senckađ
Group745
Group745
Group745
Group745
Group745
Group745
Behind the Work in association withThe Immortal Awards
Group745

Behind the Work: The Pandora ME Tribe Featuring Charli XCX and Addison Rae

08/10/2021
Advertising Agency
London, UK
868
Share
Anomaly’s group creative director, L.A. Ronayne talks to LBB’s Nisna Mahtani about the campaign’s success on TikTok, self-expression and the ‘bop to end all bops’


Danish jewellery brand Pandora launched its new ME collection earlier this week, targetting a new generation of Gen Z consumers. The campaign focuses on the customisable aspect of the jewellery which allows each wearer to express their individuality through mixing and matching items to complement their unique style. 

The campaign is full of bright colours, bold visual effects and endless ways to combine each bracelet, necklace, ring and earring in the collection. As individuality is celebrated, the campaign features Charlie XCX, Addison Rae, Donté Colley, Beatrice Laus (aka Beabadoobee) and Cecilia Cantarano, wearing and celebrating the unique nature of the ME collection. As Pandora encourages wearers to remix their looks, the catchy and exclusive backing track by Charlie XCX sets a playful tone. 

A fan of Charlie XCX herself, creative director at Anomaly, La Ronayne reckons the backing track is “a bop to end all bops”, as she talks through the campaign with LBB’s Nisna Mahtani.





LBB> The Pandora campaign is very bright and bold. How did you come up with the concept and what was the initial brief?


LA> The Pandora ME collection is all about self-expression. There are endless possibilities in how you can wear it, adapt it and personalise it. Our initial brief during the pitch was to tell this story to a global Gen Z audience. 

Instinctively music was the right platform, you associate a lot of fashion brands with music but not a lot of jewellery. So we got deeply into the aesthetic of the campaign to make it feel like part of this world, taking Pandora pink and going big, bright and bold. Hannah Lux Davis, the high queen of music videos, was the perfect director partner to bring it to life.



LBB> How long did the campaign take from start to finish? 


LA> We were appointed last November, kicked off development from the pitch work, then shot in May. With all the product stories, the search for our dream talent collective and creating a whole new brand world there were a lot of moving parts to keep us occupied. All in all, it was almost a year.



LBB> Were there any challenges you faced when it came to its creation?


LA> Are we all sick of talking about Covid? I’ll make this snappy! The logistics of getting all these people together in one place safely was a hell of an operation. Every decision was stress-tested. It was long, but our producers were like marines.



LBB> You feature Addison Rae and Charli XCX among other celebrities. How did your strategic aims guide the figures you involved?


LA> We needed real partnerships, the proper authentic sort, with people who fully get the collection and the new direction for the brand. Charli XCX, Addison Rae, Beabadoobee, Donté Colley and Cecilia Cantarano also speak to such an amazing mix of people all across the world, giving us this really genuine reach. They also were totally themselves, working in such a collaborative way to show what self-expression means to them. They are our very own social supergroup.






LBB> The music is striking and matches very well with the campaign. What was your process of song selection and how did you choose this one?


LA> My team and I are all massive music nerds. So we knew we wanted to work with someone with incredible production abilities to get the right mix of cool + mass. And then Charli actual XCX created us a bop to end all bops. We listened to Sweat (the track) develop over secret Zoom calls and it just got better and better. She’s an icon. Here’s a nice chat with her about the process. And this is the very first time she performed it live at the Pandora ME launch last week.



LBB> The campaign really shows off a lot of items in the Pandora collection but also allows each individual personality to shine. How did you strike this balance when it came to editing the ad?


LA> Creatively, we always treated the jewellery as the 6th character. And Hannah really got that in how she worked with us to develop the scenes (the storyboards were intense). But with the amount of assets we made, the real challenge was indeed with the edit. The team at OKAY worked wonders.



LBB> The lighting and choice of colours are bold and bright but in a somewhat subtle way. Can you talk us through how this was achieved?


LA> You’ll see through the product photog, talent photog and through loads of the details in the AV that reflections paid a big part in the execution. Conceptually, this was about representing the multiplicity of the line as well as the different ways our talents represent themselves. Technically it allowed us to play with the colour pink in crazy, glossy ways (which we knew would look amazing on the screens our audience are watching on). The prop builds and the lighting design Hannah and the team delivered were incredible. Being on set was like being in a Missy Elliott video.



LBB> What has the reception to the campaign been and have there been any surprises?


LA> The audience have been so up for it, watching their response so far has been gorgeous. And I just found out that #123PandoraMe has had 4.2 billion views on Tiktok. Which is also nice. I'm also so into all the Reddit sleuths picking up on the song.



LBB> Are there any moments that didn’t make it onto the final cut?


LA> Actually there’s not a lot! We went in knowing exactly what we wanted, each shot was so well prepared. I of course would have liked to do the feature-length documentary version, but maybe next year.



LBB> Is there anything else you’d like to share with us?


LA> From accounts, creative, design, production, direction, to delivery we had a huge crew. And almost all of us are women. That’s the first time it’s ever happened in my career. Feels good to share.



Credits
More News from Anomaly London
139
0
Work of the Week
Work of the Week: 08/12/23
08/12/2023
481
0
ALL THEIR NEWS
Work from Anomaly London
Open for More
Android
22/12/2023
24
0
Nothing Beats Being There
Expedia
04/12/2023
38
0
Many Evenings In
Gordon's Gin
27/11/2023
39
0
ALL THEIR WORK