People of The Pandemic is a global collaborative photography project, highlighting the humanity that exists behind the headlines of COVID-19. Through portraits and stories we amplify the voices of everyday heroes in our society who we often take for granted: healthcare workers, supermarket workers, delivery drivers, cleaners, first responders… the people risking their own health to continue servicing our needs.
The project started at our local supermarket in the wake of the pandemic, where Jarvis - an employee of the store was still clocking into his shift. After hearing his words, we began to wonder - how are people like him coping during this time?
Through Instagram, we connected with other photographers and creatives from lots of different countries, and soon enough a worldwide team was forming. New portraits and stories were being entered from every continent, bringing new perspectives and introducing more people to participate in the movement.
Our multinational team now includes 30+ creatives across 18 cities, with charters from Estonia to Taiwan, and Melbourne to Yangon. But it doesn’t stop there. Our ambitions for the future involve exhibitions, talks, and publishing a People of the Pandemic book, as well as telling the stories of people affected by the crisis when the pandemic is over. Those who lost loved ones, those who lost their jobs, or the scientists who helped to find a cure.
People of the Pandemic exists to set the tone of a new chapter, a culture where everyday people become our new role models.
We wanted to teach people that the Chromecast lets you use the small screen of your phone to make an impact on the big screen.
So we challenged 17,000 islanders fans to compete against each other with a Chromecast game by taking over one of the biggest stadiums in New York.
The Jumbotron at the Brooklyn Barclays centre was turned into a game of speed and skill dividing the arena into four teams, all playing against each other by using their mobile phones as the controller.
At its peak over 9000 refugees were living in the Calais Jungle with low morale and little hope. But there’s one thing that let them forget everything and allowed us to tell their stories. The universal language of football.
With this in mind we pitched our idea to football channel Copa 90, and together created The Liberté Cup - an epic one day tournament for the refugees in northern France. It was not a political campaign, nor a charity, and we were not asking to open borders. The aim was simple. To change the way refugees are viewed in the media.
Support for the tournament came in from pro players like Lionel Messi bringing media coverage across the world, and teams and supporters travelled far and wide to take part in the epic day of football.
Results
A documentary about the tournament was created by Copa 90 and aired for one year on ITV Hub. Media coverage spread across The UK, France, Spain and Argentina achieving our goal of changing the media perception of refugees.
Kano is a PC designed for the creative generation, teaching kids to code, create, and break.
We asked three child talents how they use Kano to make what they do possible, through composing tracks, designing from scratch, and even starting up a business.
The idea was to prove that with Kano, ‘anyone can’. Anyone can create, anyone can make a masterpiece, anyone can Shakespeare, anyone can code, anyone can share.
To launch the Samsung Galaxy S21, there was only one way to show off its features to the highest level. A photoshoot and Tik Tok video shot by one of the worlds greatest photographers.
The experience saw Samsung and Rankin collaborate to develop a gallery of videos and images, shot entirely on the new Samsung Galaxy S21 Ultra, in a photoshoot with British rapper, singer and songwriter Stefflon Don, that paid tribute to the iconic female trailblazers of the 80s – those who inspired musicians like Stefflon Don, transformed culture, and paved the way for a new generation of visionaries.
Combining the spirit of the 80s with the energy of today’s social media, Rankin and Stefflon Don playfully re-imagined a timeless era with stills, videos, and content for Instagram and TikTok. The colours, style and aesthetic of the shoot, was transformed through the tight lens of the Samsung Galaxy S21 Ultra.
The content was unveiled at a virtual media launch event, featuring the photographer who spoke of his overwhelmingly positive experiences using the Galaxy S21 Ultra in the campaign.
Rankin said “My creative process is rooted in exploring new techniques and methods to create revolutionary content. Working with Stefflon Don, Samsung, and the Galaxy S21 Ultra, I had the opportunity to channel a new kind of creativity whilst still staying true to my ethos. I was doing what I love, right on a smartphone – creating, shooting, editing and producing content fit for social, in a move that diversified my work beyond what I imagined was possible. I’m also really proud that we could honour the inspirational legends of the 80s, who freely expressed their individuality and continue to inspire today’s young generation.”
Meanwhile in New Zealand is an award winning campaign for Air New Zealand aiming to show expats and Australian holiday makers how to experience the beauty and magic of New Zealand in winter.
We worked with Host a creative agency in Sydney to create a series of three adverts showcasing the snow in New Zealand in unimagined ways.
Raise Your Dare - Nike Tottenham Hotspur 2020/21 kit launch
“We are the N17 athletes* and we’re here to make our mark. We take on the impossible to claim London as our stage. Raising our game and doing it with a dare mentality.”
To launch the 2020 Tottenham Hotspur kits, we wanted to inspire N17’s untameable youth to take on anything. Encouraging them not to focus on where they’ve been before, but fill them with self-belief in where they are going next. In a series of editorial pieces, we asked Tottenham players how they are raising their dare mentality, finding untrodden grounds unique to them. No looking back, only reflections of what made them, with a focus on pushing the limits on what they Dare To Do.
It’s time to Raise Your Dare
The pocket operator is the future of synthesizers, but for first timers they can be hard to use.
So to demo the Pocket Operator, we made it the controller for a gaming experience like no other.
The longer you play the higher your bird soars, avoiding obstacles from Teenage Engineering’s visual world, from submarines and sewing machines. Through the gameplay and additional tips and tricks, the experience encouraged people to test out every button and function on the PO.
In just 7 days we’d thought up, designed, built and set up the Pocket Operator demo attracting people to the launch event in New York and teaching people how to experiment with new beats.
Whether it’s a reality show, a talent show or a cookery show, all French teens have a TV programme they can relate to.
We brought Tresor’s vindictive tribe of Chocovore characters to a whole new level of mean, as they hunt their beloved milk chocolate prey. Having infiltrated a range of reality TV shows, disguises are donned and elaborate plans are laid to subject unsuspecting chocolates to increasingly surprising methods of melting.
'HERE WE ARE: Notes For Living On Planet Earth', is based on a book a by Oliver Jeffers. The film follows Finn; who, on Earth Day, learns about the wonders of the planet from his parents - and from a mysterious exhibit at the aptly titled Museum of Everything.
The 30 minute short film is adapted & directed by Philip Hunt, narrated by Meryl Streep and features the voices of Chris O’Dowd, Ruth Negga and Jacob Tremblay. The animation was made by Studio AKA for Apple’s new streaming platform, Apple TV+.
On July 30th, we spent the day with some of the women who are changing the way we look at black history. We invited activist Imarn Ayton and the girls from The Black Curriculum down to a studio in Haggerston where we captured their portraits and listened to their inspiring stories. These interviews are just the first in a series where we set out to amplify the voices of important female figures in the black community. These are the minds behind the movement. Read the full Sutcase Magazine article here
Welcome to VS|VR. A state-of-the-art experience, bringing Ladbrokes into the future of entertainment.
Grab your headset to jump into a world of the unknown. Enter our high-class sports lounge. Interact with your friends and take them on in a variety of sports.
Tee off to an epic view with on a driving range like no other. Shoot hoops in the ball court. Step up to the Oche for a round of darts. Select your players in 5-a-side. Go head-to-head, no matter what you choose.
The aim is simple. Rack up points, climb your way up the leaderboard. The higher you score, the higher you rank.
Taking on friends? You can place wagers on the outcome. If you win, you’ll score coins with our in-game currency.
What can you do with those coins? Use them to kit out your Avatar in the store.
Are you ready to play?
For over 50 years of success and failure, Honda has never stopped believing in the power of dreams.
Launch
We created an emotionally powered film that engages the imagination and embraces Japanese culture. It’s an approach that reveals Honda’s reason for racing, shows its rich heritage and emphasises that success and failure are inextricably linked. But overriding them both is the power of dreams.
A new social look
To differentiate Honda to other racing brands, we introduced a new visual direction and built a platform to highlight ‘The Power of One’. New frames were introduced around the social posts with dynamic moving borders and bold backgrounds used for different styles of content giving us a realm of new possibilities.
The power of one content
We created a range of deep insights pieces that feature key members of the team and the role they play in Honda’s pursuit for progression, bringing together technology and humanity. The power of one’ blog posts took one member of the team and delved deep into their own area of expertise, how they got to where they are today or what they can tell us about new racing technology, showing how the power of one role plays a key part in something bigger.
Russians do things differently. They’re not tame and they always take things up a level. So why should we follow the rules?
To launch Nike’s winter campaign for the Sochi olympics we encouraged Russian people to show us how they ‘Play Russian’.
With #PLAYRUSSIAN we created Nike's first ever 100% user generated film, packed with wild stunts from ice football to arctic surfing. The video was played on the opening day of the Sochi Winter Olympics 2014. To follow this up we created a series of events in Moscow for the public to compete in covering 3 different sports. One idea was to use a helicopter from the Russian military base to build a snowboard park, but understandably it was impossible so we improvised and built our own.
Run the night - A night time run in frozen temperatures | Football never stops - A 24 hour football tournament on ice | Helipark - A snowboard park built around a helicopter.
Amplify is a new Ladbrokes side brand that sets out to unite music and Football with a lineup of live gigs across the country.
It kicked off in style at the Liverpool’s legendary Cavern Club, where breakthrough local band Red Rum Club took to the stage to perform to hundreds of fans – guest presented by Polly James.
For the rest of the year we have plans to turn it up a level. We’ve partnered with AEG to give away thousands of gig tickets for top artists like Ed Sheeran, Wolf Alice, and Slowthai. And not only that. We’ll also be setting up events at top UK festivals like All Points East, Forwards Festival and Boardmasters.
Ladbrokes Amplify - Play Your Way
Creators are currently reshaping the way of working, taking their desks wherever they go.
We used a variety of people from entrepreneurs to students and asked them to show how the Galaxy note gives them their own #DreamDesk.
Three videos from three completely different people explored the locations of their dream desks. One of the films directed by Timothy Allen follows someone who started off as a news photographer before leaving it all behind to take his photography across the planet.
Zombies Meet Snowboarding.
Night Fury is a zombie-esque short snowboard film set at night in Japan for the sponsors RedBull and Burton.
The concept came from an old Japanese fable about a women who lived in the snowy forests who would devour anyone who would enter.
Night Fury challenges the perception of snowboarding as a daytime entity and combines a dark, playful, visual celebration of all things that snowboarding at night can bring.
Diaries Downunder, is a web series renowned for showcasing New Zealand snowboarding at its finest. It’s about finding a journey that inspires more journeys, and there’s no place better to do this than New Zealand.
The series provided content for Air New Zealand, and promoted southern hemisphere snowboarding for Tourism New Zealand and Destination Queenstown. Each season the episodes follow pro snowboarders through snow lifestyle, competitions to documenting their wild backcountry adventures.
The London tube map design has never shown the distances between stations.
So during the London tube strikes we helped commuters by writing the walking distances between each station on our own revamped version of the map.
Suddenly people realised that they could get from Charing Cross to Embankment in just two minutes. The map went viral across blogs like Buzzfeed and Ads Of The World, and every time there’s a tube strike it picks up the same attention.
We achieved around 3 million impressions, helped thousands beat the tube strikes, and our portfolio was viewed over 200,000 times, as well as being featured in Huffingpost, The Standard, ITV, Independent, BBC, Daily Mail, City AM.
Gold - Fresh Awards
Winner - Creative out of home awards
The Glitch boot was created to change your look and give you a range of styles on the pitch.
So we created an epic launch party to introduce the glitch football boot to influencers with each room themed around a different boot combination.
The venue was kitted out as a creators paradise. They got to experience the boot that they had helped to create with a range of new skins, freestyle sessions, Insta booths, DJ sets, and appearances from influencers including Vuj, Sangyun, Armando Galaviz, Seokjin Kim, Chris Pottle and many more.
If you could ask a T-Rex anything, what would it be? How many teeth have you got? When did you exist? How big is your poo!?
For Nat Geo Kids we created a bot with an educational purpose. It let kids to find out everything they needed to know about a T-Rex by having a one to one conversation with it.
There was a 6% uplift in subscriptions to the magazine and 2000% rise in Facebook page visitors. Who knew a typing, teaching T-rex could be so influential?
'The first truly awesome chatbot’ - Fast Company
Alongside the Diaries Downunder series we spent two seasons creating a spin-off web series to promote snow sport tourism within the snowy depths of Japan for Air New Zealand, Niseko Japan and Hakuba Tourism. The series follows a team of snowboarders navigating powder fantasies and cultural journeys through some of Japan’s most hidden terrain.
Football obsessed teens are savvy with their social presence. It gives them bragging rights among their mates.
We gave Tango league players a way to show off their skills to the world through a series of football and social media challenges.
The Tango All-Stars were set challenges that pitched them against each other for dominance of London’s cages, stadiums and the Youtube HQ. Every time a challenge took place, the MVP who won would claim a point as their own and rise up the rankings against their opponents in the battle to become the ultimate Tango all star.
The Lada Rally is a seven-day car race across Eastern Europe, with the aim of visiting countries you've never been to before, creating tales that you can't tell at family gatherings, and raising a load of money for exeptional refugee charities.
For the past three summers, everyone's favourite week of decadence has sped out of Tallinn, Estonia, arriving in Thessaloniki, Greece, seven days later with tales of rough roads, notorious nations and shady stories.
At the end of the Lada Rally all cars are donated to charities working on the ground in Greece, so that as well as providing a week of bliss, the cars then go on to save lives.
As part of the organising team my main role is providing social content and ensuring that each rally is well documented to encourage new sign ups for the next rally.