“May we haveth your attention.”

British Airways’ latest safety video is old school. Like, stuck in the 19th Century. It’s a must-see and ranks among the best work in the travel category so far this year.

Creative studio Uncommon stages a lavish costume drama with exquisite production values. We get country manors and ornate drawing rooms with lords and ladies in foppish, frilly attire and outrageous wigs. Modern BA staff school these folks of yore on how to stay safe at 30,000 feet.

ARISTOCRATIC LADY (grasping a laptop): What witchcraft is this? The painting, it moves!

COURTESANS: Gasp and faint.

FLIGHT ATTENDANT: Devices, including laptops, must be switched off and placed in your luggage for takeoff and landing.

Some especially inspired bits unfold among mounted horsemen.

RIDER 1: Do I smell the winds of war?

RIDER 2: I see smoke on the horizon.

FLIGHT ATTENDANT: Smoking, including e-cigarettes, vaping and the use of other smoking devices, is not permitted at any time.

Later, the troopers fasten their seatbelts securely, per instructions, before charging into battle.

“We know that these videos deliver vital safety information, and it is so important that we keep our customers engaged, so we have created a video that captures the audience’s attention, using humor to do so,” says Calum Laming, BA’s chief customer officer.

Director Sharon Maguire (Bridget Jones’s Diary) crams impressive historical detail into every frame, infusing each vignette with BBC-level visual appeal and a Monty Pythonesque sense of absurdity

Some of the dialogue and character reactions—”Is it a winged creature of the air or, perchance, a celestial contrivance navigating the skies?”—is priceless.

Yet, the vital message never gets lost amid the pomp and circumstance. These drawing-room antics should hold the attention of even the most distracted, cynical passengers. (Heck, we’d ask them to play it again.)

Three-time Oscar winning British costume designer Jenny Beavan (The King’s Speech) developed the fashions. 

The cast—including 40 BA employees in key roles—worked with dialect coach Jill McCullough (Mama Mia) to nail their accents.

“To mark this launch, our team wanted to create a show-stopping moment, so it felt fitting to have Hollywood icons face off against social media stars in a fun way, showing that life really is more fun when you’re with a squad,” says Ilkka Paananen, CEO of Supercell.

Are we having fun, yet? Indeed.

Which would you prefer, an invigorating scalp massage … or a tarantula crawling across your head?

Decisions, decisions. Luckily, Monzo, the British online bank, is here to help.

It’s latest work from creative studio Uncommon contrasts pleasant stuff with creepy shit to illustrate Monzo’s ability to relieve financial anxieties.

It’s a simple idea, executed with considerable style with eye-catching imagery and a hot-coral motif.

Some people freak out over spiders, though. We think the leggy dude gives the work an extra kick. Even so, maybe folks will grouse to the Advertising Standards Authority and generate even more publicity before that arachnid gets edited out.

“Monzo aren’t just making things easier and innovating in this space, they are looking at the bigger picture,” says Uncommon co-founder Nils Leonard. “They are helping to renegotiate our relationship with money, and as a result our lives and dreams.”

If you’re thinking the concept would work great on billboards—a realm where Uncommon excels—you’re right:

The work begins breaking today across the U.K., with a takeover of the Financial Times planned for May 14.

CREDITS

“Money Never Felt Like Monzo”
Client: Monzo
Creative studio: Uncommon
Director: Marie Schuller
Production Company: RSA Films
Production Company Producer: Ben Porter
Barcelona service company: Camino Films
Casting: Camino Films
DOP: Olan Collardy
Editor: Marie Schuller / D-Fran ℅ Whitehouse Post
Sound & Music: Soundtree
Colourist: James Bamford @ Rascal Post
VFX: Rascal Post
Photographer: Jp Bonino
Production Company: THE RATS
Retouching artists: Jason Cox and Declan McGurry
Producers: Paul Tobutt and Chris Green

“People find it odd that we don’t name our products,” one ad  says. “We tried it once. But scientists are terrible copywriters. So we stuck with Hyaluronic Acid.”

Another reads: “Someone said working with celebrities would be good for our brand. But we couldn’t find one with a degree in biochemistry.”

Uncommon says its creative approach “represents the brand’s latest step towards changing the perception of the beauty industry by offering a voice of transparency.”

The text and intriguing use of negative space “speak to the brand’s philosophy of science over celebrity and marketing claims.”

The work begins breaking this week across North America and the U.K.

Uncommon’s become adland’s OOH darling of late, with other notable campaigns for MSI (cram-jammed with words), British Airways and Hiscox.

Along with the OOH, there’s a pre-torn-open mailer “tapping into the inherent sense of intrusion that is triggered when the post appears to have been tampered with,” per campaign materials.

“We set out to create a campaign that was a bold, distinctive and veracious representation of the challenges facing SMEs today,” says Hiscox CMO Fiona Mayo. “Early indicators tell us this is really resonating with our audiences and we hope the next phase will continue on that path.”

“We set out to create a campaign that was a bold, distinctive and veracious representation of the challenges facing SMEs today,” says CMO Fiona Mayo. “Early indicators tell us this is really resonating with our audiences and we hope the next phase will continue on that path.”

This latest push, which follows ads launched in September, will appear across the U.K. until at least month’s end. It joins other notable OOH from Uncommon, supporting British Airways.

A tad creepy perhaps. Whoa! Is that face watching me? Ultimately, though, the effect works in the campaign’s favor. It’s just so memorable.

“This concept plays on the idea that customers usually take photographs from their seat out of the aircraft window, but instead, reversing the camera and spotlighting customers’ emotions as they look onto their destination, ” Uncommon explains in press materials.

Such visuals, “can give a deeper insight into their unique stories and original reasons for travel.”

Pulitzer Prize-nominated photographer Christopher Anderson helped develop the initiative. Both the animated and static executions work equally well, conveying the notion of spirited discovery which is every airline’s stock in trade.

The work breaks today across 324 locations around the U.K., including London’s Piccadilly Circus.

The point, we’re told, is that mundane transactions—not just booking flights—help Avios members earn air miles. So, in the :90, those foilers are “metaphorically spending their way to the holiday of their dreams,” Uncommon says.

A stretch? Well, yes. Still … that dude drank java and didn’t go splash. Damn!

Boris Martinez, who staged stunts for the 007 flick No Time to Die, and e-foil ace Adrian Valios choreographed the action. Uncommon’s Sam Walker directed, shooting mostly in-camera.

It’s an unexpected approach, well served by the slick synth stylings of “Seasons” by Future Islands.

“The strategic thinking that underpins this new work not only reflects Avios today but also its future—communicating that there’s more to Avios than you think,” says IAG Loyalty brand and marketing head Elizabeth Cunningham.

“We wanted to create a powerful visual idea, the feeling of everybody going about their everyday lives,” adds Walker.

Themed “Everyday,” the U.K. campaign will roll out through the year across TV, VOD, cinema, OOH and digital.

Below, Walker discusses how the project came together.

MUSE: Why e-Foils? What was the inspiration?

Walker: We felt it would create a strong image to have what felt like an entire nation, dressed in their regular clothes, riding these futuristic looking hoverboards towards a stunning holiday destination. We were so lucky with the weather and sea conditions. The water was freakishly calm both days we shot.

Where did filming take place?

It was shot in the largest, most sheltered bay in the north of Majorca. It wasn’t a typical location scout, as not only did it have to look visually beautiful, it also had to be practically suitable for our stunt. We needed a full mile and a half stretch of super calm water. Sheltered and controllable enough for the e-foils, but also deep enough for their underwater fins, too.

This whole thing had to be a huge challenge.

The scale and complexity of what we were trying to do was very ambitious. The deeper we got into it, the more challenging we realized it was going to be. What we were doing had never actually been done before, so there were no best practices to look and learn from. We had to figure out everything for ourselves from scratch. We also needed to shoot primarily from a drone, as we couldn’t get our camera boat close enough to the riders without knocking them off with our wake.

How’d you even find the foilers?

Casting was particularly challenging. First and foremost all of our cast needed to be expert level e-foilers. Which, given the newness of the sport, is a tiny pool of people globally. Once we’d assessed everybody’s ability out on the water, we then needed to select them to represent as broad a cross section of society as we could. They needed to look like you, me and everyone we know.

Some look middle-aged or maybe older?

Jeff, our guy in the opening shot with the shopping bags, is a 67-year-old e-foil instructor from Hawaii. Bruce, our hero with the coffee cup in the suit, is 66. Legends, both of them. There are no prosthetics or body suits in the film, I really wanted our cast to be authentic and genuinely able to e-foil at an exceptional level no matter their age or physique.

I’d imagine this was a fairly dangerous exercise.

With such a large number of riders, the chances of an accident were high. So, we had to design formations allowing them to avoid each other’s slipstreams. If any of the riders crossed a wake they would fall off, and then the danger was then being struck by the underwater fins traveling at 50kph [about 30 miles per hour]. But the safety team we had was amazing, and the riders did such an incredible job that no one was injured.

How’d you direct the e-foil choreography once the cameras rolled?

We mapped out the different formations on dry land so everyone knew what we were doing exactly when we got out on the water. We designed a color-coded key for the performers and formations so that everyone could easily understand where they were in relation to each other out on the ocean. The crew used the same map when designing shots and figuring out where to put our boats and drones.

Once you’re at sea, not only can you not communicate with the riders individually, it’s also impossible for them to know where they are in the water, because there are no markers to navigate around. The more we could plan exactly what we were doing before we did it, and the more everybody understood the plan, the better it would go.

CREDITS

Client: IAG Loyalty
Creative Studio: Uncommon Creative Studio
Project Name: Everyday
Production Company: Pulse Films
Director: Sam Walker
EP: Chris Harrison
Producer: John Bannister
DOP: Daniel Voldheim
Service Company: Palma Pictures
Service Company Producer: Cat Isakson
Edit: Final Cut
Editor: Joe Guest
Edit Assist: Matt Gabzdyl
Sound: King Lear
Sound Designer: Jack Sedgwick
Music Supervision: Native
Music Supervisor: Dan Neale
Post Production: Rascal
VFX Supervisor: Gareth Brannan; Andrew ‘Barnsley’ Wood
Creative Director: Gareth Brannan
ECD / 2D Lead: Andrew ‘Barnsley’ Wood
2D Lead: John Thornton
2D: Holly McLean; Ben Stonehouse; Andy Brown
3D Pre-Vis: StereoColour
3D: Adam Ahlgren
Executive Producer: Colin Oaten
HOP: James Beck
Colourist: James Bamford
Colour Producer: Jai Durban

So, these tykes are dreaming of airline commercials. Who knew?

Kidding aside, it’s a fresh framing device and novel approach for a category with few new flight plans left to unfurl.

“This film shows the beauty of flying and how it puts us out into the world to reveal to ourselves who we are,” says director Miles Jay, who developed the work with creative studio Uncommon. 

Newborns are, after all, at the start of life’s journey. Weaving that conceit into a travel narrative makes sense. Jay’s occasionally fuzzy frames—fusing the infant’s dream images with cabin interiors—lend the :60 an appealing art-house allure.

Saint Saviour’s “I Remember” amplifies the ethereal vibe. It’s meditative, but soars with a pop sensibility above the level of a simple ambient soundscape.

“The work showcases the many journeys British Airways takes us on and the role they play in shaping our lives and who we become,” says Lucy Jameson, cofounder of Uncommon.

The film began breaking last night across Channel 4, ITV and Sky in the U.K., with OOH elements to follow.

To entice new subscribers, SiriusXM is dancing as fast as it can.

The satellite radio service cranks up the soundtrack of life in a short film from Uncommon and director Kim Gehrig. Songs you might hear on SiriusXM reverberate, repping diverse styles and eras as five different dancers portray one woman who matures in body, mind and spirit.

The beats and (at times frenetic) movements correspond to personal milestones. Taken as a whole, the video offers a spirited reflection on audio’s oft-intense interplay with aspirations, emotions and memory.

Thus, SiriusXM casts itself as a sonic companion in harmony with pop culture for every generation.

It’s all a vibe, a feeling, delivered with considerable flair. Though wags might find the cradle-to-grave pitch a tad much.

“We need more people to discover that SiriusXM has a superpower,” says Suzi Watford, chief growth officer. “In a world where so much consumption feels surface-level, we give listeners the ability to go deeper. And depth is what true fans want. Whether you’re passionate about EDM or the Real Housewives or college basketball, we fuel fandom, allowing listeners to immerse themselves in the things they love.”

She continues: “Our hosts and programmers are the No.1 fans of their subcultures. They’re the players and coaches who changed the game. The artists who pioneered the genre. The personalities who defined the modern day interview. So, our focus now is introducing this superpower to new audiences.”

Fair enough. Though it’s a noisy, crowded field. YouTube, Spotify and the rest provide fierce competition. SiriusXM has been stuck in mid-tempo of late, with flat financials and a substantial subscriber dip last year.

The campaign, dubbed “Closer,” seeks to reverse those trends. This is top-funnel stuff that could spark some interest. But convincing the uninitiated to pay up might require deeper (and more detailed) grooves. Here, SiriusXM’s brand proposition—how it differs from streamers—doesn’t really resonate.

These songs appear in the film:

• Doja Cat – “Paint The Town Red”
• Sepultura  – “Roots Bloody Roots”
• Benny Page ft. Doktor – “Trenches”
• Carl Cox ft. Reinier Zonneveld & Chris Coe – “Inferno”
• Bat for Lashes – “Laura”
• Soul II Soul – “Back to Life (However Do You Want Me)”
• Nick Cave and The Bad Seeds – ‘Bright Horses”

The dancers:

• Niara Hardister
• Tyra Haynes-Polke
• Paula Leland
• Karen McDonald
• Mya Ragland

An edited version will play during Sunday’s Academy Awards telecast. 

Other elements include OOH, which focuses on hip-hop, country, and sports:

CREDITS

Client: SiriusXM
Creative Studio: Uncommon
 
“A Life in Sound” Film:

Production company: Somesuch
Director: Kim Gehrig
Co-Founder: Tim Nash, Sally Campbell
Managing Director/Executive Producer: Seth Wilson
Producer: Arlene McGann
DOP: Chayse Irvin 
Choreographer: Denna Thomsen
Production Designer: James Chinlund
1st AD: Kate Greenberg 
Costume Designer: Jennifer Johnson
Key Makeup: Jorjee Douglass
FX Makeup: Mara Rouse
Key Hair: Vanessa Price 
Editor: Tom Lindsay @ Cosmo Street
Post-production: Blacksmith
VFX Supervisor: John Shirley
Flame Ops: John Shirley, Lou Schachte 
Compositors: Jason Heinze, Remedy Jeannie, Dylan Nett, Andrew Emmerson
Producer: Therese Mayer
Colourist: Mikey Pehanich
Colour Producers: Dan Butler, Adam Vevang
Sound & Music: Soundtree
Music Supervisors: Jay James, Neil Athale
Music Production and Additional Composition: Peter Raeburn Luke Fabia, John Mourounas
Music and Sound Research: Colin McIhagga, Ali Schiel, John Mourounas, Gabriel Firmin, Christina Orchard, Olly Wells, Luke Fabia
Sound Design & Mix: Henning Knoepfel
Additional Sound Design: Jack Patterson, Graham Norman
Soundtree CCO: Peter Raeburn

“Superfan” Out-of-Home:

Photographer & Director: Gabriel Moses @ Concrete Rep 
Stylist: Gerry O’Kane @ Concrete Rep
DOP: Jake Gabbay @ WPA
Casting Director: Six Wolves
Movement Director: Sigrid Lauren @ Streeters
Hair Stylist: Mideyah Parker @ Bryant Artists
Make-up artist: Michaela Bosch @ Bryant Artists
Set Design: Jack Flanagan @ Streeters
Production company: Concrete Rep & Pony Projects
Retoucher: The Hand of God
Editor: Joseph Taylor @ TRIM
Grade: John Alexander Lowe
VFX & Online: Studio Private
Media agency: Horizon Media