Marshall Street Editors Help Create New British Airways Holidays Campaign

British Airways Holidays has launched a new UK campaign, ‘Clever You’, with the first spot running from Boxing Day throughout January 2020.

The concept, created by Ogilvy, was shot by acclaimed Merman comedy director Juliet May, of Motherland fame. Taking a different approach to traditional holiday advertising, the creative dialogue was designed to reflect the humorous style of the hit TV sitcom but within a 30” spot.

Merman director Juliet May says: “It was hugely important to have John (Mayes) editing on set for the BA shoot. Apart from the fact he’s so positive and full of good ideas, he assembled as we shot, building up a very close approximation of what the final edit would look like. This meant that we were able to review performances as they sat within the edit, check continuity and very importantly, given the time constraints of the media, check we were not running too long”.

Jeremy Dunn, Hogarth producer thoughts on location editing: “Having editing on set was a god send. Almost in real time the editor could answer any creative or client requests on how each scene was looking and how it was going to knit together when we all got home to the UK. I for one am now an editing-on-set convert”.

Two scripts (the second for Spring) were shot and edited over three days on location in Cape Town, with an additional editing day before returning to the UK. The team were able to present six edits (2x40”, 2x30”, 2x20”) to client within a further three days, ready for post-production and for a pre-Christmas playout.