Here’s our selection of the latest in video communications from Coca-Cola and Google partnerships to the Holocaust Memorial Day. For more from #CommunicateLens, follow @Communicatemag

Coca-Cola

To celebrate Christmas, Coca-Cola partnered with brand designer Ogilvy Colombia to create the video ‘A Year To Share’, which celebrates how, despite differences, everyone is a little bit closer during “the best time of the year”. The video mimicked Google’s ‘A Year in Review’ which showcases popular trends each year. In fact, Google helped Ogilvy and Coca-Cola carry out the campaign with the sole use of data. Thanks to Google’s exhaustive research of global searches every month of 2019, which it then filtered to remove political, religious or non-brand safe themes and cross-referenced with data sets from the New York Times and Wikipedia, they were able to create a month-per-month search. The results showed that as the holidays approached, the searches began drifting towards similar themes. A special Google Trends dashboard branded Coke also includes monthly breakup of the searches divided in different categories, like tv series/movies, politics and entertainment and locations.

Holocaust Memorial Day

To mark the seventh anniversary of the liberation of the Nazi concentration camp Auschwitz, football players and managers featured in ‘Stand Together’, a video that urges viewers to never forget what happened and stand together to counter racism and discrimination. The short clip, written and directed by Malcolm Green in partnership with 14 Premier League and Championship clubs stars major football players like the men’s and women’s England captain, and Liverpool and Chelsea mangers. Interchanging close-ups of football players and coaches who speak to the camera with chilling photos from Nazi concentration camps, ‘Stand Together’ emphasises the dangers of supporting hatred through the power of silence and acting as a bystander to atrocities. The video uses Holocaust Memorial Day to remind people to stand up against all types of discrimination, not only antisemitism. It includes a picture of two gay girls who were beaten up by homophobes, and a poster reading ‘no more mosques,’ calling out on islamophobia.

Marvel

Marvel partnered with creative branding agency loyalkaspar to create a global campaign encouraging audiences to incorporate some of Marvel heroes’ confidence in their everyday lives. The 30-second video, which also aired in Times Square above the Disney Store, sought to promote Marvel content now available on Disney+ and emphasise the offerings of the brand which connects fans across the world but also attract casual viewers. Anna Minkkinen, executive creative director of loyalkaspar says, “The ultimate goal of the campaign is to reach out to the casual fans out there – to help all kinds of people connect with Marvel and to give them an entry point into what the brand is really about.” The video seems to tell viewers that there is space for anyone in the Marvel world (which holds a library of over 8,000 characters) regardless of race, age, or physical appearance. The idea that everyone has their own unique power is highlighted by the fast sequence of action shots that alternate between everyday Marvel fans and real Marvel characters and include a girl running with a prosthetic leg. “We loved the idea of pairing characters from the Marvel universe moving toward camera with everyday people who love the brand – giving them that same swagger,” Minkkinen adds.

Royal Ascot 2020

Royal Ascot teamed up with independent creative agency Isobel to create a Netflix style trailer ahead of their next big event in June. The one-minute video centres around the story of two racegoers, one of whom is Hayley Turner (the second-ever female to a ride a Royal Ascot winner), who meet at an annual social event. As the racegoers chase each other’s gazes with increasing intensity, the background music gains more momentum, helping create a cliff-hanger moment which fills the viewers with curiosity on what will happen next. The plot line is powerful thanks to vivid and luminous cinematic photography showcasing racing horses and zooming in on the face of the racegoers as they look for one another in the crowd. The camera clearly pictures their longing. The star ratings and comments from reviewers (‘an emotional rollercoaster), which briefly interrupt the fast sequence of images make it really seem like the trailer of an upcoming must-see movie. ‘Be part of the drama’, the video encourages the audience.