Slack’s new features come to life with song and dance in “The Big Meeting,” a comedic musical that charmingly illustrates how the popular workplace communications platform makes productivity easier. Brand New School developed the creative concept by working directly with the brand.
In the film, directed and co-written by Brand New School’s Chris Dooley, a sales team uses Slack to prepare for a customer meeting, and a central character insists on making it a big production–literally–by lyrically calling for fancy graphs, searching through files and emails, and gathering the stats, and sparkling water, he believes will make the meeting successful. Meanwhile, his co-workers use Slack’s tools and features to get work done, with the film coming to a close as the lead realizes that all he needs is Slack; thus the tagline: “Productivity without the big production.”
Dooley said, “We’ve been working directly with Slack for about three years, so we have a deeply personal insight into the platform, the wonderful people running it, and their priorities. When they said they wanted to focus on productivity, we identified early on that there is a misconception that peak productivity requires non-stop work. Based on this insight, we pitched a musical that playfully illustrates the fallacy of constant work leading to optimal productivity, and Slack was on board with it; it represented the tone, voice, and strategy everyone wanted.”
Credits
Client Slack Colin McRae, VP, global brand marketing & creative strategy; Kirk Landgraf, sr. director, global brand marketing strategy; Rob Klein, sr. brand marketing manager; Jennifer Tan, sr. design manager; Brandon Wells, sr. copywriter; Marcos Calamato, sr. brand designer; Eva McEnrue, creative director/copywriter; Adam Hobbs, director, film & video; Allie (Sherratt) Toltzman, director, integrated production; Lauren Baker, creative integrated producer; Tatiana Shchekina, sr. animator, motion graphics. Production/Creative Brand New School Chris Dooley, director & executive creative director; Olmo Sobrino Carrasco, DP; Dave Muhlenfeld, Chris Dooley, writers and “The Big Meeting” lyrics & script; Emma Evelein, choreographer; Maria Nualart, colorist; Ariel Santiago, production designer; Ivan Garriga, on set VFX supervisor; Jean-Michel Verbeeck, designer; Phoebe Hsu, illustrator; Gerald Mark Soto, animation director; Oliver Wee, Anthony Kim, 2D animators; Russ Wootton, CG director; Chris Foster, 3D artist; Blake Huber, head of VFX; Mark French, Rachel Rardin, compositors; Hugh Keenan, storyboard artist; Brad Turner, editor; Ryan Rigley, assistant editor; Brendan Mills, post producer; Garret Braren, exec producer; Jonathan Notaro, chief creative officer; David Wolfson, line producer. Cast Tice Oakfield, Carolina Oliveira, Eddie Blackwell, Daiana Kosower, Daniel Buko, Shira Nimaga. Dancers Shawnee Arvelo, Staniel Ferreira, Julia Kayser, Hector Puigdomenech, Joel Mesa, Violeta Wulff. Original Music & Audio Post Squeak E Clean Jennie Armon, executive creative producer; Julie B. Nichols, creative director/composer; Chris Nungary, Surachai Sutthisasanakul, sound design & mix; Anna Garcia Lascurain, lead producer; Angelina Phengphong, sr. post producer; Tice Oakfield, Julie B. Nichols & Angelina Phengphong, vocals.
After losing part of his right leg due to cancer, Terry Fox campaigned to raise national awareness and funding for cancer research by running his Marathon of Hope, a cross-Canada 42-km daily run, on his prosthetic leg. Fox, who died in 1981, is a national hero. His image will be on Canada’s new $5 bill.
In this two-minute video titled “Finish It,” the Marathon of Hope is recreated. It’s all done in one take, and it features an actor/marathon runner who uses a prosthesis on the same leg as Fox. CGI was deployed to make him look more like Fox. To further ensure the actor represented Fox accurately, not only did the actor and team watch and study many videos of Terry, but Terry’s brothers, Fred and Darrel, coached the actor on Terry’s running style and mannerisms. They also created a copy of Terry’s prosthesis for the actor to use for the shoot.
The message is clear. As the Marathon of Hope now marks its 45th anniversary, we now have the opportunity to “Finish It” for Fox, raising money and awareness to get a cure for cancer over the finish line, completing the work that Fox started. The public service film starts with Fox on the marathon run, eventually joined by a crowd of other dedicated runners from all walks of life who take over the race.
Mark Zibert directed via production company Scouts Honour for Toronto agency Diamond. The video features a never-before-heard version of the song “Courage” from Canadian band The Tragically Hip.
“We wanted to create a campaign that captures the magnitude of Terry Fox’s legacy while driving meaningful action,” said Peter Ignazi, chief creative officer at Diamond. “By revisiting the Marathon of Hope with such care and reverence, we aimed to reignite Terry’s mission and... Read More
