A few weeks ago, I took part in the DCampus Exchange at DOK.fest in Munich. I wrote about it below, and promised to do a follow up on brand financing of documentaries: so here it is.
As well as my own insights from a session Adam Gee and I did on brand funding of documentaries, much of what follows is based on a great session at the same conference, called ‘Win-Win: Documentary Filmmakers & Brands’ which featured Brian Newman of Sub Genre, Stuart Coaten from CAA’s brand consulting division; Marta Castillo of Back Market; and Adele Reeves from Ambitious Outlaws.
To begin with an example: Marta Castillo, Head of Brand and Marketing Spain at Back Market, shared the story of Silly Little Plastic Cat, a soon-to-be-released documentary the company decided to produce to align itself with a particular set of values. In this case, the concept of reusing and recycling electronic waste.
The story is this: for years going back to the 1980s, Garfield phones were washing up on a beach in Brittany in France, and no one knew where they were coming from. Finally, it was discovered they originated from a lost shipping container, as reported below:
Along comes Back Market, a company that specialises in refurbishing and selling used electronic goods. I bought a reused iPad for my child from them a year or so ago, and the appeal to customers is in part getting a usable iPad at a reasonable price (especially knowing how rough kids can be with tech), and then also perhaps subconsciously being happy not to be adding to the electronic waste mountain.
Back Market saw the story of the Garfield phones, and approached film maker Zack Grant to make a short documentary - which ended up being called Silly Little Plastic Cat.
You can watch the shorts trailer of the documentary below, which has now been selected to be part of the Tribeca Film Festival (and you can see the whole thing here on their website).
Simultaneously, the company is also running other marketing activity to push their strategy around reducing electronic waste, alongside wider messaging that plays into all our concerns around screen time and technology addiction. For example, here is one from last week shared on Substack Notes, suggesting the campaign is having some resonance with people:
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