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Behind the Work in association withThe Immortal Awards
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Creating Moen’s Midas Touch-Free Tale

17/08/2022
Advertising Agency
New York, USA
369
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LBB’s Ben Conway speaks to the agency and director behind the mythical spot that sees King Midas cheat his curse by using Moen’s latest ‘smart faucet’


Building on the success of Moen’s 2018 creative platform and brand campaign ‘Water Designs Our Life. Who Designs for Water?’, Havas Chicago has crafted a new, more ‘touching’ story to showcase Moen’s latest ‘smart faucet’ (or ‘tap’ outside the US) - using the tale of King Midas. As the story goes, the cursed King Midas is left dejected and alone as everything he touches turns to gold. This would make using a tap quite the predicament - and thinking about it, Midas had probably gone years without washing his majestic mitts… royally unhygienic.

Tapping into this mythical concept, Smuggler’s Filip Engstrom directs the spot which depicts a modern version of the king struggling with daily life before finding salvation in Moen’s new touch-free tap, allowing Midas to fill his goblet with water - and the sweet taste of cheating his curse. (And yes, the tap comes in gold.)

Speaking about the film’s creative origins, Myra Nussbaum, president and CCO of Havas Chicago says the brief was to continue the campaign’s ethos, but with a deeper story that could “showcase the ‘smart faucet’ in a simple yet breakthrough way.” Spurred on by Moen’s excited energy and unrestricted ambition, the creative team decided on the tale of King Midas to demonstrate the new hands-free product.




“When new smart home technology enables a new level of control, like being able to command water with just the wave of your hand, the experience feels a bit magic - like you’ve unlocked a new superpower. So we wanted an idea that demonstrated the impressive functionality of the tap while also conveying the delightful satisfaction of using it… We felt the classic tale of King Midas was the perfect device to show how truly touchless this faucet is. And who would benefit more from a touch-free faucet than this cursed king?”

Director Filip Engstrom says that after considering various situations, the king’s story provided the perfect level of surprise and humour for the spot. “We embraced the melancholy in the King Midas story. It's kind of funny in itself that the world's richest man is also the loneliest. But the one thing he has that does not turn into gold is his faucet. It's funny in its ridiculousness.”

The production process ran smoothly, which Myra attributes to “well-seasoned partners like Smuggler and Unit+Sofa,” who filmed the spot in Prague; “an excellent place to find a very high level of craftsmanship and crew skill level.”. The CCO also connects the successful production to having key stakeholders on set and maintaining unified expectations every step of the way - something which Filip can attest to. 



Describing it as “much by the shot list,” he says, “The shoot itself was very simple; it was actually one of my shortest shooting days. The hardest part was to work in such a monochromatic world that was so close to Midas' skin tone. It was hard to find the separation needed to make it balanced.” Describing his set-up for overcoming this challenge,  Filip adds, “In the end, we used a lot of negative light and shadows to create the contrast needed. With all the blue screen, we shot on an Alexa LF to get the highest possible resolution to be able to pull perfect keys. We used a simple jib for the top shot, but otherwise it was a very simple one-camera set-up.”

However, like in most creative processes, the shoot wasn’t without its obstacles. Portraying King Midas and his golden surroundings proved to be a formidable challenge at times - especially when trying to design his palace to suit a modern twist. Myra says, “The story of King Midas takes place in a time when kings were still stereotypical kings… you know, before something like a faucet, especially a smart faucet, existed. So, ‘checking back in’ with Midas in today’s world felt perfect. In each moment, from checking his phone first thing to picking up a package and to the slight nods throughout the scenes, we aimed to create a modern version of Midas and a beautiful modern ‘palace’.”

Filip adds, “This was all to fit the modern and sleek design of the faucet. We wanted the palace to not be too modern of a design, while still making sure people understood it was a palace. So, it ended up being an interesting mix.”



As previously suggested by the director, the sheer ‘goldness’ of the king’s environment was another challenge that had to be overcome. This added some difficulties to the production, both due to the material’s reflective nature, but also because the palace had to appear comfortable and modern. “We decided keeping texture in fabrics and the movement of the plants would help keep it livable,” says Myra. “Our VFX team created ‘previz’ frames and renders to help us see this world before we invested in building it, which helped everyone feel comfortable during the process. By the time we were ready to capture the first shot, everybody was locked in, knowing we had our world perfected.”  

Despite making use of the VFX team’s previz backgrounds, which made the final golden picture easier to visualise when shooting, Filip shares that the production teams almost went overboard when creating this effect - which, thankfully, was rectified in post-production. He says, “We were able to make some of the basic shapes for the CG backgrounds ahead of the shoot which made it easier to visualise the final picture when shooting. [It was] a mixture of lots of gold and blue screen. We actually had to pull some gold out of the final product when the gold reflected gold and it became a little overwhelming.”

After overcoming these challenges through cohesive collaboration across the creative, production and post teams, we’re left with a final product that presents a humorous and well-crafted re-telling of a much loved mythological story, where the product itself is not only the shining golden star of the show, but has actively informed the very concept and narrative of the campaign. The spot ends with King Midas filling his goblet with water, controlling the flow and temperature, all without touching the tap itself. So whilst the king doesn’t learn his lesson and continues his life of excess without alleviating the curse, the audience is certainly given an entertaining education in the newest generation of smart kitchen fixtures. 



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