ABC Arts Channel: The Faintest Clasp

Credits & Description:

Title: The Scimitars Arc, Artbreaks
Agency: Marcel Sydney
Brand: Abc
Country: Australia
Advertising Agency: Marcel Sydney, Walsh Bay
Entrant Company: Marcel Sydney, Walsh Bay
Media Agency: Marcel Sydney, Walsh Bay
Pr Agency: Marcel Sydney, Walsh Bay
Production Company: Heckler, Sydney
Additional Company: Heckler, Sydney
Design Agency: Heckler, Sydney
Post Production Producer: Aborah Buick (Heckler)
Actor: John Waters (Na)
Creative: Simon Harsent (The Pool Collective)
Creative Chairman/Founder: David Nobay (Marcel Sydney)
N/A: Ashley Barron (Na)
Head Of Production: Holly Alexander (Marcel Sydney)
Editor: Andrew Holmes (Heckler)
Composer: Lindsay Jehan (Song Zu Singapore)
Strategy:
Our audience is defined by two very distinct characteristics that meant our strategy had to be creatively very bold:1) As existing consumers of the ABC platform, they already clearly relish and value the lack of paid advertising they are confronted with on the ABC (unlike Australia's other TV channels).2) As either professional or aspiring artists, they don't think highly of commercial advertising, as it represents the antithesis of genuine art. It's structured, formulated, tested and invariably cliched. Our strategy was to "do rather than say"...in other words, prove our empathy for The Arts with real action, rather than empty promises. True art is about courage. And taking risks. With #artbreaks, we took both of these values and pushed them to the limit, by relinquishing all control of the creative process.
Execution:
Once we had created the 8 art breaks films (they range in length between 1 and 3 minutes long), we created our own artbreaks online ABC channel within the main iView Arts platform.The series was launched on April 1st, 2016.As our audience is very mobile globally and the iView platform is geo-locked to Australia, we also created art breaks.com.au as a site that could be instantly uploaded globally and shared on all social platforms.
Campaign Description:
We wrote 8 original poems around topics as provocative as DEATH, SEX, DRUGS, HUNTING, POVERTY, DROWNING, LOVE AND INDIGENOUS RIGHTS.Then we did something quite extraordinary as marketers...we let go!The 8 poems were sent to a broad group of highly respected Australian actors, musicians and filmmakers, who were then given the opportunity to artistically interpret them as they saw fit. No defined deadlines. No budgets. No client briefings. The agency wasn't even present at the pre-pro or shoot and edit. The idea was to prove the artistic integrity of the ABC by leaving Australian artists free to improvise and interpret our words in their own craft.
Synopsis:
The ABC is traditionally very strong in the areas of politics, drama and travel, but increasingly are creating innovative programming in the Arts category. We were commissioned by Mandy Chang, Head of Arts for the ABC to both inspire and enhance the channels standing amongst the contemporary Arts community in Australia, which encompasses a broad church of graphics designers, independent filmmakers, artists, writers, poets and sculptures, to name just a few. The objective was to define the ABC Arts Channel as a genuine "kindred spirit" of the arts community, who has empathy for the unique, often chaotic and spontaneous process that is so natural to authentic artists.
Outcome:
Given the project was only just launched, we don't yet have any hard data on viewership, however...Given the core intent of the project was to notify and impress the broad, famously eclectic arts community in Australia on the stronger presence of Arts within the ABC product, the immediate response and debate created by the artbreaks launch across a diverse body of media outlets...from the country's most respected national newspaper THE AUSTRALIAN, to fashion mags like GQ, international production industry sites like SHOTS and Independent Film Magazine and arts bodies like the Sydney Writer's Festival all collectively suggest that we have achieved our goals.As a sign of the excitement the project has created, 6 further art breaks films are already in pre-production and a national student art breaks workshop is being planned in conjunction with the D&AD.