Press release from Engine
The third in the series of Debit MasterCard’s Priceless Music TVCs sees Engine and McCann Worldgroup take the level of creativity and production values up a notch with one of the hottest names in the music industry – Florence and the Machine.
Engine CD Simon Robson (Knife Party) explained, “This TVC is the most vibrant so far with more production, more scenes and more 3D. It follows a similar look and feel to the first two but we are able to append the stop motion with photo-realistic 3D and create even more detailing.”
As with the Birds of Tokyo and Kasabian, the previous two Debit MasterCard Priceless Music TVCs, McCann ECD Michael Raso and his team brainstormed with Engine and then gave the company a great deal of autonomy and flexibility to produce the ads.
Robson continued, “After sitting down with Michael and the team we realised there was a lot of work in this spot and we that we had to figure out complex camera angles which would make the spot feel poppy and colourful whilst still appearing energetic. Florence’s image is very textured, floral and arty and we had to combine this with the graphic, papery, blocky look that has become synonymous with the Priceless Music series. It was a tricky thing to achieve but one that, in the end, looked great.”
Robson began working from a set of ideas based around the fact that Florence was originally called Florence Robot, a name which conjured up a plethora of fun for Engine’s creative team.
Robson continued, “We built a 50’s-style female tin robot for a restaurant scene and had a lot of fun combining steam punk and future retro styles. We have a robot pouring nuts and bolts onto a bowl of cornflakes placed there by a human hand and many other half robot, half human references. The design is very different scene to scene in this spot and there is much less in camera than in the previous two ads. We also worked hard to maintain the physical and textural aspects of the first two spots whilst carefully combining them with the stream of consciousness direction that has been received so well.”
For the Florence and the Machine commercial Engine again concentrated on a wide layering of detail that included Florence’s hair growing and encircling the instruments – signifying her various musical collaborations and a robot that squirts red ketchup which quickly transforms into the Chinese flag, then a model of Mount Everest in Nepal complete with planes, hawks and mountain goats.
Engine EP Adam Wells said, “We really went to town with this spot taking the real, surreal and abstract combining them and coming back full circle to Florence and the Machine. It’s great to have done three in this series, each more creative than the previous. We are very lucky to be working with such a prestigious brand as MasterCard, a forward thinking agency like McCann and amazing artists like Florence and the Machine. We’re very much look forward to our next project with Michael Raso and his team.”
McCann ECD Michael Raso said, “These TVCs are not easy projects and they come to life after a great deal of clever creative and lots of hard work. It’s a big plus that Engine can take care of all the design, production and post production in house and we are very happy with the results they produce for us and MasterCard. I’m delighted to say the ads have been very well received and have had a great impact on raising awareness for Debit MasterCard.”
Debit MasterCard’s Priceless Music Florence and the Machine TVC went live to air nationally on 16 October and Florence and the Machine play Sydney’s Seymour Centre on 15 November.