Category: Best use of brand sponsorship integration (where there is no product overtly displayed in the film, show, event etc. but it is aligned to a brand message)
Advertiser: STEELCASE
Product/Service: STEELCASE
Agency: FUTURISTIC FILMS
Agency: GENESIS
Director: Daniel Junge (Futuristic Films)
Executive Producer: Graham Button (Genesis)
Director Of Photography: Luke Geissbuhler
Editor: Davis Coombe (Milkhaus)
Line Producer: Sarah Liles (Futuristic Films)
Line Producer: Saloni Shah (Genesis)
Co-Producer: Davis Coombe (Milkhaus)
Co-Producer: Rachel Rosengarten (Futuristic Films)
Co-Producer: Catherine Yrisarri (Futuristic Films)
Creative Director: Adanta Arietta (Genesis)
Executive Producer: Georgia Everse (Genesis)
Consulting Producer: John Hockenberry
Media placement: Film - Online/film festivals/conferences - April 10, 2011
Campaign Description
Branded entertainment is an emerging medium in the United States. Agencies and producers are increasingly distributing content through alternative channels, utilising product placement, event sponsorship and webisodes. Despite a slowing economy, branded entertainment has continued to prosper and constitute a significant faction of advertising revenue.
One Day premiered at the 2012 TED Conference in Long Beach, CA, which took place from Feb. 27 and March 2. The film also screened at the Denver Women + Film Voices Film Festival in Denver, CO March 7, 2012. One Day is featured on Steelcase’s website as well as YouTube. As the film was distributed via conference and film festival, it was not subject to TV, broadcasting, or governmental regulation.
Effectiveness
Steelcase is celebrating its 100th birthday in 2012. Although Steelcase got its start as just another metal bender in the American Midwest, it has since become a company of global innovation. To celebrate its centennial, the company partnered with Genesis as well as Futuristic Films and its Academy Award-winning documentary filmmaker Daniel Junge to create the short film ‘One Day’.
The film explores dreams of the future, as envisioned by those who will lead the world of tomorrow: today’s 10-year-olds. In spring 2011, Junge and crew travelled from the US to Mexico, Germany, South Africa, India and China, searching for children with the most eager and enthusiastic visions of the future. After interviewing 100 children, 6 were chosen for the film. Their imaginative and candid thoughts spanned intelligent architecture, sustainable energy, agriculture, medicine, industry, entertainment, and transportation. The challenge was to find articulate and adept children who can think visually and express their ideas graphically.
The strategy was to unveil and exhibit human promise through these youthful visions with the goal of encouraging world leaders to engage in a meaningful conversation about the future. Steelcase used this opportunity to reposition itself as a thought leader and innovation company whose mission is to unlock human promise through design. Although Steelcase began as an industrial-age office manufacturer, it now works as a thought leader in design workspace and human collaboration.
Implementation
Audiences were drawn to One Day’s young stars and their inventive views of the world. Their perspectives are unexpected, untarnished, unfiltered, insightful, candid, and startlingly relevant. The animation of their artwork provides an integral visual component, conveying their concepts just as they had visualised. These visuals, which emerge unexpectedly at times, keep audiences engaged throughout the film. A particularly memorable moment is a sequence in which one of the children envisions buildings that can respond to their environments, hovering above the ground in the event of a flood and spraying water in the event of a fire.
Outcome
In the first month after the video’s publication on Steelcase’s website, the site garnered visitors from more than 126 different countries. It received 72,000 page views, 22,000 unique visitors, and more than 5,300 shares. The film is currently in its film festival distribution run.