Dawit N.M. Debuts Creative Studio ABABA, Linking Ethiopian Talent to the US

Director Dawit N.M., known for helming Charlie Puth’s music video "Mother" and working with brands like Curry Brand and Under Armour, has launched a creative studio for creators, ABABA. The name is a reference to Adis Ababa, the Ethiopian capital where Dawit was born. Raised in the ‘States, Dawit sees the launch of ABABA as a pipeline between producers and creators in the US and his homeland. “Our goal is to bring creatives from Ethiopia and other countries into the production and post arena with global taste, execution, and scale,” he notes.

ABABA will offer full suite post production, motion design, and animation. Following Dawit's most notable recent projects – like helping Genre.ai CEO PJ Accetturo deliver a Popeyes AI music video, and creating a hand-drawn digital animation film for David Killian's new talent agency, Wilding. “We’re a content studio with a global team that works producers to generate content that’s easier to make and better to watch,” Dawit notes, “designed to build multi-format content across film and social campaigns, animation and motion design and music-led pieces and sound-forward storytelling.”

ABABA will provide users with more hands-on, around-the-clock assistance than current advertising and production workflow models allow, Dawit adds. Its model will allow it to partner with producer or creator-led to execute their visions for brands, operating on a novel monthly subscription basis to encourage consistent collaboration at a moment’s notice.

The studio will also assist clients in fulfilling production and post services in Ethiopia and neighboring countries, whose pool of top creative talents often go underutilized, thereby finding opportunities for local creatives to develop their skills in advertising. “At ABABA, we’re focused on something bigger: helping agencies and production partners protect taste and move faster, without losing the thread,” Dawit says.