When Aperol called us requesting a photoshoot for an ambitious ‘European social activation campaign’, we immediately assumed they were talking mainland Europe. But actually the project was taking place on the Greek island of Paros – where a group of world-class influencers were arriving for a week of partying and posting, courtesy of the world’s favourite aperitivo.
“We appreciate partners who understand well the brand essence and are proactive to respond to our needs quickly but with quality every time. It feels like really becoming Friends”, added Mattei.
The old way of production would have been to fly out a photographer (and a bunch of other crew) – racking up the budget, plus a huge carbon footprint. But within an hour of receiving the brief we had a specialist drinks and lifestyle photographer in place – selected from our community of FRIENDS on the ground, and booked through our proprietary platform. Our in-house producers have access to our makers’ diaries, so we could immediately see who was available – in just a couple of clicks.
While our head of production, Alessandra, worked on the shoot logistics, our in-house creatives liaised with Aperol’s global team in Milan to lock in the creative brief. Interestingly for us, this project embodied the ‘publisher mindset’ approach to content creation, which lies at the &FRIENDS core – being part experiential activation, part influencer marketing. Our role was to capture all the action for Aperol’s owned channels – anchored in the core ‘Together We Joy’ proposition.
There were two key considerations. Firstly we were shooting in really dynamic, live environments – at a luxurious Aperol Villa overlooking the sea, a beach party featuring an amphibious, Aperol-branded truck that doubled as the DJ booth; and finally, on board an Aperol-branded yacht, where our influencers were partying. So it was important the shots captured the spontaneous, Together We Joy energy of the brand, while simultaneously feeling super premium. Another reason why it was so important to have the right photographer on board.
Aside from quality, speed was also crucial. At the end of each shoot day we were ready to share selects with the client – having QC’d everything with our in-house creative director, back at base. So before the influencers even left the island, we were ready to go with a suite of awesome assets – fully approved by the client in Milan.
Less than a week later, the re-touched final images were ready to post – with thousands of shares within days of going live. Another example of how fast and efficiently you can make things happen, with the right partner, the latest technology – and FRIENDS in the right places.