Tennis. What a weird old sport. It’s already considered ‘meh’ by a target audience of wealthy Americans (who last got excited by the sport when Agassi had longer hair than Pamela Anderson), so our film about Roger Federer had to be something pretty special and unique to get their attention.
“Art is kinda like sport for people who don’t enjoy running.”
Insight
Credit Suisse wanted to develop a deeper relationship with High Net Worth Individuals and Mass Affluent audiences.
To do this, we were given an opportunity to make a short film with tennis legend and Credit Suisse ambassador Roger Federer. But would anyone watch it? In the US the most popular sports among wealthy individuals are golf (55.1%), soccer (49.8%) and skiing (20.7%). Tennis is 4th with just 15.3% declaring an interest.*
Rather than create a niche film with limited engagement, we broadened our scope from tennis to include art. 85% of wealth managers believe art should be a part of their client offering**, so we know the interest is much greater.
With Roger Federer nearing retirement age, we believed that focusing on his passion for art – not sports – would resonate with our audience as a demonstration of someone broadening their interests in an authentic way.
**Robb Report, 2017
45 minute documentary aired on CNBC live and VOD. The project included a 60” TVC and over two years’ work bringing it to air.
The work
Roger posed as a model – anonymously – and became Cloud #6, after a process involving him stripping to his underwear, being suspended from a harness and having mouldmaking goop painted all over his face.
Our documentary explores the shared characteristics of art and elite sports – the dedication, inventiveness and sacrifice needed to reach the highest peaks. It also meant we could create some funky title graphics, like this one.
There’s a lot of blue goop involved in making perfect copies of Roger Federer – more than you’d realise.
Roger posed as a model – anonymously – and became Cloud #6, after a process involving him stripping to his underwear, being suspended from a harness and having mouldmaking goop painted all over his face.
Each model was 3D scanned and manipulated with CGI to achieve the perfect pose and remove all the pesky wires and harnesses holding them up.
Each model was assembled and painted as a blue sky with clouds. For something suspended high above from the ceiling, the final results are astonishingly detailed.
Roger Federer teamed up with artist Ugo Rondinone, who was preparing a sculpture for the Venice Biennale. The work, called ‘Burn, Shine, Fly’, is composed of androgynous figures posed in the air while painted as clouds. Roger posed as a model – anonymously – and became Cloud #6, after a process involving him stripping to his underwear, being suspended from a harness and being covered from head to toe in mouldmaking goop.
The documentary became a premium 45 minute film and we partnered with CNBC to air it in the US. It received over 22m impressions online with 3m completed views, and was featured on the Today Show.
“A real collaborative working mentality, and the results are spectacular.
