What makes you Cameroon? This is the question posed by Heineken Mutzig’s new commercial, set in the colourful surroundings of Cameroon’s lively Yaoundé city.
“The brief from the agency was to capture the spirit of what it is to be Cameroonian, to highlight the life and enthusiasm of the people and to shift the perception of the brand from a more staid to a more lively and youthful profile,” says director Ian Gabriel from Giant Films.
Heineken was launched in Africa in 1987, and has since been diversifying its product offerings to beer lovers, which include Amstel, Turbo, Legend and Mutzig; a sugar-free brew that has grown phenomenally in the Central African market with local brewers in Rwanda, Burundi, Congo, Sierra Leone and Cameroon. Furthermore, Mutzig is the proud sponsor of Mutzig Star, a Cameroonian amateur singing competition that lets participants experience a “taste of success,” which also happens to be the Mutzig’s brand slogan.
Gabriel has worked with Bruce Reinders at Heineken Amsterdam on several projects in Europe and Africa and in this new Mutzig spot, he is committed to finding the authenticity of Cameroon’s youthful spirit; taking a big leap against re-creating Cameroon in Johannesburg’s back streets to actually setting off to the central African country and really finding out what makes people Cameroonian.
A brief was visualised by advertising agency, M & C Saatchi, with Gabriel and his team finding collaborative elements and ideas to work with. Upon the team’s arrival in Cameroon, a casting audition was held in search of the most interesting talent and events in the country.
“We used the ideas in the voiceover that the agency wrote as the measure of whether we were finding the right story beats in Cameroon. The voice over raises the question of what it is that makes one truly Cameroonian and then segues through looks, moves, creativity etc. These facets of personality and activity became the linking elements that caused us to include some sequences and exclude others from the spot,” shares Gabriel.
However, for Gabriel, the brief was to also find a creative and playful way to make the beer brand more appealing to youngsters, whilst also veering off the typical “animal beer advertising palette”.
“So my initiating vision was to be open to all things Cameroonian and to highlight those aspects that I thought most actively reflected a youthful dynamic culture and zest for life. This tied in perfectly with what the client was looking for, which was an absolutely authentic version of Cameroonian life.”
Wendy Fredriksson did the wardrobe and production design which included working with a funky splash of neon and colour strip lights for the interiors. Apart from that, the buildings in the spot were chosen keeping in mind the intricate hair designs donned by the country’s young people, while the lifestyle of the Cameroonian nation was beautifully exuded with a clever play on colours resembling the Cameroonian flag.
“You have to be careful when you make a decision to tread something as strong as the three primary colours of the Cameroon flag through the commercial,” informs Gabriel. However, Fredriksson took on the challenge with the assistance of a local Cameroon production crew. “There’s a great sequence we designed with a travelling installation of chairs that catches a red cloth outside a dye house by chance, giving us a glimpse of the colours of the flag in very real down to earth, charming way.”
The entire spot was shot in two days on the Arri Alexa Mini camera. Cameraman Rory O’ Grady also shot some underwater GoPro footage.
“I wanted to give a random sense of a day in the life of Cameroon. This meant recording some live sound that we would integrate later into the pre-recorded music track we arrived with, and it meant shooting a lot of handheld, off-the-cuff, on-the-move types of shots,” Gabriel adds.
Post-production duties were handled by Ludus Post Production, and the end result was a very happy client. “They bought into the cut without requesting a single change,” Gabriel enthuses.
And as for reaching the targeted market, Gabriel says: “I’ve got no doubt that the spot will resonate with youth in Cameroon because it will be so obvious to them that it was all shot in their own backyard using authentic Cameroon talent.”
