Many citizens of Earth would tell you that our planet is a bit of a mess right now, what with our pending environmental calamity, a series of intractable conflicts destabilizing entire continents, and the global political malaise embodied by whatever last night’s vice presidential debate was supposed to be.
But maybe they’re missing the forest for the trees … and the forest really is quite impressive.
Wieden + Kennedy Amsterdam just released what is undoubtedly its most epic effort for S7 (formerly known as Siberia Airlines) since winning the business back in 2014. The anthem spot effectively argues, via disparate footage of the Earth’s extremities, that ours is still a pretty great planet. One can determine by process of elimination that it is, in fact, the best one we have.
Nice strategy in terms of depicting S7 as a global entity before zooming out to reveal the source of the voiceover and reaffirm the client’s status as Russia’s largest domestic airline.
The summary reads:
We’ve been given two wonderful gifts.
Without argument, the best world there is.
And a life to experience that world.
This is true, and it’s also true that—as the VO tells us at the opening—that no copy can really do justice to great footage of natural wonders like the cave that appears around the :17 mark.
The client’s group deputy general director Tatiana Fileva says, “With this campaign we wanted to show our planet from a new, unexpected perspective to inspire passengers to travel, discover and explore amazing places. Travel is the opportunity to experience new sensations, to see the beauty and feel the energy of Earth.”
Beyond this spot, the campaign will include print, OOH, radio and various digital activations. It will also feature “building wraps and billboards across Russia,” which sounds intriguing given the GIF-ified work W+K Amsterdam did for Nike last year.
The theme is in keeping with W+K’s past work for this client, which encouraged viewers to see it as an international carrier with the tagline “Fly anywhere you can imagine” and moved into VR territory by allowing certain lucky participants to visit exotic locations without leaving their seats.
But, again, there’s also a bit of national pride there via Mr. Borisenko, who “spent 164 days away from Earth on his last expedition,” in an attempt to appeal to the brand’s key Russian demographic.
CREDITS
S7 AIRLINES
Deputy General Director Tatiana Fileva
Marketing Communications Director Eleonora Romanova
Brand Manager Alexandra Komarova
Head of Production Group Alexey Krasnov
Head of Online Group Elmira Agaeva
PR Director Irina Kolesnikova
Head of Media Group Natalia Kozlova
WIEDEN+KENNEDY AMSTERDAM
Executive Creative Directors Mark Bernath, Eric Quennoy
Creative Directors Joe Burrin, Evgeny Primachenko
Art Director Jordi Luna
Copywriter Scott Smith
Head of Content Joe Togneri
Broadcast Producer Michael MacMillan
Planner Martin Weigel, Alexandre Janneau
Group Account Director Clare Pickens
Account Director Jorge Fesser
Account Manager Yulia Prokhorova
Head of Studio Saskia van Zwieten
Head of Art Production Maud Klarenbeek
Studio Artist Noa Redero
Project Manager Cory Chonko
Business Affairs Kacey Kelley
FILM PRODUCTION
PRODUCTION COMPANY PARK PICTURES
Director AG Rojas
Director of Photography Michael Ragen
Executive Producer Stephen Brierley
Head of Production Sophie Hubble
Producer Tim Kerrison
EDITING COMPANY TRIM EDITING
Editor Dominic Leung
AUDIO POST WAVE AMSTERDAM
Sound Designer/Mixer Alex Nicholls-Lee
MUSIC
Composer / Title Philip Kay / There’s No Place Like Earth
Music Company Woodwork Music
POST PRODUCTION MPC AMSTERDAM
Flame Toby Aldridge
Telecine Jean-Clément Soret
Producer Thijs Klaassen
SECOND UNIT
Cameraman Gustavo Alcocer
SERVICE FILM PRODUCTION
PRODUCTION COMPANY (THAILAND) INDOCHINA PRODUCTIONS
Producer Nicholas Simon
PRODUCTION COMPANY (Croatia) Blue Sky Films
Producer Mario Zvan
PRODUCTION COMPANY (Russia) Bazelevs
Producer Sofia Maltseva
PRINT PRODUCTION
PRODUCTION COMPANY WEBBER REPRESENTS
Photographer Thomas Prior
Executive Producer Holly Barder
Photographer / Retoucher Primary Photographic
Type integration Loupe Digital Imaging
Stock imagery Shutterstock