When Alessandro Michele was named creative director of Gucci, the brand wanted to create buzz around his debut pre-Fall collection and communicate his vision, which blurs the lines between ancient and modern, street and high-end.
The response: A four-part scripted video series, retelling the ancient Greek myth of Orpheus and Eurydice in modern-day New York City with a Gucci-clad cast, including French singer/actress (and daughter of Jane Birkin) Lou Doillon. Gia Coppola directed; Oscar-nominated costume designer Arianne Phillips was the stylist, Blood Orange did the music.
Videos ran on multiple Condé Nast properties, plus Gucci O&O. View goals were exceeded by 600%
In the 1960s the Lincoln Continental was synonymous with worldly sophistication. But 50 years later, when Lincoln decided to relaunch the vehicle, its name had become antiquated, and its Europe-focused notion of internationalism seemed limited.
The response: To redefine “Continental” (the car and the concept) a four-part video and article series was created, featuring talents whose international travels (India, Spain, Colombia) influence their work at home in the U.S. Each talent was the subject of one video and a Q+A (written by Hamish) in an appropriate Condé Nast magazine, accompanied by a visual reflection of their work (a cut-out recipe; hand-written music; location scouting photos).
Talents: Oscar winner Barry Jenkins, director of Moonlight; chef and author Seamus Mullen; textile designer John Robshaw; globe-trotting musician/producer Will “Quantic” Holland.
Directors: Common Good.
LIFEWTR, PepsiCo’s first foray into the premium water market, is more art water than smart water. LIFEWTR’s stated mission is to support the arts and creativity: every three months, a different trio of emerging artists design the bottle labels.
The output: To help launch the brand, over 20 videos (for series 1-5) telling each artist’s story, showing their creative process and amplifying LIFEWTR’s mission. Videos were shot on location in New Orleans, Rio, London, Toronto, Los Angeles and other cities. LIFEWTR was the most successful product launch in PepsiCo’s history, and senior executives cited the video series as a key factor in its success.
Directors: RubberBand, Bon Duke, Jimmy Goldblum.
Chanel’s J12 watch was iconic in the ’90s, and the brand wanted to make it relevant for a new generation of young women around the world.
The output: when it comes to the J12 consumer, Chanel says that “time does not control her – she controls time.” In that spirit (and considering the popularity of comics among multiple age groups in Asia, a key market), we came up with and wrote the initial story for a film-noir influenced graphic novel, “Stealing Time.” It featured a diverse cast of self-possessed women engaged in a complex heist. Their antagonist is an NYPD detective who is trying to solve the crime before he runs out of time and loses his career.
“Stealing Time” was translated into ten languages (from French to Thai) and launched simultaneously on the websites of multiple international editions of Vogue around the world.
Script: Elizabeth Wood (writer/director of the acclaimed film White Girl), Artist: Rafael Grampá (Batman, X-Men, DC Comics, Marvel).
Excerpts below. Full graphic novel here.
H&M asked for some playful social videos. to show the versatility of their Spring collection,
The output: A series of movement-driven “splitscreen” videos showing different approaches to Spring which ran on the websites of Glamour and Vogue.
Director: Emma Tempest.
Part of a 12-month campaign, The Year Of The Unexpected, to highlight the Chevy Malibu’s unexpected greatness. (Industry awards for Chevy: many. Members of the public who know about them: not so many).
The output: Multiple article series in magazines ranging from Vanity Fair to Glamour and a video series (an episode of which is here) featuring various musicians’ superfans unexpectedly meeting their idols and joining them for a “sound test” listening session in a Chevy Malibu.
