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Imagine a single advertising campaign, so powerful that it lasted for over a decade, worked in more than 50 countries, was successful across TV, digital and social media and won multiple awards.

And now imagine that the brand did not need to pay for the campaign because broadcasters around the world funded every cent of it. And the more the campaign travelled, the more money it recouped, making it a highly profitable business.

Do I sound like a raving lunatic? This is the business of international television production, where scalability of content is key. The strongest TV formats are created with the potential to travel across seasons, territories and platforms. Each format becomes a brand in its own right. It may evolve and adapt to the nuances of the local market, but it has the same identifiable structure and values at its core.

These TV formats are conceived with great care, designed to have a long lifespan and international appeal. They are nurtured to keep them evergreen. They attract huge, highly engaged audiences who actively choose to spend time with them. They maximize an initial investment to become profit centres. This is because their lifeblood is their Intellectual Property, or IP.

Wouldn’t it make creative and economic sense to see global brands such as McDonalds or Nike create their own branded entertainment in the form of long-running international hits? To evolve “I’m Lovin’ It” into a family entertainment format, to turn “Just Do it” into a global competitive reality show? After all, Redbull took “It Gives you Wings” to create the world’s biggest branded content powerhouse. They embraced and grew their IP.

Continue reading on The Drum.

The pace of agency review activity, already more hectic in recent years, is gathering even more momentum.

A new study has found that nearly 75% of major multinationals are reviewing their current agency arrangements, looking at whether they have the right mix of agencies and capabilities on their rosters.

The study, titled “The Future of Agency Rosters” is from the WFA and The Observatory International and has found that many clients have concluded that their current roster set up is not working effectively. Based on a scale of 1 to 10 clients gave an average effectiveness rating for their agency roster of just 5.7.

Agencies aren’t thrilled with the effectiveness of current rosters either, per the study. The average effectiveness rating from the agency side was an even lower 5.2 out of 10.

The findings are based on responses from 50 multinational marketers representing total global ad spend in excess of $69 billion.

Twenty-six agency representatives contributed, with more than 50% in global/regional roles and the balance evenly spread across the globe.

The current dominant model of agency management is “multiple agencies managed individually by marketing” (81%). That’s followed by “integrated lead agency” (44%) and “network agency with specialists from same holding company” (39%).

However, many advertisers use a variety of core models across their operations, underlining the complexities of developing “fit-for-purpose” roster architectures around the globe, per the report.

Continue reading on MediaPost.

INFLUENCER: In a millennial world, brands must deliver a well-told authentic story, writes Saville Productions’ Rupert Maconick

Millennial: the demographic on every marketer’s mind. Millennials are continuing to bulk up their spending power and brands are scrambling for fresh and innovative ways to engage the millennial consumer to establish lifelong brand loyalty. The truth is, winning over the millennial demographic means that a brand must adhere to what drives their morale: authenticity, philanthropy and making a positive social and environmental impact.

We currently live in a consumer-driven world and millennial consumers especially want to feel good about their purchases and also want to make use of social media to share the story behind the purchase. Brands are being held to the highest standards and thus cause marketing has tremendously grown from being a $120 million industry in 1990 to an industry of more than $2 billion in 2017.

Studies show that more than 9-in-10 millennials will switch brands to one associated with a cause, and brands are responding by joining the corporate social responsibility movement and shifting from traditional advertising to branded content that embraces good citizenship. However, branded content isn’t a guaranteed advertising success. Studies show millennials are sceptical toward marketing and will immediately detect a cheap attempt to capitalise on social issues. Having grown up in a digital age and being over-exposed to advertising, the media-savvy generation is quick to flag inauthenticity and branded content that’s a thinly disguised ad. This demographic isn’t forgiving when a brand misses the mark.

Continue reading on Little Black Book.

Immerse Yourself in These Gorgeous Branded Films About Cuba, Through the Eyes of Locals.

After cruising to Alaska last year to sample some local color, MullenLowe’s series of short films for Royal Caribbean drops anchor in Cuba to present three poignant, highly personal stories showcasing the vibrant diversity of the island’s culture and people.

Shot documentary-style by director Clay Jeter of Chef’s Table fame, the 5-minute films use quiet storytelling and sweeping visuals to focus on Cubans striving to make their dreams real and, by extension, transform their communities in positive ways.

Such tales transcend the pretty pictures and sumptuous scenery frequently offered in travel campaigns. As you get to know these people, Cuba itself comes alive in meaningful, multifaceted ways.

View Clay’s spot for Royal Caribbean.

As audiences migrate to commercial-free streaming platforms, brands must produce innovative content that engages consumers, but rarely do they go beyond ad-driven models and become the entertainment. Rather, they create ‘branded content’ that interrupts entertainment. Panelists will discuss branded content challenges and the financial advantages and opportunities for brands to go beyond ads and lean into entertainment, such as feature-films and series that don’t disrupt with overt branding.

Rupert Maconick, Saville Productions
John Deschner, TBWAChiatDay
John Haber, Giant Spoon
Jody Raida

Watch the panel discussion here.

Venice-based production company Saville Productions has signed two-time Academy Award-nominated documentary film director Dan Krauss for U.S. branded content representation. Krauss has built an accolade-studded career, winning The Grand Jury Prize for Best Documentary at the Tribeca Film Festival and the Truer than Fiction Independent Spirit Award for his feature The Kill Team. The film also garnered nominations from the Director’s Guild of America and the Emmy Awards, was shortlisted for an Academy Award, and has been adapted into an upcoming feature film directed by Krauss and starring Alexander Skarsgård. Krauss’ most recent film, Extremis, won the jury award at Tribeca, was an official selection at the Telluride Film Festival, and debuted in September as Netflix’s first-ever short documentary.

Krauss has additionally directed a feature documentary film financed by a major brand for Saville Productions, which will start its film festival run in 2018. The film opportunity was spearheaded by Rupert Maconick, Founder/Executive Producer at Saville Productions.

Continue reading on Source Creative.

Gavin O’Connor is on board to write the sequel to “Suicide Squad,” and is also in talks to direct the film that stars Will Smith, Margot Robbie, and Jared Leto.

The movie is a top priority at Warner Bros. and looks to be one of the two DC properties (the other being New Line’s “Shazam!”) to begin production next year. Given the ensemble’s busy schedule, the shoot wasn’t expected to start until fall of 2018. So while there’s still time, the studio is eager to get someone on board to pen a script.

Zach Penn wrote a previous draft.

Continue Reading on Variety.

Saville Productions has signed award-winning documentary, film and commercial director Ondi Timoner for commercials and branded content in the U.S. Timoner is currently shooting the biopic Mapplethorpe, to be released in 2018, starring Matt Smith as Robert Mapplethorpe, Marianne Rendón as Patti Smith and John Benjamin Hickey as Sam Wagstaff. Mapplethorpe portrays the famed portrait photographer’s humble beginnings in New York City, his rocky road to success and his subsequent controversies alongside other creatives of the ‘70s and ‘80s artistic era, prior to his untimely death in 1989.

The signature of Timoner’s projects is a focus on “impossible visionaries” who prevail against personal and cultural odds. Her slate of documentary and film work includes Dig! (2004), Join Us (2007), We Live In Public (2009), Cool It (2010), Brand: A Second Coming (2015) and the recently released 10 hour Viceland documentary series Jungletown.

Timoner has received the honor of double Grand Jury Prize wins at the Sundance Film Festival: the first for her 2004 documentary Dig!, reflecting the oftentimes contentious relationship between the bands The Dandy Warhols and The Brian Jonestown Massacre, and the second for her 2009 feature We Live In Public on Internet entrepreneur Josh Harris. Her dynamic directorial style challenges viewers to connect with characters and in turn face their own deep-seeded dilemmas.

Timoner’s commercialmaking credits span such brands as Honda, Ford, McDonald’s, Go Army and State Farm. She had earlier been repped in the ad arena by RadicalMedia, and prior to that Nonfiction Unlimited.

Continue reading on Shoot Online.

Robert Kenner–a DGA Award nominee in 2010 for Food, Inc., which also earned him a Best Documentary Feature Oscar nomination–has landed his first representation as a commercialmaker, joining the directorial roster of Venice-based Saville Productions.

Food, Inc. examines corporate farming and the unhealthy agribusiness practices that plague the overall health of Americans and is harmful to the environment, employees and animals. The film scored assorted other honors including winning the Gotham Award for Best Documentary and being nominated for a Film Independent Spirit Award for Outstanding Documentary.

In addition to the much lauded Food, Inc., Kenner also directed and served as a producer on the “Two Days in October” episode of American Experience, which won a primetime Emmy for Exceptional Merit in Nonfiction Filmmaking in 2006. His other prestigious documentaries include Merchants of Doubt, When Strangers Click, and Command and Control, the latter winning him (along with Erc Schlosser, Brian Pearle and Kim Roberts) a Writers Guild Award for Best Documentary Screenplay this year. Merchants of Doubt earned Kenner a Producers Guild Award nomination for Outstanding Producer of Documentary Theatrical Motion Pictures in 2015.

Continue reading on Shoot Online.

Produced and edited by Werner Herzog, this 98-minute documentary from the German writer explores where the internet came from and where it’s going next. The upfront confrontations see Herzog seek out hermits who avoid the internet, those who have been trolled online, robotic footballer players and how artificial intelligence is changing everything. Oh, and there’s an interview with Elon Musk where Herzog commits to going to Mars.

Continue reading on Wired.