video production Archives | Now We Collide

August 21, 2024

TikTok’s new Creative AI suite is set to blur the line between UGC and “AIGC”

We recently attended a webinar hosted by TikTok APAC, in which they introduced an upcoming suite of features called TikTok Sym phony. This is a new suite of AI-powered creative tools designed to simplify and enhance content creation on TikTok. There’s no shortage of interesting features included in the suite and in this article we want to shed light on some of the most exciting ones.

In TikTok’s own words, the Symphony suite of solutions aim to:

Level the creative playing field: Make content creation on TikTok accessible to all, regardless of creative maturity or resource availability.
Boost productivity: Supercharge productivity in content creation, making mass production, hyper-personalisation, and constant iteration a reality.
Uncover Insights: Identify cultural and industry trends as well as campaign learnings, enabling informed decision-making and creative strategy refinements.

The first big feature to take a look at is the Symphony Assistant. An AI-driven virtual assistant similar to the AI chatbots we’ve all already integrated into our day-to-day that helps marketers and creators brainstorm ideas, implement best practices, and optimise content for TikTok. This tool is guaranteed to be of help to brands trying to stay in the loop with what’s happening in the ever-changing landscape of TikTok.

Some examples of useful prompts here will be:

"Create a script for a new TikTok ad for my [industry] brand called [name], targeting [market] and [target audience]. Make sure to highlight these USPs in the script: [benefits].”
“Show me the top-performing TikTok ads in the [industry] industry right now."
“Show me the top-performing TikTok ads in the [industry] industry right now."
"Come up with TikTok ideas for my brand named [name], promoting [topic]."

The next big section of this new suite is the Symphony Creative Studio. Powered by generative AI technology, this is a tool that helps quickly generate TikTok-ready video content from minimal inputs, such as product URLs or existing assets. It includes features like global translation, AI-generated avatars and advanced editing tools. According to TikTok these features are designed to enhance and amplify human imagination.

The AI-Avatars feature stands out as one of the most impactful innovations within this suite, offering brands the ability to scale storytelling through UGC-style videos that feature lifelike avatars. These avatars, modelled after real actors who have been compensated and have consented to the use of their likeness, can effectively communicate key messages about your products or services. While this feature may give off some Black Mirror-esque vibes, it presents a valuable opportunity, particularly for smaller brands that may lack the resources or expertise to create UGC-style content, which consistently performs exceptionally well on TikTok.

Another interesting feature of the Symphony Creative Studio is the ability to seamlessly translate existing video content into other languages. TikTok will take your video and use generative AI to translate and dub it into the language of your choice. If you create a UGC-Style video in English that you’re particularly happy about, why not have it run in Italian, Tagalog and Finnish as well? Trialling products in new markets will be easier than ever. In the beginning, however, you should definitely make sure to check with a native speaker that the translation makes sense before putting your whole quarterly budget behind a new international campaign.

In a nutshell, TikTok Symphony is all about blending human creativity with AI smarts, making it easier than ever to create stellar content and connect with your audiences across TikTok. And honestly, we can't wait to dive in and try out these features ourselves!

At Now We Collide, we’ve been incorporating AI workflows, creative platforms and generative AI for over 2 years through our Collide AI division. This allows us to create fit-for-purpose workflows and content creation efficiencies, no matter the platform or the objectives. You can find out more about this in our recent post - Revolutionizing The Ad-Making Process: The Generative AI Approach.

Published by Keir Maher in News

Tags: advertising, content production, Content strategy, Mobile-First Video, social media, social media advertising, social media strategy, Video Content Marketing, video production

May 30, 2024

Can AI and Humans Be Friends?

As advertising and marketing undergoes a rapid transformation at an unprecedented pace, it is crucial to recognize the revolutionary power and impact of generative AI is having on our daily working lives. At Collide-AI, a division of Now We Collide, we are at the forefront of this revolution, harnessing the capabilities of AI to find new and exciting ways to deliver projects, while uncovering incredible efficiencies along the way. However, amidst the excitement surrounding AI, it is essential to acknowledge the irreplaceable role of human creativity and expertise in shaping the future of how we work.

In this new era of AI, ‘The Age of Intelligence’, I firmly believe that the success of our industry lies in the synergy between this advanced new technology and human ingenuity. While AI offers immense possibilities, it is the human touch that truly brings the magic to life. At Collide-AI, we have identified four critical human skills that are essential for thriving in this AI-driven world: critical thinking, emotional intelligence, ethics, and passion.

Critical thinking is a foundation upon which we build AI-powered campaigns. It allows us to analyse the vast amounts of information and outputs generated by AI, ensuring its accuracy, and to make strategic decisions based on the insights provided by the machine. Critical thinking allows humans to discern between valuable information and noise, ensuring that AI-generated content aligns with the desired objectives. This human discernment is crucial in navigating the complex landscape of AI-driven advertising, enabling us to create campaigns that are not only data and insights driven but also strategically sound.

Emotional intelligence is another vital human skill that sets us apart, providing critical human input. While AI can generate visually stunning and highly personalized content, it is the human understanding of emotions that truly connects with audiences on a deep level. Our team’s ability to empathize with the target audience, craft compelling narratives, and evoke powerful emotions is what transforms our AI-generated content into memorable and impactful experiences. By combining the efficiency of AI with the emotional depth of human creativity, we can create campaigns that forge lasting bonds between brands and consumers.

Ethics and responsibility are at the core of everything we do at Collide-AI. As we harness the power of AI, we are acutely aware of the potential risks and challenges that come with this technology. Our human judgment and moral compass ensure that we develop and deploy AI in a manner that is transparent, accountable, and aligned with our values. We should actively work to mitigate biases, protect user privacy, and promote inclusivity and diversity in the AI-generated content we create. By upholding ethical standards, we not only create a responsible approach to working with AI but also contribute to shaping the future of AI in our industry.

Passion is a driving force behind our work at Collide-AI. Our team’s dedication to pushing the boundaries of what is possible using LLMs fuels our innovation and sets us apart in the industry. Don’t be content with simply leveraging AI for efficiency; be passionate about exploring new ways to combine AI with human creativity to create truly groundbreaking concepts, strategies and outcomes. This passion is evident in every project we undertake, from meticulous attention to detail in our AI-augmented content, to the ongoing pursuit of delivering exceptional results for our clients.

Our recent collaboration with ESPN on the “Your Home For Hoops” campaign exemplifies the power of combining AI with human creativity. In our third year of the campaign, we set the ambitious goal of using Generative AI as the main creative, design, and animation pipeline. By leveraging generative AI, we aimed to create a unique visual style and experience that would captivate basketball fans and excite them about ESPN’s basketball offering.

The success of the campaign relied on the seamless fusion of artificial intelligence and human expertise. Led by Bob Connelly, Now We Collide’s Director of Generative AI, along with our in-house team of creatives, strategists, and technologists, we worked hand-in-hand with our very own AI diffusion pipeline, guiding its input data and generated outputs, to ensure that it aligned with ESPN’s brand identity, resonated with their target audience, and adhered to the quality standards we were after. The human touch was essential in refining the AI-generated content, injecting emotional depth, and crafting visual narratives that struck a chord with basketball fans.

Throughout the campaign, we relied on critical thinking to evaluate the AI’s output and make strategic decisions that would maximize the impact of our message. Human emotional intelligence allowed us to understand the passion and excitement of the game, the players and the moments, enabling us to create gen AI outputs that truly connected with audiences on an emotional level.

The success of the “Your Home For Hoops” campaign is a testament to the power of combining AI with human creativity and ingenuity. By leveraging the strengths of both, we were able to deliver a campaign that maximized reach and engagement within the rapidly growing niche audience of basketball fans. This campaign serves as a great example of what is possible when we embrace the synergy between AI and human ingenuity to find new ways to create.

As we navigate this exciting new era of AI-driven advertising, it is crucial to remember that technology is a tool, not a replacement for human creativity. The future of advertising belongs to those who can successfully navigate the intersection of AI and human expertise, leveraging the strengths of both to create truly groundbreaking campaigns.

By fostering a culture that values critical thinking, emotional intelligence, ethics, and passion, we are poised to lead the industry into a future where AI and human creativity collide, delivering unparalleled experiences for brands and consumers alike.

The “Your Home For Hoops” campaign is just the beginning of what we can achieve, and as we continue to push the boundaries of what is possible with AI, we remain committed to our belief that the human touch will always be the driving force behind the most impactful and memorable campaigns.

The rise of AI in advertising presents both challenges and opportunities. We are excited to be at the forefront of this revolution, leading the way in harnessing the power of AI while celebrating the irreplaceable value of human creativity.

As we embark on this exciting journey, we hope brands and advertisers will join us in exploring the limitless possibilities that arise when AI and human creativity find synergy. Together, we can create a future where advertising not only informs and persuades but also inspires and connects on a deeper, more meaningful level.

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COLLIDE-AI is a groundbreaking division of full service agency Now We Collide, dedicated to providing state-of-the-art generative AI solutions for advertising and marketing. By harnessing the power of advanced AI technologies, such as large language models, Retrieval-Augmented Generation (RAG), and synthetic media creation, Collide-AI empowers businesses to create captivating, data-driven content.

A synergy of human ingenuity and artificial intelligence to create a new paradigm of possibilities.

For more visit: https://nowwecollide.com.au/collide-ai

To find out more about the ESPN Your Home For Hoops project visit: https://nowwecollide.com.au/nowwecollide/hoopsai

Published by Ryan Bodger in News

Tags: AI, Artificial Intelligence, Collide AI, Collide-ai, social media marketing, video production

January 30, 2024

ESPN – Super Bowl Sickie Campaign

Our Super Bowl Sickie campaign is live - months of meticulous planning, creative development and production - next stop Vegas!

As appeared in Ad News Article

A tongue-in-cheek campaign, via creative agency Now We Collide, is encouraging Australian fans of American football to take the day off (with the blessing of their employer) to enjoy Super Bowl LVIII.

A contagious strain of Super Bowl fever is spreading across Australia and New Zealand, and cable sports channel ESPN is helping fans deal with the condition.

“The Super Bowl is being played on a Monday downunder, so sign me up for the Super Bowl Sickie,” said ESPN’s Stephen A. Smith.

“If you’ve got Super Bowl fever, no medicine is going to cure that, except watching the big game. Call in sick…trust me.”

Super Bowl sickie certificates available HERE.

Super Bowl LVIII is live on ESPN in Australia, Monday, February 12, at 10am AEDT.

ESPN - Super Bowl Sickie 2024

Published by Keir Maher in News

Tags: content production, Content strategy, social media strategy, video production

December 13, 2022

‘Experience the Unforgettable’ with BridgeClimb Sydney

BridgeClimb Sydney is putting one of Australia’s most iconic experiences back on the itinerary of international travellers, with a new campaign from independent creative agency Now We Collide.

Creating history with ESPN and the Opals

For just the second time in history, Australia played host to the FIBA Women’s Basketball World Cup, and in a first, ESPN would be broadcasting a major sporting event, live from Australian shores. Now We Collide was given the task of creating a social media led creative campaign that targeted a wide Australian audience alongside basketball fans to drive tune-in to ESPN’s live broadcast.

The creative strategy involved featuring high profile Opals players delivering inspirational lines to camera from a New York training camp, which NWC managed remotely. We then combined this footage with unique cell animation, game footage and commentary stings to set the scene for the home town showdown. Multiple exports were created with different calls to action. The first was to create awareness in the lead up to the competition, we then tailored messaging to game specific tune-in as each game approached. The creative was then A/B tested with sound on and sound off versions across different platforms.

The semi-final game creative - Opals v China on ESPN.

We ran the campaign using a blended social media strategy with the goal of reaching the widest possible audience and combining this with ‘active engagement’ to achieve video view completions.

The Opals did Aussie fans proud in the world cup, bringing home the bronze medal after narrowly missing out on the gold medal match. The USA claimed their third championship on the bounce but there was another winner out of the competition and that was the success of the sound on, vertical format video in our creative campaign, something that Now We Collide has been championing for a while now - Vertical video keeps soaring.

Sound on environments such as TikTok and Instagram Reels proved to be a great format to drive reach and engagement where we used the celebrity and inspiration of the Opals players to deliver piece-to-camera with a more ‘native’ feel to the TikTok/Reels world during the campaign. Also, because people tend to actively scroll TikTok and Reels as opposed to the more passive scrolling provided by other formats, audio becomes more relevant and powerful when making creative choices on these platforms. The TikTok campaign also included some tactical enhancements such as premium placement in feed and Super Like interactive add on.

The campaign reached over 2.5 million viewers across Facebook, Instagram and TikTok while engagement and 100% video views performance achieved was significantly above benchmarks and KPIs set. Not only that, and most importantly, the event has become one of the most successful for ESPN Australia in terms of audience numbers and viewing figures.

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Published by Keir Maher in News

Tags: content production, Content strategy, Mobile-First Video, social media, social media marketing, social media strategy, Video Content Marketing, video production

November 11, 2022

Vertical video keeps soaring

Just over 2 years ago we wrote about the “Rise of Vertical Video” and how we saw it as “one of the biggest opportunities for brands” at the time. Shift forward 2 years and it's clear that the prediction has become a reality. During that time we have seen the exponential growth of Instagram Reels, in 2021 Adam Mosseri, the Head of Instagram announced a focus on video and the tripling of Reels maximum running length to 90 seconds (while ads have a maximum running length of 60 seconds) – with over 1 billion active Instagram users every month the move into vertical mobile video has been one of the driving forces behind the success. Reels has now been expanded to Facebook as well which in turn increases the views and discoverability of Reels across both platforms.

Ultimately though, Reels was a response to the growth of what was then a new-comer to the vertical video scene – TikTok. TikTok has grown rapidly and whilst we recognised 2 years ago that they were a serious competitor to the incumbent leaders in social video at the time (Facebook and YouTube) we didn’t foresee quite how big they would get. In fact, data from the recent Hootsuite / We Are Social report shows that TikTok now leads in average time per month spent in app across Android devices globally:

TikTok’s undoubted success has been driven by their AI algorithm and the ability to curate and recommend the most relevant content to keep viewers hooked and scrolling for more. In this sense, TikTok has become a quasi social media and entertainment platform in one. TikTok now has over 1 billion monthly active users itself and is projected to reach somewhere between $8bn - $12bn in ad revenue in 2022.

Not to be out-done, in late 2020 YouTube launched their own YouTube Shorts vertical video and short-from platform for videos 60 seconds and less. YouTube Shorts is already driving 1.5bn monthly views and has in our eyes the advantage over both Instagram and TikTok in that it plugs into both the creator community of YouTube and the overall Google ecosystem, particularly search. Demand for YouTube Shorts has been soaring, in April this year Google CEO, Pichai announced that YouTube Shorts, is generating 30 billion views per day, which is four times more than the same time a year earlier.

So what does all this mean for brands and advertisers? In a word, plenty. There are the obvious creative ramifications we discussed in our original article – vertical video needs to be filmed or produced with the vertical 9:16 format front of mind mind – utilising all the available pixel space to maximise engagement with a feeling that is native to viewing and platform experience. With videos across all vertical platforms primarily watched with sound-on, this means that dialogue, sound and sound design has become more important than ever and revokes many of the previous recommendations around creating for a sound-off viewing experience.

This also means that video content including people and dialogue directly to camera within the creative has become more important than ever – driven by the success of a plethora of content creators – and for advertisers this is an important consideration. We have run a number of organic and paid campaigns across Facebook, Instagram, TikTok and YouTube in which we have A/B tested different creative and we have interesting findings where for certain categories and demographics, people speaking directly to camera and engaging with audience one-to-one, have significantly out-performed all other creative.

One thing we have also been working on as an agency is optimising video creative for 95%+ or 100% video completions. This is because the video platforms are often optimised to reporting on a 3 second or up to 6 second video view and while this might be relevant for the platforms themselves to report on, this isn't necessarily a true gauge of how consumers are interacting with a brands content or ads. While there has been lots written on the demise of the average attention span there is also plenty of evidence available to confirm that if you reach the right people, at the right time with content that is relevant and of interest/engaging, they will dedicate as much time as needed. So we believe a truer reflection of campaign success is to understand and report on those higher video completion rates and optimise the creative and media strategy accordingly.

Data from numerous campaigns we have run here at Now We Collide over the last 2 years has shown that the growth in vertical video has been accompanied by much higher video viewing completion rates and the associated cost efficiencies which can be achieved and by optimising video to the vertical format, even higher engagement and efficiencies can be achieved.

So for now at least the rise of vertical video continues and is now an essential part of any digital and social media strategy and should be integrated into the channel mix accordingly.

Published by Keir Maher in News

Tags: advertising, content production, Content strategy, Mobile-First Video, social media, social media advertising, social media marketing, social media strategy, Video Content Marketing, video production

August 10, 2022

AdNews Industry Profile: Ryan Bodger our CCO at Now We Collide

AdNews Industry Profile

Our Industry Profile takes a look at some of the professionals working across the advertising, adtech, marketing and media sector in Australia. It aims to shed light on the varying roles and companies across the buzzing industry.

Ryan Bodger: Chief creative officer at Now We Collide

Time in current role/time at the company:
Now We Collide was founded in 2015 by CEO and Managing Partner, Keir Maher, and myself, Ryan Bodger, chief creative officer and managing partner.

How would you describe what the company does?
Most of the time we are helping our client partners realise the potential of the new digital economy. This means coming up with creative ways to intersect and engage with audiences, customers and consumers on a myriad of platforms, channels and digital ecosystems. Every business we work with has different goals and objectives, so we uniquely tailor our approach to each of them and build teams to support their business for successful outcomes.

What do you do day-to-day?
Problem solving, ideation, creative execution, research, strategy, production, client and stakeholder management and team building. Sometimes I might even fix a broken cupboard in the studio - I like to get hands on with everything I do. Each day presents a new set of challenges and often I lean on our great team, resources and mentors - both internal and external - to get the job done. I’m blessed to work with such a talented and clever group of people.

Define your job in one word:
Adaptation.

I got into digital market industry because:
It was where the ad industry was heading. It was a natural progression from working in television early on, through the dot.com boom running a digital agency, to the fragmented, decentralised digital landscape we are now in. It’s been a wild ride and it’s ever changing - but that’s why I like it.ADVERTISING

What’s the biggest challenge you face in your role?
Helping clients realise the potential of the ever-changing media and digital landscape. I think a lot of the time we are comfortable in the day-to-day and find it difficult to adapt and change. Often people resist change, because it’s hard and it makes them feel uncomfortable.

But that is exactly what we all do as audiences or consumers. We constantly shift our gaze to the next exciting thing that interests us, solves a problem or entertains us. Think the iphone, Netflix, Reddit, TikTok, Discord, Blockchain, AI - it’s always changing. We’re here to help businesses embrace these changes.

What’s the biggest industry-wide challenge you’d like to see tackled?
Getting people to value creativity in our industry and the ‘idea’ as currency. While the digital age has caused a paradigm shift in our ability to scrutinise data, and rightly so, the value of creativity has been diminished by some.

I think the ‘idea’ is seen as something floating in thin air, waiting to be plucked. Sometimes that can happen, but very rarely. I believe those that harness the power of data, draw valuable insights and drive quicker creative thinking and effective strategy to market will win. Those ideas and that thinking needs to be worth more and valued more.

What are you most excited about in the next 12 months?
Seeing Now We Collide go from strength to strength in delivering some of our best work, while continuing to build and support an incredible team of people that all love working together.

Who has been a great mentor to you and why?
My Dad. As a kid I saw him go from working in the backyard shed in the outer suburbs of Melbourne, as a sole trader Signwriter (back when they used paint and brushes), to running a sign factory with around 20 people working for him.

I have good memories of spending time with his apprentices, learning how signs were made, mixing paints, screen printing, and seeing how business was done. He didn't always have to give me great advice, but his work ethic and commitment to making a better life for his family has given me a great lens through which to see the world.

Words of advice for someone wanting a job like yours?
Nothing ever stays the same, so be ready to adapt to change, constantly. Don't be precious when things don't go your way.

If I wasn't doing this for a living, I'd be:
As a kid, my dream was to be playing alongside Michael Jordan with the Chicago Bulls… that didn't quite work out. But if I wasn't running a Creative Agency right now, I would probably be helping my wife more with her new venture, Alba Atelier (plug!).

My mantra is:
Time is running.

My favourite advert is:
The original Apple iPod Ad - design, simplicity, fun. RIP the iPod

Published by Keir Maher in News

Tags: content production, social media, social media advertising, social media strategy, Video Content Marketing, video production

August 2, 2022

Cross-border creativity and the landscape for content production has shifted.

Appearing in Mumbrella

Five years ago, if you’d suggested to your boss that all staff should work half their week at home, I reckon you’d have been met with raised eyebrows.

But things have changed fast and employers have come to see hybrid work not just as something that’s viable – they’re now viewing it as genuinely advantageous.

This shift in how many in our industry are operating is just one reason why indie agencies have shone so brightly over the past few years.

We are now increasingly seeing how important agility is to powering innovation and delivering results. Speed to insight plus the ability to adapt and move quickly has become critical, and smaller agencies typically work without the legacy baggage of larger, traditional agencies.

The playing field has levelled between indies and larger global agency networks. Why? Technology improvements, shifts in the way we work, and access to global resources such as talent, research, software, hardware – you name it – mean clients no longer need to rely on big players to coordinate international creative ad campaigns.

The game has changed, permanently

The events of the last two years years caused a seismic shift in the way agencies needed to support their clients and this has continued into 2022. Indie agencies with a willingness to adapt have been able to thrive throughout thanks to a number of factors which were already in play, but have now become even more significant.

The first is their ability to leverage a satellite network of talented experts. These highly skilled and experienced professionals provide invaluable support, with small agencies better placed to flexibly choose who they engage for appropriate projects.

Additionally, with the advent of more advanced virtual work technologies, smaller, unencumbered agencies can more easily bring these experts into the fold to work in a more mutually productive way.

Secondly, I believe indies are uniquely positioned to deliver work remotely. In the past, large international agency networks had a monopoly on global client relationships, and great emphasis was placed on having many important people in rooms together.

But the game has changed. Now, a client in the UK typically cares a lot less if the agency they’re working with is in London or Sydney. And that’s a good thing, as it makes operations more efficient, opens up avenues to new talent, and drastically lowers overheads.

In this evolving context, we’ve seen a stack of indies doing great things lately. There’s a genuine ability to develop ideas and create content that is entirely market-specific, even when produced remotely.

A great example of this model succeeding is the ‘Checkout Catch’ campaign from Catch Group, supported by AJF GrowthOps. With both the agency’s creative team and Catch Group headquartered in Melbourne, they were faced with a challenge when a second lockdown was imposed. Ultimately, the campaign was shot in Queensland, but directed via real-time feedback from interstate – and the results didn’t suffer an iota.

Overseas examples are plentiful too. Remote filming worked a treat for US-based creative agency Mischief @ No Fixed Address. It produced terrific ads including Miller Genuine Draft’s ‘Unapologetically Beer’ and Shutterfly’s ‘Make it a Thing’ – both are well worth a look.

Staying creative and embracing adaptability

One of the reasons I chose this industry is because it is a ‘people’ industry – collaboration and human interaction are at the heart and that will always be the case.

However, now clients have more options than ever before to engage the right agency, they no longer have to hire the global agency group to get the best results. The playing field has been levelled and smaller agencies now have access to the same networks of expertise and resources.

The lesson of the last few years is that the old rules really no longer apply. Technology has shown us that businesses can thrive when their employees predominantly work from the comfort of their homes. Similarly, creative businesses don’t need to be leviathans to deliver brilliant results for their clients.

So if you don’t think you need a room full of VIPs to shoot the lights out with your next campaign, then consider what a smaller agency partner has to offer.

Published by Keir Maher in News

Tags: advertising, content production, Content strategy, social media marketing, Video Content Marketing, video production

March 31, 2022

Now We Collide Champions Small Business In New Global Campaign For Meta

B&T ; MarkeTech APAC ; Mumbrella ; Adnews

Now We Collide has created a new campaign for Meta which showcases the ingenuity of small businesses across APAC in its latest “Good Ideas Deserve To Be Found” global campaign.

The campaign will run across the APAC region and consists of four 15-second ads which bring to life the stories behind nine different small to medium businesses (SMBs) from countries including Australia, Hong Kong, Indonesia, Japan, Korea, Philippines and Thailand.

“Good Ideas Deserve To Be Found” is designed to build awareness of tools and resources available to help SMBs connect with new audiences and grow their business online.

It is built on the insight that there are millions of good ideas out there, even though running a business and making it stand out to customers can be difficult.

“The last two years have been uniquely testing times for SMBs, providing some serious challenges with store closures and new opportunities with the explosion in digital retail,” said Meta Australia and New Zealand director of marketing, Alex Sloane.

“With this campaign, we wanted to draw attention to the wealth of resources available to help them use digital tools to even better effect, with the potential to create truly global businesses. We genuinely believe that “Good ideas deserve to be found.” and can come from anywhere.”

Meta 'Good Ideas Deserve to Be Found' - Stay Flower Japan

The campaign will be distributed via digital channels and Meta-owned platforms through Dentsu Media.

Each of the creative executions centre on revealing the ‘invisible’ product of a small business. One shows a boy wearing a bike helmet and pads apparently floating along, before an Instagram ad unit reveals the bike he is riding. Another features a woman practicing Jiu Jitsu apparently alone before revealing she is sparring with her instructor.

“We’re excited to be involved in a campaign that would help out many SMBs across APAC, especially as it was filmed at one of the more challenging periods of the pandemic,” said Now We Collide chief creative officer, Ryan Bodger.

“We had to grapple with these challenges as well, and our team was able to bring to life these stories from all across Asia either filming remotely or in-studio and on location in Sydney.

“By bringing the client into the studio ‘virtually’, we were able to closely collaborate throughout the production process, making approvals frictionless. We streamlined the process through live video offline edit sessions, bringing together various stakeholders from different locations across the globe.”

Now We Collide CEO, Keir Maher, added, “One of the more positive things the pandemic has given us, is the ability to work in ways we never thought possible.

“Quick adaptation to change has always been part of the Now We Collide DNA, but now it is built into our production processes and methodologies. This campaign is testament to our abilities as a nimble and effective team.”

Credits:

Creative Agency: Now We Collide

Production/Post: Now We Collide
Media: Dentsu

VFX/CGI Post: Heckler
Sound: PureSound
Executive Creative Director: Ryan Bodger
Business Director/EP: Naomi Young
Creative Director: Shelby Craig

Meta Internal Creative Leads: Justin Yeo (Meta), Jonathan Cockett (Meta)

Director: Toby Morris

DOP: Dan Freene

VFX Supervisor: Jamie Watson (Heckler)
Stunt Coordinator: Ray Anthony

Account Lead: Shayne Carter

Producer: Re Lim

Editor: Josh Groom

Motion Graphics/VFX: Darryn Rogers

Sound: James Martell

Published by Keir Maher in News

Tags: Advertising Campaign, Content strategy, creative agency, Independent Creative Agency, social media, social media advertising, social media strategy, Video Content Marketing, video production

October 27, 2015

ESPN Brand Campaign – The Making Of…

Now We Collide partnered with ESPN to develop a new video led brand campaign. It was a move to cement the growing interest in U.S. and international sports among a younger Aussie male audience.

Watch this short documentary about how it all came together.

The video content created merges pivotal sporting moments from the world of NBA, American Football and X Games with murals drawn by graffiti artist Sofles. The time-lapsed amalgamation of sports and street art created a social buzz among the 18 to 34-year-old demographic and prompted them to share the content across their networks.

The brand campaign that became shareable

ESPN Marketing Manager, John Webb told Mumbrella “It’s one thing to make a great TV commercial that we can run on our own platforms but we wanted to build a brand campaign that will become shareable, that strikes gold and potentially goes viral.” he said. The video quickly became the most viewed and shared across ESPN Aust/NZ social networks drawing massive social reach and advocacy.

“We wanted to design a brand campaign that goes beyond our hardcore fan base and hit those casual fans who are on the fringes who we want to bring into the network."

“Using Now We Collide and Sofles was the perfect way to design something that we could use on Instagram and Facebook and hit the demographic that we are congregating on those platforms.” - John Webb.

Published by Ryan Bodger in News

Tags: Brand Campaign, Mobile-First Video, Social Media Sharing, social media strategy, Social Media Videos, Social Reach, Video Content Strategy, video production

August 27, 2015

360 Video On The Rise Globally

360 video is quickly moving from niche to mainstream. YouTube and Facebook are taking it to the masses and it's catching on. Because 360 video is so immersive, it allows the viewer to explore outside the frame and experience each story in a different way. That could be different every time they view it.

You may have noticed that YouTube has added 360 videos as the main navigation in their Channels list. And Facebook has teamed up with the little company they bought for $2bn last year, Oculus Rift, to introduce 360 videos to the Facebook Newsfeed.

With the growing popularity of virtual reality (VR), the demand for 360 video production is also on the rise.

If you haven't seen some of the awesome recent examples check them out - Facebook: Star Wars: The Force Awakens Immersive 360 & GoPro Spherical: Sand Dune Jumping in VR with Ronnie Renner.

So if you are a marketer looking to create an experiential brand to engage your audience or you want to tap into the potential of VR for employee training for a global team, then now might be a good time to get the ball rolling on 360 video production.

More to come from the team at Now We Collide soon...

Published by Ryan Bodger in News

Tags: 360 Video, content production, Independent Creative Agency, video production