Branded campaigns
You have already paid for the association.
Most sponsorships get signed and then go quiet. The rights are bought, the logo goes on, and nothing is made that anyone would choose to watch. The association exists on paper and almost nowhere else, which is an expensive way to own something.
Sport audiences are expert and defensive. They discount anything that looks like advertising within seconds, and they can tell the difference between a brand that turned up and a brand that was genuinely there. What survives that is a real story with the brand inside it, not a brand message with a sport backdrop.
The other thing nobody prices in at signature is what happens afterwards. A campaign stops the day the contract does. A film about something that actually happened keeps being watched and sent long after the rights have moved on.
How we do it
Harry spent over ten years building commercial partnerships in elite sport, so the conversation starts with what the deal is for rather than with a shot list. We work out what the brand can honestly claim to be part of, and then we go and film that. The background is on our story.
We shoot small and we shoot real. Nothing staged that an audience will smell, no stock, and no imagery that did not come off our own cameras. If the brand is genuinely in the room, that is the film. If it is not, we will tell you before you spend anything.
What you get
One film that carries the argument, and short cuts built from the same shoot for social and for the brand's own channels. Something you can put in front of a board to justify the renewal, and something an audience will watch by choice.
Branded films, answered
4 answeredHow is this different from an advert?
An advert asks for attention. A film earns it by being about something that actually happened. The brand is inside the story rather than stuck on the front of it, which is the only version a sport audience does not immediately discount.
Do you work with the athlete as well as the brand?
Usually, and it is better when we do. The athlete and the sponsor are generally after the same thing: a story that outlives the results and the contract term. Getting both in the room early is what stops a film becoming a compromise between two briefs.
What if a film is not the right answer?
We will say so. If the association is thin, or there is nothing genuine to film yet, a film will not fix it and will cost you to find that out. Tell us about the partnership and we will tell you honestly whether there is a film in it.
What happens to the film when the sponsorship ends?
It keeps working, which is the argument for making one. A campaign stops the day the contract does. A story about something real is still being watched and sent long after the rights have moved on, and that afterlife is rarely priced in at signature.