Leveraging spiking surfing interest around its Olympic debut at Tokyo 2020, two-time world champion Gabriel Medina and brand ambassador fronted a spectacular new 3D video led campaign for Brazilian bank Bradesco in which he meets the god of the sea Poseidon.
Medina has been a brand ambassador for the bank since 2019 and the ‘Medina and Poseidon’ commercial is part of the bank’s ongoing ‘Face the Future’ campaign designed to drive new account openings (and emphasis a set of specific services) and it broke on 19 July during a Jornal Nacional broadcast break.
The hero spot opens with Medina facing a calm sea with a voiceover lamenting “When there are no waves, there is no way. It’s on us to go after it” after which he dives into the water, swims by a jellyfish and underwater ruins until he finds a statue on a throne covered in barnacles. He knocks on its nose and the statue cracks to life, sending light and powerful ripples through the water surrounding him.
The idea that Medina has taken a dicey gamble in order to conjure up some waves to surf: after all, waking the Greek sea god Poseidon is a dangerous game and the reason why Odysseus took 20 years to sail home. But the message is that Medina trusts his bank enough to see him through such a calculated risk.
“When there are challenges ahead, Bradesco is by your side,” the surfer cheerfully intones at the end of the spot as he pulls out of the wake of Poseidon’s rage just in time.
As part of Bradesco’s umbrella inclusive approach, the ‘Medina & Poseidon’ ad runs with accompanying Brazilian sign language, subtitles, and an audio description via its YouTube channel. The bank has done this and adopted gender-neutral language for all its ads since June 2020.
The hero ad was reinforced by a #MedinaDay project which encouraged conversations on Twitter about Medina’s surfing style and triumphs on the World Surf League and the sport’s Olympics debut and includes short spot vignettes airing on the Globo and Sport TV channels throughout the Games, as well as on out-of-home and display media.
The campaign was created by Leo Burnett Tailor Made, produced by Stink and direction by Squarehead, with the spot features Charlie Brown Jr.’s ‘Don’t Let the Sea Swallow You’ (which, according to the PR notes, is one of Medina’s favourite pre-event hype songs.
According to the agency’s Creative VP Vinicius Stanzione, the spot’s shooting took place almost completely underwater.
Stink Executive Producer Tico Cruz added: “The shoot was very technical. Both with the underwater camera crew and in post-production, the challenge was to recreate the look and feel of the bottom of the sea inside a deep swimming pool. Since most of the scenes were shot underwater, in addition to the health and safety protocols, we had special training in order to understand the dynamics of filming underwater and prepare our crew.”
“We decided to use the surfing metaphor, with a flat ocean, to show how important it is that we take the initiative in our own stories,” explained Bradesco’s Marketing Director, Márcio Parizotto. “We sought a message of optimism that would encourage people to pursue their objectives in a bold and proactive manner. And it is all personified by Medina, in an advertising fable that features Poseidon and conveys the brand’s commitment to helping its customers overcome their challenges.”
The campaign was created for Bradesco by a team at agency Leo Burnett Tailor Made which included CCO Marcelo Reis, Creative VPs Pedro Utzeri, Vinicius Stanzione and Pedro Prado, Creative Director Vinicius Stanzione, Copywriter Fabio Nagano, Art Directors Gabriel Marcondes and Breno Balbino, Integrated Production Director Maria Fernanda Moura, RTV Luciana Kley and a Client Approval Team which included Márcio Parizotti, Nathalia Garcia, José Maurício Lilla and Karina Mea Botelho.
Post-production was handled by Invisible Works, sound design was from Som 3 and sound editing by Sony/ATV Music Publishing and digital production was run by Prodigius.
Comment:
This is one of the more epic, cinematic and striking ambassador-fronted, Olympic-linked films in 2021 and since its 19 June debut, the spot has generated more than 144m views on the bank’s YouTube channel alone.
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