To many people in the creative industry, the file-sharing service WeTransfer is a functional backdrop of their workdays. But the tech company is also the co-creator of a film that has qualified for the Oscars.
The Long Goodbye—a short film made by WeTransfer’s editorial platform, WePresent; actor and musician Riz Ahmed; and director Aneil Karia—won the Grand Prix at this year’s HollyShorts Film Festival, which makes it eligible for consideration at the next Academy Awards. The film also garnered WeTransfer its first prizes at the Cannes International Festival of Creativity, winning one gold and two silver Lions this year.
While many brands’ attempts at making original content or entertainment often go unnoticed, WeTransfer is an exception to that rule. Projects such as The Long Goodbye have helped the company gain real artistic cred.
Part of WeTransfer’s credibility in this space comes from its deep roots in the creative sector. Since the time of its launch in Amsterdam in 2009, its founders have used some of the website’s advertising space to spotlight their artist friends. About 75% of its users work in the creative industry, and the company still donates 30% of its advertising space to artists and creatives.
WePresent, which launched in 2018, was a natural offshoot of WeTransfer’s ties to the creative community. WePresent now has a staff of 10 working across Amsterdam, Los Angeles and London, and produces editorial features, short films, music videos, photography series, exhibitions and social media activations. While it is basically a content marketing division, it operates separately from WeTransfer’s marketing department and has a more unusual goal for a brand.
“The intent of the work we do is not to drive product subscriptions or brand kudos, but to create authentic relationships with artists we believe in. ‘Authentic’ has become a hackneyed term in brand work, but for us it’s about making sure it’s truly a collaboration,” said Holly Fraser, editor in chief of WePresent. “Our ultimate goal is to continue pushing the cultural needle in some way.”
Adweek spoke to WePresent about three of its recent projects and what other brands can learn from its creative approach.
The Long Goodbye
The 2020 short film, which stars Ahmed and coincided with his album of the same name, imagines a dystopian near future where a British South Asian family is violently rounded up and packed away in a black van with guns pointed to their heads. Ahmed said the piece was about “being broken up with by the country they live in.”
This project was “a perfect case study for how we work with artists,” Fraser said. “It’s never about us trying to put a WePresent stamp on it or pushing the brand’s perspective. It’s about making sure the artist’s voice is front and center and that we’re a collaborative and supportive partner, investing in the artists we believe in.”
WeTransfer started talking to Ahmed about a collaboration in spring 2019, when he was well-known in the U.K. but had not yet skyrocketed to international fame.
“It’s never about latching onto star power or a big name,” Fraser said. “It’s about working with artists we feel have something relevant and important to say—spotlighting people from the very early stages of their career right through to people like Marina Abramović. [The brand collaborated with the artist and filmmaker on a project in 2021.] For us, it’s about trusting an artist from an early stage and having that gut instinct to believe in them.”
While many brands have been guilty of “co-opting a culture they know nothing about” when creating content, Fraser said WePresent is careful to make sure everyone on the creative team, both onscreen and behind the scenes, “understand the nuances of a story” and can tell it authentically.
“We want to further a cultural conversation, rather than just push ourselves,” she added.
I Love You, I Hate You
Following the release of her 2021 album Sometimes I Might Be Introvert, British rapper Little Simz collaborated with WePresent to make a short film called I Love You, I Hate You to accompany one of her more personal tracks by the same name.
The 22-minute piece is a fictionalized story that follows a young Black writer named Sage, who battles writer’s block that affects her relationship and unearths some unresolved trauma. The film stars Simz and is inspired by her own experience with an absent father.
Like the collaboration with Ahmed, I Love You, I Hate You was a long time in the making. WePresent began talking to Simz about the project in February, months before she had released her album.
“What people sometimes don’t understand is these conversations take a long time,” Fraser explained.
The team went through around 10 versions of the script and numerous rounds of casting.
“We try to be as collaborative as possible and never overbearing with the artist, particularly when it’s a story that’s so personal,” Fraser said. “It’s about giving the artist space—we wanted it to be as true to Simz as possible and respect her vision. Maybe it ended up taking eight months, but the piece is better for it.”
Blackalachia
WePresent’s most recent project, released on Dec. 8, is a 67-minute live performance starring and directed by critically acclaimed artist Moses Sumney. Blackalachia was filmed over two days in the Blue Ridge Mountains of North Carolina and features songs from Sumney’s albums Grae and Aromanticism.
“This is the longest piece of film work we’ve ever done,” Fraser said. “At first there were questions about whether it was too long, but this was about trusting Moses and his artistry. He’s a true visionary.”
Ultimately, giving artists the freedom to stay true to their own vision, rather than the brand’s point of view, has helped WePresent build trust and forge lasting relationships with creative talent. The evidence is in its ongoing collaborations with artists such as Simz and Ahmed.
That is Fraser’s biggest goal for WePresent going forward: “I want to continue building close relationships with these artists who we’ve built a level of trust with and who we really believe in,” she said. “Riz, Simz and Moses are examples of artists with such complex themes in their work, whose work is going to last the test of time. We look for work that will push the cultural needle.”
Fraser’s dream list of collaborators includes icons such as painter David Hockney, as well as artists who are earlier in their career, such as American rapper Kendrick Lamar, whose music “feels generation- defining,” she said.
“We’re just constantly searching for newness,” Fraser said. “For us, the exciting thing is finding the bridge between emerging and established, and making sure the story at the heart of it is engrossing.”
