Client: Marshall
Creative Agency: In-house creative team at Marshall Headphones
Production Company: DED
Creative Director: A.M. Sekora
Director: Kevin Castanheira
Producers: Harvey Ascott, Mark O'Sullivan
Line Producer: Mikey Levelle
DOP: Todd Martin
Editor: Stephen Dunne, Ten Three
Framestore
VFX Shoot Supervision: Chris Redding
Creative Director: Jordi Barés
VFX Lead: Chris Redding
Compositors: Tri Do, Christian Baker
CG Supervisor: Mathias Cadyck
CG FX: Mario Bailón, Jaime Justo
Online: Katie Rhodes
VFX Producer: Sophie Harrison
CG Coordinator: Emma Hughes
Colourist: Simon Bourne
Sound Designer: Dave Cooper, Scramble Soho
Dubbing Mixer: Ollie Usher, Scramble Soho
Published: September 2018
Synopsis:
Experience The Power of Voice Campaign.
Marshall Headphones is putting its impeccable rock’n’roll credentials front and centre of a new advertising campaign to promote the launch of two speakers at the centre of Marshall’s partnership with Amazon Alexa.
The campaign was created in house by Marshall, with the vital sound element devised by Scramble Soho. In it, a young man opens his front door and says ‘Alexa, play “Easy”’. The focus then switches not to a traditional voice-activated Alexa device but to a speaker that has the unmistakable design of a Marshall amp. Things start to get interesting when the man then says ‘Alexa, turn it up’.
Marshall worked with American director Kevin Castanheira to film the campaign, which was produced through DED and shot in multiple locations in Lithuania. Castanheira has worked for brands such as Huawei, PayPal and George Clooney’s Casamingo tequila.
The campaign supports two new speakers – the Stanmore II and Acton II – which were unveiled on 30 August 30. The Stanmore II Voice with Amazon Alexa goes on sale in the US on 2 October with other markets to follow.
The new campaign, which is the first joint initiative between Amazon Alexa and Marshall Headphones, consists of a 45-second online video, with 30”, 15” and 10” cut downs, as well as social content.
A.M. Sekora, Creative Director at Marshall Headphones, said: “Products as gorgeous and covetable as the Stanmore II and Acton II deserve a campaign that really launches them in style. We really loved the idea we came up with and to see how Kevin, DED and Scramble Soho brought our idea to life has been a very satisfying experience.”
Dave Cooper, Sound Designer from Scramble Soho, said: “As people who are fanatically interested in sound it was a bit of a dream come to true to get to work with the team from Marshall Headphones and I put everything into making sure the sound design for this film fulfilled all their creative expectations and then some.”
Framestore was proud to partner with British heritage brand Marshall and newly formed production company DED, on a campaign whose sequences pack the punch of the company’s iconic amplification. Building on the special qualities of live action shot on film, with a sharp edit and artful VFX, the work pays homage to existing brand creative with just a little extra volume.
The film is written by Kevin Castanheira and Marshall Headphones Creative Director A.M. Sekora. Sekora collaborated closely with the team throughout prep, shoot and post. His stewardship as brand guardian allowed all to push the project to its ultimate success.
Directed by Kevin Castanheira under DED, two music lovers are propelled to the heart of the party by their Alexa-controlled Marshall speakers. Framestore was on hand on the shoot, assisting in decisions as to where practical in-camera shots and digital replacement walls would be put to best use. This carefully crafted approach ensured enough of the live action realism shone through the film, whilst hero VFX shots - namely the biggest smashes through walls - gave Marshall the big, bold impact it was looking for.
An advanced combination of Houdini VFX and deep compositing, alongside the Eddy plugin for Nuke, gave the VFX destruction shots their fine level of craft; Eddy also giving Framestore’s 2D artists creative licence to make faster, and more organic, iterations of simulated dust and particles, lending to the overall detail and finish of the piece. In the grade, the filmic format was fully embraced, with colours and tone making reference to movies of the late ‘70s, such as Taxi Driver, to build an overall cinematic feel.
The result proved harmonious, testament to the strong creative relationships between client, director and production teams. Working side-by-side with Marshall, Framestore was able to tap directly into the brand’s essence to add further fuel to its impressive history.