Fossil fuels leave their mark on every facet of modern life, including unexpected areas we might not even think of, such as the music we stream and enjoy* and our most cherished memories we collect with our cameras and phones**. Even areas where we wouldn’t expect fossil fuels to be present, such as electric cars, actually still depend on fossil fuels during production and manufacturing.
The campaign highlights these examples, along with numerous other unexpected ones, to underscore how every aspect of society remains dependent on fossil fuels. The sense of entrapment is shown by using an intriguing technique: the scenes portray life proceeding at a normal pace while simultaneously showing certain individuals and objects trapped in a loop. In the complementary proof point films, Vattenfall highlights specific areas in which they are working to help various sectors of society break free from fossil fuels.
– Nothing captures the feeling of being trapped quite like a repeating loop, which serves as a compelling visual metaphor. However, we aimed to achieve something more distinctive to truly convey the sense of entrapment. To illustrate society’s fossil fuel dependency, we introduced loops that allow the world to continue at a normal pace while ensnaring certain individuals and objects within them. This required some interesting filming challenges; essentially, we stacked multiple shots to achieve the final result of a natural world with unnatural loops. This approach blends the surreal with the real, pushing the boundaries of storytelling. We wanted to captivate the viewer while delivering a crucial message: the urgent need for fossil freedom, says one of the directors, Luke Taylor.
Vattenfall actively works on supporting several industries in becoming fossil free and has numerous projects with partners across industries in various stages, ranging from exploration and development to implementation. The scope of the projects and partnerships allows Vattenfall to take steps towards enabling the fossil freedom that drives society forward. They have also been dedicated to showcasing their journey towards achieving fossil freedom, to promote the possibilities and attract new partners. With this campaign, Vattenfall is aiming to continue the conversation by introducing a new brand concept in which the company places more emphasis on discussing structural societal change rather than just climate change.
- – Our efforts to free society from its dependency on fossil fuels encompass various areas, ranging from initiatives like creating fossil-free steel, decarbonising industries and building new wind farms. We focus on societal change, not just climate change. To make this message compelling, we also need to be able to demonstrate the depth of our fossil fuel dependency and show that the societal perspective forms the foundation of our approach across all our projects, including forging partnerships across industries, developing different technologies and working collaboratively across disciplines, explains Julia Klausch, Brand Campaign Manager at Vattenfall.
- – Our dependency on fossil fuels is not a new topic of discussion. However, to foster engagement, it’s essential to discover innovative ways to communicate these challenges. Vattenfall has a history of pushing the boundaries in its communication, making conversation about the climate interesting and engaging. They recently collaborated with Cara Delevingne to showcase the potential of fossil free hydrogen and they are working with CAKE to produce the world’s first truly fossil free motorcycle. Their latest campaign represents a completely new approach to visualising our dependency on fossil fuels and is the result of intense collaboration, involving our team in Stockholm, the DDB network and the directors working on the film, says Simon Higby, Nordic Creative Director at DDB. The campaign will be active across most of Vattenfall’s consumer markets, spanning Sweden, Finland and Germany, commencing from week 41. Later on it will also be launched in the Netherlands. The campaign will feature TV commercials (cinema in Germany), social media and digital components, along with out-of-home (OOH) advertising and print materials.
Mattias Yngwe, CEO och Markus Bergqvist, Lead Compositor, House Agency. And in the shorter one maybe add House Agency as Post production as well.
Client: Vattenfall
Julia Klausch, Brand Campaign Manager
Paul Morel, Brand Campaign Manager
Andrine Nordby, Brand Activation Manager
Renée McFadyen, Brand Campaign Manager
Emeli Karlsson, Brand Country Lead Sweden & Finland Yvette Riegen, Brand Country Lead Netherlands Anne-Katrin Reinecke, Brand Country Lead Germany Anneli Holm, Brand Media Manager
Carolina Pozzolini, Director Brand Communications
Ella Hollander-Jalil, Head of Brand a.i, Director Brand Media Group Sven Bergvall, Brand Insights
Saga Andreasson, Brand Insights
Fredrik Berg, Brand Media
Mieke de Korte, Brand Media
Samra Afzal, Brand Media
Roland Merkel, Social Media
Emil Johansson, Social Media
Joost Tadema, Social Media
Lead creative agency: NORD DDB
Andreas Dahlqvist, CCO
Simon Higby, Nordic Creative Director Jonathan Symington, Business Director Roshanak Fatahian, Client Director Susanne Ytterlid, Senior Client Manager Tina Munck, Senior Client Manager
Lisa Nordvall, Client Manager
Owen Hughes, Strategy Director
Oskar Valdre, Head of Strategy
Mika Marton, Strategist
Fanny Svensson Enbacken, Copywriter Sofia Nordström, Art Director
Anna Boberg, Copywriter
Susanne Johansson, PR Director
Sonja Böttcher, Senior Media Director Aynur Isayeva, PR Strategist
Max Mohlin, Content Creative
Emanuel Jorild, Content Creative
Sara Dastory, Social Strategist
Cecilia af Petersens, Senior Design Director Frida Everling, Senior Creative Designer Calle Engberg, Client Manager Digital
Albin Wikander, Head of Craft X
Stefan Wikström, Producer
Jonas Enkvist, Design Director Digital
Amina Kesraoui, Senior Studio Copywriter Emily Rider, Senior Studio Designer
Mattias Yngwe, Post Producer, House Agency Markus Bergqvist, Online Artist, House Agency Nils Ljungren, Agency producer
Production Company: Academy Films
Directors: Us, Luke Taylor and Christopher Barret
DOP: Jacob Ihre
Executive Producer: Simon Cooper Producer: Cathy Green
Production Manager: Natalie Isaac
Service Production: Division Film
Postproduction: Electric Theatre Company
Sound Design: Red Pipe
Photography: Senay Berhe
Photography assistant: Magnus Andersen
Media agency: OMD
Jess West, Creative, Adam & Eve
Helen Balls, Creative, Adam & Eve