Clemenger BBDO Melbourne gets the message out about Melbourne International Film Festival

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Screen shot 2011-07-14 at 12.05.02 PM.jpgBack in June Clemenger BBDO Melbourne launched the 2011 Melbourne International Film Festival (MIFF) with two striking spots for TV and Cinema.

At the time CB featured the humorous 90 second ‘Potato Peelers’ spot (which was generally well received by CB Bloggers), but not the 45 second ‘The Message’ spot – which is set in China.

The ads were directed by Steve Ayson from The Sweet Shop and were filmed in the Western suburbs of Melbourne (The Chinese one at a quarry and the Polish one on a nearby salt mine.) As the patron of MIFF, Geoffrey Rush became involved after reading the original scripts. He loved the idea, so a part for him in the Polish one was written.

The finished ads were posted onto several Youtube channels on Friday 24th June. The following Monday, one of the posts received around 250,000 hits in 24 hours. The rapidity of this spread is remarkable even in viral marketing terms, given that the only media behind it was marketing trade PR. Agency analytics showed that in those first few days, the video had been embedded in 2500 websites/blogs around the world.

The Polish version is currently sitting at 530,000 hits and most of this activity has been in Poland. Most of the 513 comments are in Polish language and are overwhelmingly positive. The ad seems to have sparked an interesting social media conversation around the current state of Polish cinema.

The launch spots were supported by outdoor, print and online banners, featuring a new brand identity also created for MIFF by Clemenger BBDO Melbourne.

Credits

Exec. Creative Director: Ant Keogh

CD/Art Director: Damian Royce

Copywriter: Nick Kelly

Executive Producer: Sonia von Bibra

Strategy Planner: Sam Mackisack

Senior Account Director: Brett Williams

Account Executive: Ruth John

Production Company: The Sweet Shop

Director:  Steve Ayson

Executive Producer:  Wilf Sweetland

Producer:  Edward Pontifex

Cinematographer:  Bob Humphreys

Production Designer:  Lucinda Thompson

Offline editor:  Jack Hutchings – The Butchery

Online editor:  Eugene Richards – The Refinery

Colourist:  Edel Rafferty – MRPPP

Music/Sound design:  Cornel Wilczek, Biddy Conner, Byron Scullin – Electric Dreams

 

Casting:Fiona Dann – Chameleon Casting

Cast:

Chinese Father:  Ferdinand Hoang

Chinese Son:  Zohar Hoang

Polish man – Jacek: Jacek Koman

Polish Man – Tomek: Tomek Koman

Polish Man – New Tomek: Geoffrey Rush