Shopping habits have changed in response to the pandemic with online shopping for beauty products overtaking high street purchases for the first time in May 2020. With non-essential shops closed during the lockdowns and high street footfall down generally, Clarins needed to reach potential shoppers in new ways and adapt their messaging to encourage online interaction with the brand. LEAP’s longstanding relationship with Clarins and our extensive advertising production experience meant that we were well placed to create and deliver our first TV sponsorship campaign for the luxury beauty brand.
Serving Clarins as their integrated advertising production partner since 2009 has given us a solid understanding of the brand and a deep familiarity with how to adapt their content for a variety of media platforms. For this project, our Film and Post team worked with a number of master creative assets to select footage that would work well together as a new piece of video content. First storyboarding and then editing the footage, LEAP created a TV sponsorship programme opener, break bumper and closer.
The edit itself involved careful VFX work to replace, retouch and enlarge the text on the product shots. Our VFX editors animated light pulses over the bottle and created a slow, dramatic move to better blend in with the look and feel of the video content as a whole. They also built the pack shot end device from a still frame to create movement and interest in the final shot of the TV sponsorship spots.
LEAP’s dedicated account manager and producers organised a Covid-safe voice over recording which the clients could participate in via remote links. They also liaised extensively with the clients and broadcaster to ensure a smooth approvals process. This was particularly important because TV sponsorship and adverts face different rules. While ads can contain product benefits, sales messages and a call to action, sponsorships cannot.
LEAP made sure the content and the technical aspects of the sponsorship were compliant and effective. The voice over makes the association between the brand and the TV programme, while the visuals emphasise the product’s natural ingredients, hints at their effects and includes a subtle suggestion to search online to find out more.
Clarins selected one of their newest products to feature in their first ever TV sponsorship campaign. Indeed, as a product, Clarins Total Eye Lift seems to capture the spirit of the times. While masks hide the lower half of our faces when we go out and so much time on video communications makes our eyes weary, it couldn’t have come to market at a better moment. Clarins Total Eye Lift sponsors Finding Alice, Sunday nights on ITV. A darkly comic drama series with a strong female lead, it stars Keely Hawes, Joanna Lumley and Nigel Havers.
LEAP has served as Clarins’ integrated advertising production partner since 2009, and you can view other examples of our work with the premium skincare brand here.
For an introduction to LEAP’s fully account-managed advertising production services, watch our video.