Lowkey Films on “Transcending Traditional Formats” with New Creative Direction Arm
Earlier this month, production company Lowkey Films officially launched its 360 creative direction services, The Suite Shop, offering campaign solutions for artists, management, labels and brands.
This expansion comes as a response to the growing demand from creatives and brands for comprehensive 360° campaigns, extending beyond individual music videos or single TV spots. The goal was to deliver cohesive creative content across all platforms, both digitally and physically. Lowkey’s commitment to impactful, multi-faceted campaigns sits at the core of this move, along with a recognition that sustainable creativity requires constant evolution and collaboration.
But the push was not only internal. Executive procure Tara Bartlett tells us that The Suite Shop partially emerged as a response to industry-wide conversations, particularly in the music sphere, where traditional singular campaign assets have become difficult for brands, labels and clients to justify. “We know that through creating an entire world or ‘brand’, you can have a much bigger impact on engagement and culture. This is ultimately what we will aim to do.”
Today, LBB’s Zoe Antonov speaks to Tara to find out more about the challenges that might come from this change, who needed it most and where The Suite Shop is headed.
LBB> Why was now the time to develop The Suite Shop and how long has it been in the making?
Tara> We felt the landscape shift, which had a big effect on the creatives. There have been far fewer projects that act as a creative playground for directors to flex their ideas – due to budgets having to be spread across multiple mediums, outputs, platforms. We saw this as an opportunity to develop an offering that benefits both creatives and commissioners. By expanding into full service creative direction, the creatives we work with can use their brilliant minds to build full creative campaigns that stretch far beyond a single deliverable, with Lowkey project managing, producing and packaging these ideas, to make sure our clients get all the output they need for a successful campaign.
LBB> How does the introduction of this creative arm change the process of creating a campaign or music video for you?
Tara> Creative direction feels to be a much more collaborative process with much more space and time to develop and deliver meaningful creative, which we know has been more of a recent struggle with music video projects.
We approach a creative direction project by becoming an extension of a label or artist’s team - entirely understanding both the artist's ambitions and the KPIs of the project, to work closely with our creative director and shape a campaign narrative and output that is successful in all of this.
Thinking of it in comparison to a music video - we then deliver what is essentially a mega treatment (what we like to call a ‘brand bible’) that shapes the narrative for the entire campaign, outlining output that can be achieved within budget (but with a creative that can go beyond).
This also isn’t limited to video/photography assets. We’ve built out a network of some of the best graphic and product designers, live broadcast specialists, experiential/pop up events teams etc., that can allow the creative ideation to extend into all spaces that is right for that artist, all with an entirely cohesive creative and delivered under one roof.
LBB> You're now moving closer to full disclosure representation - tell me more about this move, has this been the plan all along and why is it a goal for Lowkey?
Tara> Lowkey has always been about paving the way for doing things differently in the industry. Our creatives have always been exclusive by choice (rather than a strict contract), but this move marks the decision to evolve further from the traditional exclusive representation model and find a way to celebrate the creatives we love with an open collaboration.
We’ve found this allows our creatives to thrive whilst not feeling restricted by exclusive ties to one organisation, and means we have and continue to build strong relationships with some of the most talented creatives currently in the UK and internationally - who have ended up coming back to work with us again by choice, as we provide world-class production and a place to nurture and develop all of their creative ideas, that often the freelance world lacks.
LBB> Tell me more about the talent that is joining Lowkey as part of The Suite Shop and how have they been selected?
Tara> We are committed to making the right creative matches between our creative directors and artist and brand partners, which is why we have been busy building a network of talent with diverse voices, styles and experience - allowing us to take on projects at various levels and suggest the perfect creative to the project.
Examples of this expanded collaborator network include Jenna Marsh (campaigns include Beyonce, Nicki Minaj, Dua Lipa, Charli XCX x Spotify), JP Bonino (CD for the FIZZ album campaign), who join existing two-time Cannes Lion Grand Prix winning BRIGHT NIGHT, and multidisciplinary creative Claryn Chong, both also on our directing roster. The network is growing and we can’t wait to discover more and more amazing talent now the department is fully launched.
LBB> What challenges do you anticipate to come against along the way and how will The Suite Shop overcome them?
Tara> We’re aware it’s a different way of working and that clients diverting from usual processes can feel like a challenge. However, that is why we have put the work in to carefully develop a process and packages to ultimately make our client’s lives much easier and deliver considered campaigns to set them up for success.
LBB> And what are you most excited about in the near future?
Tara> We have workshopped and developed this department in response to a lot of the issues that our clients, and production companies, have been coming up against – so we’re really excited to now properly introduce the offering to our partners and collaborate on some really exciting, impactful campaigns! The possibilities in creative direction are limitless (within reason… and of course budget), but that prospect of delivering ideas that transcend just the traditional format and build an entire world for an artist/brand, is so exciting to us and to our creatives.
