Meta imagines the potential of the metaverse through an African cycling team
New campaign from Droga5 showcases platform's vision for shared experiences
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
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