“Dream Boldly, Make It Happen'“
That’s been the MO for the past 10 years in this industry - and what a decade it’s been…
Since 2014, I’ve been learning, experimenting and falling in love with creativity and possibilities that come from innovating in this industry. I’ve adopted new technologies, revived heritage brands, built amazing products with friends and brilliant campaigns with colleagues. It’s been a crazy, non-stop adventure, so this marks a pause to reflect on some of my favourite brand-building projects over the last 10 years.
Caroline Adeyemi, CEO
Firing Up Debate
A whirlwind romance doesn’t usually end up in debt, but that was the whole point of this thrilling new docu-series.
Netflix has a history of sharing amazingly entertaining documentaries and Tinder Swindler wasn’t any different. From the moment that Pocc called us onto the brief, we knew that this had all the makings of talkable story, but the question was - which one do you lead with?
Tapping into conversations in culture can be easy, but finding the right hook is harder. To lead the creative strategy on this project we took a learning from the Swindler himself… getting rich (conversation) takes time and imagination. Aiming to engage women and Romantics, we lead with a loaded hook that we knew would people talking, empathising and criticising… and also stimulated the rest of the internet to add fuel to a fiery debate. Since the internet moves quickly, it wasn’t long until everyone else chimed in on the debate.
Partners in Grime
Remember KA? This drink isn’t sentimental to everyone, but KA added flavour to the day of anyone who grew up in urban London. We knew that KA featured in young London’s most liberating, informative and expressive moments… But KA didn’t.
Little did we know that this would indirectly start our journey in music marketing, but that’s later down the line. With creative studio, By Nevele, and agency BMB, we brought our KA insights forwards and shared idea that deepened KA’s relationship with this audience.
At a time where grime wasn’t mainstream yet, the KA Challenge tapped in and captured the spirit of grassroots grime. With community ownership, creativity, sportsmanship and a greazy riddim at the heart of it, our challenge winners got to walk away with their own song; and a new partner in grime.
Growing with Plants + Pizza
It’s been amazing to have played a role in the growing brands like Samsung for almost a decade.
If we had to pick our favourite Samsung campaign, it would be this one. Exposure brought Roco in for the communications planning on Project Plant - a campaign that gave us the opportunity to help shift Samsung’s brand presentation from ‘use cases’ to ‘user-friendly’.
Project Plant was a tangible example of what Samsung’s technology can do, how it can practically benefit the user and even bring joy to their lives. After a 4 month campaign, this project achieved its goal of shifting Gen Z's perception of Samsung, using plants, pizza and a very PR-able hook.
Qommunity Qards
How can you mark the moments and milestones that mainstream culture doesn’t celebrate? What do you do if they don’t look how mainstream culture says they look? Greeting cards are a traditional way to show love, appreciation and support for our loved ones and community, but the options were limited.
On this proactive project we made a range of products for inclusive communities. Qards are community-centered greeting cards that are designed to help alternative families and networks mark big moments in a new way - by supporting new and emerging norms.
Our mission was to see every life event as a moment of togetherness. We celebrated births with “Congratulations on OUR new baby”, break-ups with “Thank God It’s Over” and redundancies with “Broke and Beautiful”. Qards launched by sparking conversation around our Father’s Day cards. Our “World’s Best Dad” and “World’s Best Dads” cards invited conversation about the importance of a dads and male role-models in all family models.
A Gallery with (he)Art
There are more young artists now than ever before, or you wouldn’t be wrong in thinking that. But how can the art-world benefit from all of these artists if it doesn’t let them in? How can the art-world make room for artists today? That was our big question.
It’s always a pleasure to work on a project that’s a true example of outreach and collaboration. This is exactly what happened when we worked with Serpentine - a contemporary art gallery in London.
With Pocc and Break Comms, we created an initiative that bridged the gap between traditional and contemporary culture, and really made a difference. The Serpentine Studios was a new youth collective that marked a shift for Serpentine gallery and how young people viewed it. By the end of this project that art gallery went from ‘intimidating and inaccessible’ to becoming a nurturing hub that ushers young artists into art world.
The Biggest Diva
When a sweet, sweet fantasy becomes a reality… Genuine satisfaction and entertainment is what comes to mind with Hostelworld's Diva to Believer campaign.
It’s not easy to change people’s minds once they’ve made it up, but whilst working in Lucky Generals our founder managed the social and digital distribution of Hostelworld’s perception-shifting campaign. Here, creative and communications planning came together with entertaining cut-downs, a unified delivery and a tight message: if the world's biggest Diva approves of hostels, then they must be good.
Varied and entertaining edits met our key audiences on their favourite digital platforms. Everywhere it appeared, young travellers were positively challenged to reassess their view of hostels, because if Mariah Carey says yes, then who can say no?
An Award-winning Film
Winning awards isn’t easy, let alone doing it repeatedly. But for this project we matched track record of excellence that comes with our long-term collaborator and client.
When multi-award-winning artist and actor Little Simz, released a (now classic) album, the artist wanted to do things differently. A statement like that is right up our street so we were honoured when she called us to make this piece of premium entertainment.
We joined the handpicked team of I Love You, I Hate You, as the scriptwriter. This would be Little Simz’s, and our, first narrative film but it was a challenge that we savoured. Breaking into new territory takes a lot of tenacity, but we were fuelled with it. Within a few short months, we’d finished the screenplay of a 22-minute short that would be selected by global film festivals, touch global film and music fans, and bring home a silver Clio award.
The Ultimate Hoopla
The Olympics just got into break-dancing, but Hula Hoops got there a decade ago with full set design and build, costume, music and props.
Hula Hoops is an iconic British snack that’s been enjoyed for generations. It brings out the inner-child in adults and the imagination of children, but typical messaging, like flavour, wouldn’t cut through. Through BMB, we helped create content to bring this iconic snack to life fresh and exciting.
This project was about the power of authenticity! Content creation for Hula Hoops all relied on one simple truth... Hula Hoops is the only snack that you eat off of your fingers. This single, powerful truth was the creative vehicle for hours of imaginative play. Never underestimate a single point of view. This unique perspective gave Hula Hoops an honest voice - and that voice helped them to capture consumer’s attention during culture’s biggest moments.
An Authentic Rumble
This is the story of a legend who entertained the world for more than half a century and his iconic victory in Congo. On the other hand, this is the story of the details that make an theatre promotion shine.
Theatre doesn’t always get the marketing push that it deserves. We stepped into this overlooked industry by, once again, teaming up with By Nevele, Trevor Beattie to promote London’s newest and boldest immersive theatre experience.
Rumble Rematch was a one-of-kind theatrical remake of Ali’s iconic 1974 boxing match: Ali Vs Foreman. Although we hadn’t worked in theatre before, our skills were perfect for the brief. We delivered insights that made theatre feel like real life - after all, when the production is about the original G.O.A.T - you have to do it justice! The output was a transportive trailer that beat and exceeded all of our expectations.
The Creative Tate-over
London’s a creative hub and global innovator in culture, but what happens when culture shifts?… You move with it or get left behind.
On our latest collaboration with Little Simz we connected with London’s passionate creative community in a big way. The Tate Late: Special Edition was something that the city’s never seen before - and London showed out!
Our takeover broke the record for Tate Modern Lates. 18,500+ attendees turned up along with a range of culture’s finest current and emerging artists and creatives.
Our 4 pillars were the guiding light that made this record-breaking night: Dream boldly, Act decisively, Plan accurately, Make It Happen.
Adobe… Football?
It’s not two words that you normally see together. Adobe isn’t traditionally associated with sports, but sometimes, just sometimes, a lucky accident is all that it takes. Adobe’s accident was the discovery that it had some very notable product-users, namely, FCs Bayern Munich and Real Madrid, so what we did next was natural.
Through Tommy, we reinvented Adobe for sport. After discovering truths that were perviously overlooked, we carved out their unique offering and promise to the game and strategically repositioned Adobe as credible partner in football fandom.
Adobe Football launched into culture with a carefully planned social campaign that resonated with global football fans. It included a talent-lead content series, AR filter and in-app features. We kicked the campaign off with the Women's World Cup and a global community of fans who were empowered to create.
The Book
Recovering from the pandemic, wellness, rest and healing were leading cultural conversations. It was clear that we all needed some basic things: empathy, connection, space to process and a better understanding of what we were collectively experiencing.
Our founder used this time to reconnect with stories. The result was a book for those who wanted an escape, or wanted to use their time alone for self care and self-development.
52 Weeks in Transit was released to a highly emotional reception. Today the book is read as a piece of fiction, a daily devotional, an emotional work book and a supportive friend through hardship and grief. It’s used to create community and conversations in workshops and support in-patients in mental health hospitals across the UK. Today 52 weeks in Transit is held a piece of cultural history in the British Library, Wellness Library and Stuart Hall Library.
Horrible Conversations
Whether it’s The Exorcist, Scream; The Conjuring or Get Out, it’s normal for Horrors to happen in the home. For this campaign we stepped out of fiction to show the horrors of real life in a perspective-shifting ad-film.
The name of the game with this project simple: make an ad that hits the mark. That’s exactly what creative studio, By Nevele, did. After analysing short-form consumption habits and our campaign matched the energy.
We teamed up with creative studio - ByNevele - on The Last Strike - a pro-active campaign that was made to get people talking about Domestic Violence like the horror that it is. It wasn’t an easy journey, but we showed this striking reality in a way that the world hadn't seen before - with a Black family.
