Maurice Lacroix Friend of the brand

1 min

Director Dario Nucci
Director of Photography David Baumann
Production Company Around Communication
Music Artlist

no turn up and smile

Swiss watchmaker, Maurice Lacroix, is easily positioned within the top 50 luxury brands - but they have a difference.
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Although they are company with serious watchmaking experience and credibility, they don't see themselves as a stuffy, old brand. They are energetic, feisty, and want to appeal to young people entering into watch buying, with an open and honest approach.

One of the biggest differences about Maurice Lacroix is their approach to endorsements. Instead of "brand ambassadors", Maurice Lacroix prefers to see their athlete endorsement as "Friends of the brand", making very sure that customers know there is a true relationship between them, and it's not a "turn up and smile" arrangement.

Maurice Lacroix often challenge the norms in the Swiss watch industry, with their attitude and products that are edgy and bold in design. They know that their customers are ambitious people who thrive in the city, but also love sports and escaping outdoors.

In developing this campaign, ALPHA STUDIO knew from the beginning that we wanted to deliver a campaign that felt as real as possible. So scripting and no awkward sales. So we created a simple setup which could give each one of these athletes a chance to express their journey in their own words.

Through interviews and experimentation on set, we were able to draw out some of the most honest comments from these athletes, revealing their challenges - whether physical or mental - in an natural, encouraging and inspirational way.

production

Working with Gilles Sandoz, Around Communication, we had a tight budget, and hard timings to work with. Since all of Maurice Lacroix's athletes were in town for an annual general gathering, we capitalised on the event to shoot this project all in one go, over two days. In total we have 11 people to film, photograph and interview. So the process had to be very well timed and managed with parallel shoots going on throughout the day.

directing

The challenge on this job was to make a fun and honest campaign. We knew it had to feel like it was driven by the personalities and not the brand. By having a space which acted as a blank canvas, Dario Nucci directed each person to experiment with movement and make it their own. We started each session by joking around with the talent, loosening up with stretches and silly moves. Working together, we slowly built on that by bringing in their sports skills and finding an activity that made sense to them, but was something new.

locations

We built a set in a studio space run by Artaban Filmance in Neuchatel. It was important to have a space where each of the talent could arrive and feel comfortable to hang out together, after all, they all know each other from previous shoots and events. David Baumann and his team are experienced multitaskers and although we had a lot happening over those two days, we achieved it all without issue, thanks to the technical experience of the team.

editing & post production

With an eye on speed and cost, we had the colour grading and retouching done by Artaban's in-house team. Alpha took the footage material and produced 8 x 1min edits, in wide and vertical and square social media formats, ready for upload. Due to availability of the products, the final versions are being rolled out over a period of 8 months - turning a 2 day shoot into a campaign theme usable for most of the year!

Alpha / Studio

success is a journey

friends of the brand