The Silver-Haired Rom-Com Lighting Up Hearts in Greece

A rom-com about the agelessness of love isn’t what you’d expect from an energy provider ad, but this one has certainly sent sparks flying.

‘Silver Love’ – Protergia’s feel-good campaign by Greek creative agency, The Newtons Laboratory – is the antidote to society’s false perceptions of later life; because far from fading into the background, 65 and overs are the main characters in this tale of boy meets girl.

The film’s silver-haired stars – including acclaimed actress Themis Bazaka – blush, bumble, and giggle like teens with a crush, to a beloved and now resurging tune by Haroula Alexiou. It’s particularly special for elder Greeks, but anyone with a heart can appreciate this romance – hence the hundreds of thousands of views it’s been racking up.

By spotlighting the energy that continues to burn bright in these protagonists, ‘Silver Love’ offers a freshly optimistic view of aging, and one that’s backed by data: a study conducted by The Newtons Laboratory on Greek citizens over 65 proved that they are, in fact, thriving and active participants in society. Importantly for Protergia, appealing to this demographic is also a strategic choice, as they’ve traditionally remained loyal to the state-owned power corporation, DEI.

To find out more about how this unlikely rom-com came to be, and how it all ties back to the brand, LBB spoke to Jason Drys and Giannis Sorotos, strategy director and creative director at The Newtons Laboratory.

LBB> What was the spark behind choosing a romantic-comedy format to celebrate 'agelessness' for Protergia – how did you land on this genre as the best vehicle for your message?

Drys and Giannis> Taking it a step back – and before we even landed on the format – we went about different strategic directions and ideas. We really thought about what we wanted to achieve with this campaign. What was the message we wanted to land. And how it would best resonate with people. So, imagine anything between concepts that highlight the values and the work of Protergia all the way to scenarios involving aliens.

Yet, the personality and DNA of the brand always brought us back to three things: humanity, optimism and stories that resonate with people. This is how we have been building the brand for the last eight years.

Along came the 'silver age' theme. It’s something we truly believe in. It’s still an untapped audience in Greece and our country-wide research we conducted on what we call ‘silvers’ (people aged 65+) confirmed it. When this particular idea came along, we realised it had the right tone of voice. A romantic comedy with a dose of reality and a well-known yet timeless insight. Love – unaffected by time, country, audience and age – will never ask how old you are, but will always make you feel young again.

There is always this trope that to resonate with a specific audience you need to show them age-specific content. We think this is too narrow. We believe that if something is interesting it appeals to everyone. And if you infuse it with the right ingredients, people will watch and love it. For us, this film isn’t addressed to people over 65. I think it speaks more to younger audiences, and in fact, it's more appropriate that it does. Older people know what they feel, they know what they want. Often, they suppress it because of guilt or societal expectations. But if younger generations come to terms with this reality, then we all have something to gain.

LBB> How did you approach casting and directing sixty-something leads to capture that youthful, love-struck energy without leaning on clichés?

Drys and Giannis> To begin with, we went through various thoughts. The very first idea was to choose two actors well-known to the Greek audience. After some discussions, we realised that this shouldn’t be a film featuring two famous actors. One familiar face and one talented but unknown (to the Greek public) actor would be more interesting. And when the idea matured, we discussed it both with the people at Protergia and with our director, and everyone agreed.

Then we spoke with our lead actress, Themis Bazaka. If you met her, you’d understand that creating a youthful film was the easiest thing. She is an exceptional actress, full of energy and a zest for life. At the same time, the creative direction – especially from Argyris [Papadimitropoulos] (the director) – was not to direct two people over 65 but two teenagers falling in love. And this is apparent throughout the film: the scene in the park where our protagonist nudges his friend, for example, or the scene in the apartment building assembly, or even the balcony scene where the neighbor shouts at them. These are the kinds of reactions you’d expect from teenagers.

LBB> Can you talk us through your scripting process – how did you balance genuine character moments with the need to weave in Protergia’s brand promise of energy and independence?

Drys and Giannis> The core plot – our goal for the campaign, the insight and the story involving two people that started falling in love, only to become young again – was established from the beginning and presented to the client from the first draft in order to get approval.

From there, however, we had to rewrite the script in order to land the right scenes to tell the story in a cohesive narrative. Then the script was rewritten with Argyris to make everything fit into a two-day shoot and to add ideas (like the balcony lights scene) that were necessary to inject a bit more brand presence. Let’s not forget that Protergia is an energy provider, so lights needed to be part of the story in an organic way. The most important thing for us was to find the right balance between the scenes so that, while it was almost a short film, it wouldn’t feel long, repetitive or tiring to the viewers.

LBB> What were the biggest production challenges of shooting a 2.5-minute film that feels as rich as a feature short?

Drys and Giannis> Time. The shooting lasted only two days (approximately 24 hours of pure shooting time), which was a major constraint. The first thing we did was find a location that had one or two nearby exterior spots we could use without time-consuming moves, to give the film some breathing room, while everything else would be shot in the interior of the apartment building.

So, this 'richness' you mentioned, we tried to achieve by making the most of what the locations gave us and by adjusting the script on the fly to save time. For example, we originally had a scene in a supermarket, which ended up becoming the scene at the front door where our lead actress drops fruits on the floor. We love a bit of a challenge. We are firm believers that when you are under pressure you can be at your most creative.

Above: Behind the scenes of Protergia 'Silver Love'

LBB> Why did you choose Argyris Papadimitropoulos at Boo Productions to direct, and how did his sensibility elevate the emotional core of the story?

Drys and Giannis> Argyris is a director with a sensitive eye for human relationships, and if you haven’t seen it, we encourage you to watch ‘Suntan’, one of the films he directed a couple of years ago. At the same time, over the years we've worked on various projects with him and know exactly what he’s capable of achieving.

On the other hand, Boo Productions is a company with deep cinematic expertise (movies in the likes of ‘Dogtooth’, ‘Apples’, ‘Attenberg’, etc.), so we knew that this combination wouldn’t deliver just a typical advert – it would give us something more. Something that condenses a film into an ad. Something that, under different circumstances, would be a film made for the cinema – or something that would make someone say, ‘Doesn’t this story deserve to become a full-length movie or a TV show?’.

LBB> The tango track by Haroula Alexiou underpins so much of the film’s mood – how did music supervision shape the final piece, and were there any surprising musical pivots?

Drys and Giannis> We understand how difficult it can be for someone who isn’t native speaker to connect with our language, and yet tango (obviously also thanks to its music) allows even those who don’t speak Greek to relate to the film. Its lyrics, too, somehow align perfectly with our story (at the moment when the young couple is revealed, the song says: “A woman, a man, and a god above.”)

Of course, before settling on this song, we tried several options during the editing process – but from the moment we tested this one, nothing else felt right. From that point on, all we hoped for was to get Haroula Alexiou’s (the artist) approval – and we did. Immediately after the commercial was released, the song returned to radio stations all over Greece.

LBB> The film lives or dies in the edit – what was your collaboration like with Panos Daoultzis to nail rhythm, humour and emotional pay-off in under three minutes?

Drys and Giannis> It’s true that films live and die in the editing room – and along with them, so does the editor from sheer exhaustion. The truth is, until we decided on the song, Panos suffered quite a bit – but from that point on, everything flowed fairly smoothly.

I should mention here that Argyris and Panos came to us with three different endings: the one we used, one where they never become young, and one where they become young and stay that way. We did this because we were very concerned about coming across as insensitive to people over 65. But the reality is that this film was made with a great deal of sensitivity – often having our parents on our mind throughout this long process.

LBB> How did you integrate Protergia’s ‘silver-age’ programmes into the narrative so it never feels shoe-horned, yet still drives home business objectives?

Drys and Giannis> We spoke earlier about one aspect of our strategy: the idea of humanity, optimism and stories in our communications. Understandably, having a great and emotional film without actual impact out there, in the real world, would be futile to say the least. This is where our business strategy comes in and gives actual meaning to the stories we tell.

Historically, Protergia has always catered to specific audiences. We did it with university students, couples that move in together and people who work during Christmas holidays. For all these audiences, Protergia supports and is by their side by offering cheaper and customisable energy programmes. It might sound obvious, but when it comes to crucial commodities, like energy, being crystal clear on what you offer and how much it costs are the two most important factors when choosing an energy provider.

And although silver-age programmes are no different in the case of giving better prices, keep an eye out for us when it comes to this audience. Something is brewing.

LBB> Looking at the finished film, which production or craft decision do you think taught you the biggest lesson about risk-taking in category advertising?

Drys and Giannis> A couple of things…

Firstly, the decision to turn our protagonists into young people. We had a lot of pushback and concerns regarding the insensitivity towards older people. But we were confident that was not going to be the case. That was our gut feeling. Because, sometimes, logic and numbers can be helpful. Yet, other times they can hinder the one thing that makes the work work.

Secondly, launching our film without any voiceover to tie it to a product offering. Our plan was for people to first watch the film, think positively about the story and – on a second level – about Protergia. Maybe we shouldn’t talk about this, but honestly the product itself didn’t have an organic way in. As important as it is to offer a reduced energy programme, we think it’s more important for people to like you. We play the long game when it comes to brand building, and that is the way to go – at least for us.

Last but not least, the choice of the music. We are not certain about other markets but in Greece the idea of having the correct music that resonates is not on the priority list.

Usually, music is chosen based on the budget leftovers and gets embedded clumsily into an advert. That’s not the case here. People who have got their facts straight know about the power of music for memorability and emotional responses so we were very persistent about having a track that made headlines and fit perfectly into our story.

LBB> If a marketer in another sector wanted to apply the 'agelessness' idea to their brand, what first steps would you recommend they take?

Drys and Giannis> Sensitivity and real interest. Think of it this way: is this something that your parents and grandparents would be proud of? If the answer is yes, you are on the right track.

There is also this interesting way of looking at it:

We continue to be biased towards this audience, even though one day you and I (hopefully) will get there. So, let’s all start thinking of ways to make this audience important – because it’s also our future that we are building towards.