Aspire Campaign - Motion and Stills

Remote shoots are not easy or ideal (makes you really appreciate craft service!). But they are possible. And with a little extra love and attention, you can turn around a pretty successful campaign. That’s what we did for the launch of John Hancock Aspire - the first and only life insurance designed specifically for people living with diabetes. It all started with a single idea: Diabetes doesn’t define you. The goal was to humanize diabetes by having the camera focus on the small details of four characters’ lives, stringing together the little things that shape who they are. The challenge was how to execute such a compelling story in the middle of a pandemic. We partnered with Directing and Photography duo Mindcastle, to achieve logistical and budgetary efficiencies through our shoot days: while one directed the video, the other one would capture still photography. Our core team remained safely quarantined in Boston while the production team led remote live streams from Salt Lake City, Utah to conduct casting, location scouting, wardrobe and pre-pro sessions, and ultimately, the two-day remote shoot. The result was a beautiful film and a library of still images that truly capture the essence of the campaign: the story of your life is made up of many details. Diabetes is just one of them.

Fun fact: we casted for authentic roles. We spent days doing a deep casting call to find a real fisherman, a wood worker, a man passionate about gardening and a musician.

Photography used across social and online placements

questions Campaign - motion and brand partnerships

We all have questions about money, but we don’t necessarily voice them out because of fear of sounding ignorant, stupid or irresponsible. In the financial space, questions can be a powerful tool. So we created a campaign to celebrate them and create a safe, inviting space to ask. It boiled down to a simple idea: It’s good to question.

The plans were in motion…until we got hit with a pandemic and had to come up with a new approach to safely execute the idea during a lockdown. We turned to Element Productions and together came up with a strategy rarely seen in our industry: four different directors collaborating on the same project. Three of them shot scenes in their own homes, with their own families, all in the same style—with a remote lead director, DP and video village. This way, we were still able to capture a variety of slice-of-life locations and diversity of people without cross-contamination.

With a little extra effort and can-do attitude, we pulled together a fun, empathetic campaign that looks and feels like it could have been produced in the “before-times,” right in the thick of the weird times.

Fun fact: to make our first remote shoot a little more special, I made sure to ship a mini craft service package to everyone on the team (it’s all in the details!).

Partnership with The Skimm

Friends who talk about money podcast

The senior leadership had a dream: a podcast for John Hancock that helps the brand lose its stuffy old man image and establish itself as a trusted resource for real talk about finances. I was thrilled to be a part of the team to make that dream come true. I was in charge or sourcing the host as well as the guests for every episode, along with keeping everything running smoothly while producing it remotely (thank you, COVID).