Why This Director Used Behind-the-Scenes Footage of Influencers to Promote Milk
In an age where more and more varieties of milk are bubbling up, the original, cow-created variety often finds itself in need of clever campaigns to keep up with new, alternatively-sourced competitors. Such was the case when Les Producteurs de lait du Quebec found itself wanting to promote milk to a demographic that’s especially fond of newer varieties: gen z. So, to make this happen, it partnered up with LG2, media agency Touché!, and production company Consulat with the hopes of helping this generation rediscover a classic beverage.
Specifically, the teams realised that the best way to do this would be to capitalise on gen z’s love of nostalgia. So, under director Samuel Pasquier, they decided to create a campaign capitalising on ‘90s and 2000s hype. Centring around behind the scenes footage featuring eight popular influencers having some fun, ‘Filtré par le Lait’ all serves to highlight a digital filter called ‘Milkeye’, which is inspired by the popular fisheye lens and allows users to personalise their selfies across social media platforms.
To learn just what it took to bring this to life, and why this was the right creative choice for the brief, LBB’s Jordan Won Neufeldt sat down with Samuel for a chat.
LBB> What was the brief like for this campaign? And why was it something you were keen to be involved in?
Samuel> The original brief was a simple notoriety campaign aiming to connect with the younger generation by using a glass as a filter. All we knew was that we would shoot young, cool, eclectic people on a white background, and that we needed to find a way to elevate it. It was great to have the opportunity to bounce ideas and collaborate with the art directors at LG2 from the very beginning.
LBB> Notably, the plan was to use BTS video to promote the product, rather than a standard spot. How did this impact your approach to storyboarding, if at all? And what initial ideas came to mind?
Samuel> The idea behind the BTS stuff was just a way to make the campaign feel more honest than traditional advertising. Instead of feeding the cast members pre-approved lines, we wanted to capture how they really felt about whole milk, and what their relationship with it was. We had ideas about different subjects that we wanted to talk about with them, but by keeping everything unscripted, we ended up with a much more genuine result.
LBB> Building on this, you were given the very specific task of capitalising on ‘90s and 2000s nostalgia. What do these eras represent to you, and how did they influence your creative approach?
Samuel> I wouldn’t call it nostalgia since gen z didn’t really experience that era, but the visual codes and general aesthetic of that time were some things we thought were really efficient to communicate an almost amateur look, to make the viewers feel like they were part of the campaign. The wide angles also helped, dynamising the images to reflect the energy of the whole project.
LBB> Tell us about pre-production. Were you bringing any cool tech or gear to the project? And what inspired the choices you made?
Samuel> Ha yes, cool, but far from fancy! We used a variety of mediums like GoPros, cell phones, 360 cameras and mini DV across the whole thing. The more dummy-proof they were, the more we liked it, because it allowed us to simply keep shooting without having to be slowed down by the technical aspect of it. It also allowed the cast members to shoot stuff themselves, which added a layer of authenticity.
LBB> The work also centres around the concept of the fisheye lens. From a technical standpoint, how did this impact your approach?
Samuel> It was a head scratcher for sure! Shooting in studio with a fisheye through a glass can be very limiting lighting-wise since we see the setup on all sides and can’t really edit it out because we see it through the glasses and not on a plain background. We had to do multiple tests for lighting, but also to know what length and circumference of glass would work best to end up with the result we wanted.
LBB> Notably, you worked with live influencers to make this happen. How did you approach directing them to bring out their best? Was it different from working with actors?
Samuel> Totally different, but in a good way. It allowed us to approach the shoot in an almost documentary kind of workflow where we would just react in real time to each person’s energy, trying to reflect their actual personalities.
LBB> The editing really brings the work to life. Did you have a hand in this? And if so, what were you aiming for?
Samuel> Truthfully, I think the actual directing of the spots came mostly from the editing room. We had so much footage at our disposal that the editing always started in a super instinctive way, with as few boundaries as possible to keep that fast-paced feel. We also knew that a lot of the clips would be on social media, so we wanted to make it pretty upbeat to keep the viewers engaged.
LBB> Equally so, the soundtrack is very funky. Can you tell us more about how this came to life?
Samuel> It’s three original songs that we commissioned so we could adapt the music to the images, instead of the other way around. Honestly, we had rough ideas of what we wanted, so we just gave a lot of freedom to the music studio to see what the team’s take on it was.
LBB> What challenges have you faced during this project? How did you overcome them?
Samuel> Well, the absence of milk in a milk campaign can be a pretty tough sell. We did a lot of back and forth about this specific aspect and landed on adding some milk bubbles at the bottom of the glass. We originally wanted to do it all on camera, so we experimented with milk, glue, resin, paint, and a bunch of other stuff to see what would read the best while being almost static for plates. At the end of the day, post production is what saved us.
LBB> Finally, what lessons have you learned from the making of this campaign?
Samuel> It takes a lot of effort to make something look effortless.
