Part 4 Colombia: PSN Puts World Cup Commercials on the Map for Russia 2018
World Cup Fever is well underway, and brands have been
clamouring to speak to the huge audiences tuning in to the football action in
Russia. World Cup commercials have been being commissioned in countries around
the globe, but in a worldwide tournament, fraught with rivalries and fronted by
some of the hardest to reach talent on the globe, how do you know where to
shoot?
PSN calls on its production partners from around
the world to share their insights on what countries are getting through the
group stages at pitch. In the fourth in a series of World Cup features they
speak to Juan Pablo Bernal, Service EP at PSN Colombia, the man on the ground
for Banco Davivienda’s daily coverage of the World Cup – a huge production undertaking (approx. 10 spots every two days) which requires rapid response.
Q> Why did Banco Davivienda and Leo Burnett Bogota choose to shoot this campaign with you in Bogota? Would they not have been closer to the action in Russia?
It wasn’t an easy pitch. During past World Cup tournaments, the bank has run some incredibly successful campaigns which have performed well on YouTube and other social platforms. To convince the brand and their creative team to shoot with us, we produced four of the twenty-five spots to show what could be done in Bogota. We built a small set and cast the characters. In the end, they were so impressed with the quality they gave the go ahead for the production of the whole digital campaign.
Q> The characters in the ad are VAR refs from four different countries, how did you make sure there was no conflict between nations or no bias?
Although it is a campaign based on local humour, the people of Latin America share common interests and wit that lead to regional ideas. We made sure everything was relatable to the markets who would be watching (Colombia, Costa Rica, Panama, Salvador, Honduras). Luckily views are growing massively across social each day, so I’d like to think we hit the mark.
Q> How did you cast the VAR refs for this campaign?
We did have to find very talented actors, that could play a specific nationality. It’s a group of four referees that are part of the VAR team. There are two that represent their original nationality, but two Colombians had to play as foreigners. One Mexican, one Indian.
Q> You’re producing a lot of content, what would you say were key challenges of this campaign in terms of production?
Yes! We have produced 22 different spots for TV, 40 for digital channels, as well as daily deliveries (approx. 10 spots every two days) during the World Cup. Of course, new results within the world cup
