Meet GOOD-IDEA: The Cinematic Production Company Making Ads Feel Like Films

This industry is all about ideas. But ideas are fragile; and in the relentless cut and thrust of the modern creative maelstrom they often need protection. 

Thankfully, that’s exactly what GOOD-IDEA (a production company created by director Ross Allen and EP Mack Stannard alongside DP Mitchell Baxter) is set up to provide. Establishing themselves as both generators and guardians of ideas, GOOD-IDEA’s ethos is centred around the belief that quality requires a duty of care throughout the creative process. 

“What we do really well as a team is dropping ego and ensuring that the best idea wins”, says Ross. “What I love to do with creatives is ask them what got them excited about an idea in the first place, versus where it is at the point we come aboard a project. Sometimes they’ll be frank and tell us that the idea is nearly dead - at which point our job is to come in and revive it”. 

Striking a note of agreement, Mack explains how the GOOD-IDEA team is motivated by quality. "We are driven by the desire to tell unique stories that inspire and inform”, he says. “We believe in the power of narratives that captivate audiences, leaving a lasting impact. Every project we undertake is an opportunity to ignite curiosity, spark conversations, and create meaningful connections between brands and their audiences".

As Mitchell goes on to explain, it’s a philosophy which can be applied at any point along the ideation or production process. “We have a muscle memory of collaboration as a team, which only ever helps us add to ideas in whatever state and at whatever stage they’re in”, he notes. “We’re always happy to be involved in post-production, for example - sometimes that’s where the most work needs to be done in terms of preserving ideas”. 

It’s an approach neatly summed up by Ross as “teamwork without bureaucracy”. For this team, the idea always takes precedence. And, of course, the proof is in the results. Reflecting on the work that most stands out from their relatively short time as a collective so far, neither Ross nor Mitchell is short of examples. 

“One which jumps straight to my mind is our Surfer spot for Audi”, recalls Ross. “That feels like a tentpole piece of work in part because of the absolute creative trust that we shared with the brand and agency - Taxi - on that shoot”. 

Above: Ross and the GOOD-IDEA team’s work on this spot for Audi e-tron provides a perfect example of how ads can be made to feel like films. 

Building on that point, Mitchell casts his mind back to a project which perhaps most clearly exemplifies the virtues of the company’s committed and integrity-driven approach to film craft. 

“I think The Limit of Love was an important one, as a pure example of an idea which was solely ours that we saw through from beginning to end”, he says. 

Above: The Limit of Love encapsulates GOOD-IDEA’s collective willingness to tackle abstract and often complex subject matter. The artfully crafted short film plays out as a reflection on, in its creators’ words, “the subconscious paradox of loving eternally whilst fearing the end.” 

Already, there’s a theme emerging from across GOOD-IDEA’s work. It’s that uncanny ability to make an ad feel like entertainment - even a feature film. And, as two of the company’s co-founders explain, that’s no accident. 

“I would say that we make films, not ads”, says Ross. “And what I mean by that is we bring the storytelling integrity to a commercial shoot that we would do to one of our shorts. Our belief is that it shines through in the quality of the finished product. Because people don’t really want to be advertised to; but they love stories”. 

It’s a characteristic which is present, too, in GOOD-IDEA’s work for Kraft Dinner. That project - which lent on a simultaneously cinematic and humorous approach to celebrating Team Canada’s Olympic athletes - represents another example of the company’s ability to elevate advertising. 

“We worked with one of the best drone companies in North America”, says Mitchell, “and we ended up challenging them and seeing them rise to that. It was incredibly satisfying to be a part of”. 

Above: Canadian race walker and Olympian Evan Dunfee was the star of this dryly comic - yet somehow still epic - spot for KD. 

Although creative integrity is clearly important to Mitchell and Ross, their cinematic, ideas-centric approach has benefits which go beyond the artistic. “I don’t think anyone passively watches ads anymore - there are just too many ways to skip or be distracted when a piece of content hasn’t caught your attention”, notes Ross. “So our aim is to create pieces that earn the right to be watched. That’s why we treat ads like feature films. You need that level of craft and gravitas because, if you underestimate your audience, you’ve already lost them”. 

It’s a high-minded approach, but one which feels perfectly pitched amidst our current era of non-stop content. For millions - perhaps even billions - of us, there is content we want to watch and the content we need to sift through to get there. GOOD-IDEA is about helping brands become more of the former, and less of the latter. 

Above all else, it’s a timely reminder of perhaps this industry’s most vital truth: That good ideas are worth protecting.