Adobe is the market leader when it comes to creative software, and we had to find a creative and innovative way of producing unique but consistent content across every continent, every fortnight, for a year, in a time-effective, cost-effective, planet-friendly, pandemic-safe, entirely remote way. Easy, right?!
Our objective for this project was to create a series of videos that not only informed, educated and inspired our wide-ranging audience of budding creatives, but also encouraged them to download the Adobe apps and try new techniques, styles and approaches for themselves. All whilst raising general brand awareness across the globe.
Here is a sizzle reel for the finished series:
The project plan was to feature artists from every discipline, and with areas in computer-based design, video production and animation expanding daily, we knew there was a challenge to find just the right contributors.
According to Adobe, in the two years between 2020 and 2022, over 165 million people have joined the creator economy. That includes more than 34 million in the U.S. alone—that’s over 10% of the population. So we had our work cut out for us.
Traditionally, Adobe had sent crews out across the world in order to film such artists. With the pandemic, our objective was to find a way to maintain the high standards set by the brand whilst also adhering to a strictly no-filming protocol.
The Global Creators series is a continuation on from existing Adobe series’ such as Creative House Calls and Art Makers. Adobe had tried and tested the formula and knew that this type of content not only reaches their target audience but engages with them.
So our challenge wasn’t to find a new way of reaching our audience but a new way of creating the content.
The artists we chose to feature are Adobe influencers, with most having a substantial following. We, therefore, knew that versions for social platforms was going to be an important part of this campaign from the get-go, so built-in more bitesize executions of the Artist Q&A and Studio Tour sections to the schedule from the start, so we had teasers ready for each episode to get out on social and direct our audience to the main videos.
We proposed using our own Smart Capture app to capture the content with each artist. This app allows us to create a shot list, as well as set timing parameters and camera orientation - resulting in on-point and in-time content in consistent formats, all in one place.
We ended up using a combination of Smart Capture and personal camera set-ups, depending on each artist and their preference and access to equipment. We found this combination of filming approaches to work well for this series, giving the flexibility to allow for the artist's creative process. Some of the videos have been shot on mobile, others on DSLR, and this variety only adds to the unique content of each episode. The fact that the artists were working with the incentive of promotion from Adobe meant that their commitment to the overall quality and finesse of the project was very high.
UGC can get a bad reputation for having a lower-quality feel. We eliminated this concern through a detailed shot list and narrative guide for each contributor, followed by taking this footage and making it work hard through dynamic editing techniques, cuts, and transitions. We also incorporated bold graphics and animated elements from the artist’s work and applied a colour grade to the footage to create uniformity in look and feel throughout the finished video.
This approach had to be both environmentally friendly and COVID safe. In removing the travel aspect for presenters or video crews, we not only cut out flights and cut down spending, but we also followed local and international protocols around COVID. No need to worry about travel bans and quarantines when we didn’t have to go anywhere. This basically protected us throughout the campaign and allowed us to deliver consistent and regular content without having to worry about restrictions changing.
We found that an added benefit of this fully remote and entirely UGC approach was that the footage we received from the artists was totally authentic. Each artist seems at ease, able to communicate their passion and work clearly. This has translated to our audience in the most positive way, allowing the viewer to really feel that they are accessing all areas and getting an almost backstage look at this artist and their work.
By laying out a structure for each artist to follow, we ensured that we had consistent and uniform sections of footage to edit for every episode. The content within that section is entirely personal to that artist, but we created uniformity through the narrative. For instance, every artist was asked to shoot some b-roll around their city or hometown, providing a unique insight into their environment and inspiration in a way that worked in every episode of the series.
The approach we took has ensured the most straightforward and sustainable production process for Adobe - maximizing the quality and output whilst keeping input to a minimum.
You can find the full series on the Adobe site. The client is very happy with the standard of the videos, the speed of delivery and the range of skills, talents, and interests that we are able to showcase.
"Thank you, Team Casual! This has been such a fruitful and rewarding collaboration. Your sensitivity to the unique aspects of each creator, thoughtful story-crafting, and creative cohesion really helped to bring this concept together. We've come a long way since first kicking things off in 2020 🙂 Cheers, team! 🍾"
"Thank you for the final uploads. So sad that this was our last artist! You have been amazing partners to work with throughout this whole process. We appreciate all the work put into this series and are thrilled with how everything has turned out. Hopefully, we get to continue a newer version of this series, or something similar in the future. We all look forward to getting to work with you again."
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