Meta imagines the potential of the metaverse through an African cycling team

New campaign from Droga5 showcases platform's vision for shared experiences

Published On
Aug 25, 2022

Editor's Pick

A new film from Meta and Droga5 illustrates the possibilities of the metaverse through the eyes of an African cycling team. 

The film centers on "Team Amani," 12 young cyclists from across East Africa who compete in the global cycling scene. As we see some of them riding in the African landscape, the narrator tells us that they already use tech to communicate and have ambitions to compete in the Tour de France. However, he adds, he foresees a day when technology will allow them to benefit from world-class training and compete on an even larger scale.

Every year, the team organizes the Migration Gravel Race with the goal of bringing some of the world’s top cyclists to experience a whole new way of cycling in East Africa, known for its high-altitude gravel roads. The film showcases some of that competition and imagines a futuristic Nairobi race with members of the team riding in virtual reality with cyclists from all over the world.

The endline reads, "When we connect beyond boundaries, we all go farther."

Directing duo Illimité World (Aus Taylor and Marleaux Desiré) helmed the film via Love Song, working with Daniel Wolfe as the executive producer. Wolfe also executive produced Meta’s “Skate Nation Ghana” film for the Tokyo Olympics, which earned a nomination for a commercial Emmy, among other nods. 

While the latter focused on the power of Meta and Facebook's communities, the new ad aims to show what the metaverse can offer as Meta pushes its vision of the future in a more emotional way, emphasizing the role it can play in shared experiences.

“When people say 'metaverse' you tend to think of fake or imaginary worlds," said Thom Glover, executive creative director at Droga5. “But really, it has the potential to take away real barriers that matter in our lives. This story is about what could happen when geography doesn’t matter so much. It’s a story about a group of cyclists, but the message is much broader; this is about how far we all could go, if we weren’t limited by where we started out.”

The campaign will run across broadcast, linear and social channels.

Meta is not the first advertiser to use a cycling team to illustrate the opportunities brought by tech; Decathlon won a Grand Prix at Cannes this year with a campaign that assembled an e-cycling team from a group of prisoners via virtual platform Zwift.

Credits

Date
Aug 25, 2022
Client :
Meta
Agency :
Droga5-New York
Production Company :
Love Song
Creative Chairman :
David Droga
Chief Creative Officer :
Scott Bell
Executive Creative Director :
Thom Glover
Creative Director :
Ted Meyer
Creative Director :
Jason Gold
Senior Copywriter :
Ben Brown
Senior Copywriter :
Benjamin Hinamanu
Senior Art Director :
Ben Muckensturm
Executive Design Director :
Nate Scott
Group Design Director :
Mark Yoon
Designer :
Kenisha Rullan
Executive Producer Film :
Mike Hasinoff
Senior Producer Film :
Scotty Schuckies
Producer Film :
Mel Calabro
Associate Producer Film :
Matt Mintz
Senior Music Supervisor :
Mike Ladman
Music Supervisor :
Brandy Ricker
Junior Music Supervisor :
Mara Techam
Director of Business Affairs :
Dan Simonetti
Senior Business Affairs Manager :
Ramona Seunath
Senior Business Affairs Manager :
Jeannie Curcio
Senior Business Affairs Manager :
Sharee Manning
Senior Traffic Manager :
Wendy Kaplan
Talent Manager :
May Chee
Chief Brand Strategy Officer :
Harry Roman-Torres
Group Brand Strategy Director :
Diana Gonzalez
Brand Strategy Director :
Anthony Perez
Senior Brand Strategist :
Ellie Frame
Associate Brand Strategist :
Mariel Calara
Group Comms Strategy Director :
Jonathan Daly
Comms Strategy Director :
Ashley Branch
Comms Strategist :
Russell Harris
Chief Knowledge Officer :
Andy Littlewood
Senior Data Strategist :
Sean La’Brooy
Co-Head of Account Management :
Jessica Kingsbery
Account Director :
Gabrielle Barbuto
Account Supervisor :
Roxy Alberts
Account Manager :
Caitlin Carr
Group Project Manager :
Christine DiStasio
CMO :
Alex Schultz
VP Global Company Marketing :
Andrew Stirk
Director of Marketing :
Vivienne Walsh
VP Marketing Insights :
Rick Malins
Head of Creative :
Tom Markham
Brand Marketing Director :
Jasmine Summerset-Karcie
Brand Marketing Manager :
Lauren Kyriacou
Brand Marketing Manager :
Reid Prichard
Brand Marketing Manager :
Katie Secrest
Brand Marketing Manager :
Maggie Petros
Brand Strategy Director :
Amber Higgins
Brand Strategist :
Ally Chapman
Brand Marketing Insights :
Nikki Rand
Director of Program Management :
Jenn Cook
Head of Design :
Zach Stubenvoll
Creative Director :
Maria Wan
Production Strategist :
Julian Katz
Brand Communications :
Monica Ma
Director of Strategic Media Planning :
Radhika Narang
Strategic Media Planning :
Danielle Nichols
Strategic Media Planning :
Nick Mejia
Production Company :
Love Song
Director :
ILLIMITEWORLD
Partner/Executive Producer :
Daniel Wolfe
Director of Photography :
Diego Garcia
Director of Photographer :
Shawn Peters
Managing Partner / Executive Producer :
Kelly Bayett
Executive Producer :
Deannie O'Neil
Head of Production :
Paige Kauffman
Producer :
Leah Donnenberg
1st AD :
Alejandro Ramia
1st AD :
Kristina Ilyina
Stylist :
Bee Diamondhead
Producer Designer :
Andrew Clark
Director's Assistant :
Louis McCourt
Director's Assistant :
Ja'Lisa Arnold
Director's Assistant :
Ellen Nielsen
Production Service Company :
Blue Sky Films
Executive Producer :
Hemal Shah
Production Service Company :
Monkey Films
Executive Producer :
Clare van Zyl
Head of Production :
Phillip Killingbeck
Editorial :
Marsheen
Editor :
Dominic Leung
Editor :
Amber Saunders
Assistant Editor :
Matthew Blacklock
Executive Producer :
Harriet Cawley
Color :
Company3
Colorist :
Simon Bourne
Senior Color Producer :
Chris Anthony
Post Production & VFX :
The Mill
Executive Creative Director :
Dan Williams
2D Lead :
Carl Norton
3D Lead :
Edward Shires
3D Lead :
Dan Moore
3D Lead :
Nuno Pereira
3D Lead :
Adam Droy
2D Artist :
Matt McDougal
2D Artist :
Gustavo Ribeiro
2D Artist :
Rafael Vormitagg
2D Artist :
Zoe Cosh
3D Artist :
Artur Drozdowicz
3D Artist :
Arnab Bhattacharya
3D Artist :
Aman Jain
3D Artist :
Ben Beckett
3D Artist :
Callum Austin
3D Artist :
Charles Vidaud
3D Artist :
Giacomo Cavalletti
3D Artist :
Hannah Bahyan
3D Artist :
Joao Pires
3D Artist :
Katie Bates
3D Artist :
Kieran Russell
3D Artist :
Kapil Rana
3D Artist :
Luke Frampton
3D Artist :
Sandeep Grover
3D Artist :
Vaclav Cizkovsky
3D Artist :
Thomas Craig
3D Artist :
Shravan Srikanth
3D Artist :
Dinesh B
3D Artist :
Swathi M S
3D Artist :
Jyoti Prakash Panda
3D Artist :
Thirumoorthi Sivakumar
3D Artist :
Roman Vrbovsky
3D Artist :
Praveen Sharma
3D Artist :
Pol Escale Cabre
3D Artist :
Petroc Menuhin
3D Artist :
Paul Autric
3D Artist :
Paul Tempelman
Design :
Kwok Lam
Design :
Adam Roche
Design :
Barry Chapman
Design :
Can Y. Sanalan
Design :
Freya Barnsley
Design :
Henrik Holmberg
Design :
Daphne Westelynck
Color Assist :
Caitlin Donaldson
Color Assist :
Rory Leighton
Executive Producer :
Clare Melia
Producer :
Nicola Simmons
Line Producer :
Tarun Misra
Finish Artist :
David Wishart
Finish Artist :
Gavin Marler
TItle Design :
Fraser Muggeridge Studio
Music Supervision :
Curation
Music Supervisor :
Sunny Kapoor
Recording Studio :
Hiventy
Sound Design :
Barking Owl
Sound Designer :
Gus Koven
Creative Director :
Kelly Bayett
Executive Producer :
Ashley Benton
Remixer :
Bobcat Goldwav
Sound Design & Mix :
King Lear Music & Sound
Sound Designer & Mixer :
Ed Downham

Need a credit fix? Contact the Creativity Editors

Industry
Project Type