribeca Film Festival that year.{{cite news | last=Zmuda| first=Natalie| title =Lowe's Embraces Six-Second Vine Videos for Spring Campaign| work =Advertising Age| date =May 2, 2013 | url =https://adage.com/article/digital/lowe-s-embraces-vine-videos-spring-campaign/241246| access-date =April 25, 2019}} One of her first prominent projects came in May 2013 when she partnered with BBDO and Lowe's on the latter's "Fix in Six" ad campaign on Vine. The campaign featured a series of stop-motion videos depicting six-second home improvement tips. Cignoli also became involved with marketing aspects of numerous other brands, including Nike, HBO, BMW, YSL, and others.{{cite news | last=Pathak| first=Shareen| title =These Vine Celebs Made $10,000 in Six Seconds on Their Mobile Phones| work =Advertising Age| date =August 26, 2013 | url =https://adage.com/article/digital/vine-users-team-brands-talent-agency/243773| access-date =April 25, 2019}} The Lowe's project earned Cignoli numerous awards including a Bronze Cyber Lion at the Cannes Film Festival{{cite news | last=Gianatasio| first=David| title =10 Visual Artists Who Are Changing the Way We See Advertising, and the World| work =Adweek| date =July 19, 2015 | url =https://www.adweek.com/brand-marketing/10-visual-artists-who-are-changing-way-we-see-advertising-and-world-165988/| access-date =April 25, 2019}} and a Silver Clio.{{cite news | last=Nudd| first=Tim| title =Ad of the Day: Lowe's Rolls Out 8 More Charming and Useful 'Fix in Six' Vines| work =Adweek| date =November 3, 2014 | url =https://www.adweek.com/brand-marketing/ad-day-lowes-back-more-charming-and-useful-fix-six-vines-161174/| access-date =April 25, 2019}}
In 2014,{{cite magazine | last=Honan| first=Mat| title =The Woman Behind Vine's Most Incredible Animated Dreamscapes| magazine =Wired| date =July 22, 2014 | url =https://www.wired.com/2014/07/meagan-cignoli-vine-videos/| access-date =April 25, 2019}} she co-founded her own video production agency, Visual Country, with partner Amber Lee.{{cite news | last=Tselentis| first=Jason| title =Social Media and Video: an Interview with Visual Country| work =How Design| date =January 17, 2019 | url =https://www.howdesign.com/design-firm/design-firms-to-watch/social-media-and-video-an-interview-with-visual-country/| access-date =April 25, 2019}} The company focuses primarily on short-form video marketing on platforms like Vine, Instagram, Snapchat, and YouTube.{{cite news | last=Popken| first=Ben| title ='Vine Stars' Say They'll Outlive the Death of The Platform| publisher =NBC News| date =October 27, 2016 | url =https://www.nbcnews.com/business/consumer/vine-stars-say-they-ll-outlive-death-their-platform-n674096| access-date =April 25, 2019}} At the time of Vine's shuttering the following year, she had nearly 750,000.{{cite news | last=Rogers| first=Katie| title =5 Vine Stars Share Why They Loved, and Outgrew, Platform| newspaper = The New York Times| date =October 28, 2016 | url =https://www.nytimes.com/2016/10/29/technology/5-vine-stars-share-why-they-loved-and-outgrew-platform.html| access-date =April 25, 2019}} In November 2016, Cignoli produced a film about the history of millinery entitled The Milliner in conjunction with Visual Country and the Savannah College of Art and Design FASH Museum of Fashion and Film.{{cite news | last=Ramshaw| first=Emily| title =Visual Country is Winning the Social Media Marketing Game| work =Coveteur| date =November 9, 2016 | url =http://coveteur.com/2016/11/09/visual-country-founders-interview-social-media/| access-date =April 25, 2019}}
In 2017, Cignoli again worked with BBDO and Lowe's on an Instagram campaign.{{cite news | last=Nudd| first=Tim| title =Lowe's Hacked Instagram Stories With Fun Microvideos of DIY Jobs in Tiny Vertical Rooms| work =Adweek| date =September 7, 2017 | url =https://www.adweek.com/creativity/lowes-hacked-instagram-stories-with-fun-microvideos-of-diy-jobs-in-tiny-vertical-rooms/| access-date =April 25, 2019}} Over the course of the following years, she also oversaw hundreds of other projects in her role as creative director at Visual Country, including campaigns for Google, Twitter, and Coca-Cola.{{cite news | last=Begley Bloom| first=Laura| title =The 27 Most Beautiful Beaches in the World| work =Forbes| date =June 28, 2017 | url =https://www.forbes.com/sites/laurabegleybloom/2017/06/28/the-27-most-beautiful-beaches-in-the-world/| access-date =April 25, 2019}}
References
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External links
- [https://visualcountry.com/ Visual Country official website]
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Category:Year of birth missing (living people)
Category:American photographers
Category:Filmmakers from New York (state)
Category:Fashion Institute of Technology alumni