Mo Salah Reflects on His Eventful Life in This Visually Striking Alex Bank Ad

Alex Bank, one of the largest banks in Egypt, has launched a new campaign in collaboration with JWT Cairo. Co-produced by ASAP Productions Egypt and MADAM and directed by Rob Sanders, the film sees Mo Salah reflect on his success, challenges and ambition to be where he is today.

The one-day shoot with pre-light and dressing day came with a time pressure of a 5-day turnaround for creative requiring a high level of production design. The 60-second commercial brief was to create various setups using image projection for an in-camera effect and one of the biggest challenges was creating these different opportunities for projection across a variety of mediums in a short space of time. Design solutions included a monolith steel cube, glass screen and a wall of smoke with a lighting design team working in tandem with MADAM’S go-to production designer, Jane Carroll, to create the smoke and light screens. Each creative option was given its own set for director choice on the shoot day.

Michelle Stapleton, executive producer and co-founder, MADAM says: "It’s always a pleasure to be able to put your producer hat on and work alongside the director as well as servicing, which I was able to do on this job. The client was really brave with this idea. Visually arresting and very emotional and for a Bank - a rare combination indeed."

The project sees MADAM return once again to Liverpool with the production consisting fully of local crew who are regular contributors to the production company’s portfolio of work out of the city. Clients JWT Cairo and Mo Salah also returned as clients of MADAM, with the partnership completed by ASAP Productions Egypt. ASAP and MADAM are country partners within the Production Service Network, providing the opportunity to work globally with a network of experienced and trusted production companies.

Amin El Masri, executive producer, ASAP Productions Egypt says: "Being a hands-on producer, not being able to attend this shoot after having been awarded the project, wasn’t easy at all. The decision to trust Madam to co-produce this film turned out to be a spot-on decision. Madam made me feel as if I was there in person and handled all the on-the-ground production just perfectly."

Shot in Liverpool, the production used a former location of critically acclaimed TV drama Peaky Blinders.

Carly Stone, executive producer and co-founder, Madam Films says: "The brief came in on the Saturday, job confirmed Sunday evening and we were pre-lighting by the Friday. It is unusual to receive creative starring a premier footballer that doesn't including playing football, we loved this visual idea and had an amazing team to pull it together so quickly."