From womb stories to new coca-cola and food initiatives to celebrating Covid-19 warriors, here is our pick of the latest in video communications. For more from #CommunicateLens, follow @Communicatemag.

Bodyform

Monthly and daily intimate care products Bodyform worked with creative agency Abbott Mead Vickers BBDO to create ‘Wombstories,’ a video campaign focusing on the complex realities of wombs, vulvas and periods women have to deal with on a daily basis. The film centres around two parallel one womb stories: in one, who is in a same-sex relationship, has a miscarriage while the other is seen having intercourse yet praying she is not pregnant. Aside from these two central stories, there are other smaller, more mundane womb tales that picture the day to day life of women’s health, from including one girl who is seen is lying down on the bathroom floor fighting endometriosis cramps, while another one plucks her nipple hairs. All the women’s different narratives are seen to be controlled by an animated world in the womb: as a woman sneezes, the inside world hits the period ‘floodgate’ button; as another one suffers menopausal hot flashes, the animated world is seen trying to cool down flames inside.

The theme that ripples throughout the entire video is that of regeneration, which emphasises the idea that women are all connected through shared experiences of pain or pleasure; the scene of one woman miscarrying is followed by that of a girl who gets her first period. Using a mix of live clips and different animation styles, the powerful film breaks every rule and taboo associated with women’s bodies and healthy, such as the menstruation cycle. It is not afraid to a shine light on the truths of the female reproductive system, and aims at educating people about this topic, while slowly eroding the stigma and shame that surrounds it.

Coca-Cola

Coca-Cola worked with marketing agency Anomaly NY to create its first new piece of creative since the Covid-10 breakout centres around Coke and food. The video inaugurates the new global platform for Coke and Food, ‘Together tastes better,’ a fully integrated program comprising of new initiatives to support local restaurants and a partnership with Disney, Lin Manuel and Jose Andres to bring families together to celebrate the Hamilton premiere. The video, ‘The Great Meal’, conveys the brand’s optimistic take on this shared experience, celebrating some of the silver linings of the time spent over meals and around the table. The one-and-a-half-minute video, which was filmed remotely during lockdown, showcases 13 real families, couples and housemates from eight different cities around the world including Orlando, Lisbon, London Mumbai and Mexico City. Each household is seen cooking a native dish and sharing it around the dinner table amidst joy and laughter, as the narrator, up-and-coming actress Soleil Patterson, reminds viewers how the quarantine has allowed people to realise and rediscover the small things that matter in life.

“We wanted to bring to life, in the most authentic and respectful way, the role that food has been playing in our lives these days. Our take was that whatever our race, religion or nationality, we all have come to re-appreciate a bit more those moments that really matter. That's Coke's way of seeing the glass as half full,” says Carlos Alija, group creative director at Anomaly, NY.

UNIMED Hospital

Criativo Gato Preto, Brazilian visual communication agency created a video, ‘Closing Brazil’s Field Hospital: Covid-19’ for the UNIMED Hospital, in Fortaleza, north-eastern Brazil. Working with advertising agency Acesso Comunicação agency, Criativo Gato Preto sought to capture the emotion of the UNIMED hospital doctors when the Covid19-dedicated wing was closed. The two-minute video opens with scenes from the Covid-19 hospital, now empty and full of pictures of the medical staff hanging from the walls, a true ode to their restless fight. The video captures the surprised and touched faces of the doctors as they come in and see a myriad of letters, photographs and cards all over the room.  

‘After all, I’ve never seen anyone here give up fighting,’ says the narrator, speaking about both medical staff and patients. It is a finish line both sides crossed together, resulting in a shared victory. At the end of the video, a staff member takes off his masks and, looking into a camera, says that even though that wing of the hospital is closing, their care will always continue. The overall project celebrates the doctors who tirelessly faced insurmountable challenges in the past months as they fought a war with an invisible enemy.

BRMi

BRMi, an American information technology services firm supporting both government and commercial markets, worked with Washington DC-based Foundation Digital Media to create a series of corporate video projects that celebrates the company’s achievement and its talented and diverse team. The one-minute video opens with the president of the company Mike Battle speaking to the camera about the BRMi’s objective, to help ‘organisations visualise the art of the possible, visualise what change really means.’ As he speaks about what makes BRMi different from other companies around the beltway, caring about its clients, the video features different black and white clips of BRMi staff working with people one on one and then goes onto show the same staff members smiling to the camera. The focus on different team members throughout the video emphasises the unique and diverse culture of the company, which is what allows them to provide excellent services.