MARKETING, 16 x 9
In addition to our work in the Spatial mediums of AR, VR and 360°, MERCANTILE also has a strong background in creating traditional rectangular (non-spatial) marketing content for a variety of commercial and non-profit partners. Our core competencies are in branded documentaries and product videos, and in particular we are gifted at working with technology and technology startups.
We work with brands to hone their voice and deliver their message to an audience in an inspiring and heartfelt way. We believe in our shared humanity and in the feeling in our chests when a video really hits.
Here’s a reel that shows some of our work over the past years, with a selection of more projects below:
THE PROBLEM :
OpenSpace, a technology start-up in San Francisco, needed to launch an innovative 360-capture solution for the construction industry.
OpenSpace was preparing to introduce a product that would create massive change within the traditional and conservative construction industry,
THE SOLUTION:
Our work with OpenSpace began while they were in stealth, testing different 360 camera options in order to build their product, an automatic Google street view for construction sites.
When the time came to launch, we created a variety of content for their website, including a 30 second backroll loop, which told the entire story of the product. A still photoshoot and a two minute product video rounded out their launch content strategy,
Extensive VFX development and graphic treatments were used to visualize the inner workings of a piece of technology that is transforming the construction industry.
A complilation of the product videos we’ve produced for OpenSpace over the years.
THE RESULT:
OpenSpace is now the number one construction site capture platform in the world.
We continue to work with OpenSpace, creating multiple additional product videos, branded documentaries, and social media ads.
In March, 2022, OpenSpace raised their Series D at $102M at a valuation of $900M.
Internet Archive
THE PROBLEM :
Internet Archive is a beloved non-profit institution that has a collection of millions of digital books and maintains the definitive archive of the internet itself, the Wayback Machine.
At the beginning of the pandemic, Internet Archive made digital books available to the public, leading to a lawsuit from the big four publishing houses.
THE SOLUTION:
We developed a campaign to drive awareness of the good work of Internet Archive and present a new legal framework for lending libraries in the 21st century, Controlled Digital Lending.
We created a branded documentary, a Zoom documentary, and an animated explainer to win hearts and minds and build support for Internet Archive.
THE RESULT:
Each video was widely shared by other institutions and supporters and led to positive media coverage.
Viewers had an intense emotional reaction to the Marygrove Library video during multiple screenings, which drove donations and support.
The branded documentary about teachers and the animated explainer were used for lobbying efforts in Congress, educating politicians, and driving awareness of the importance of Internet Archive to equitable access to knowledge.
MARYGROVE COLLEGE
We conducted pre-interviews with various stakeholders in order to determine the story, casting Detroit poet and Marygrove Alumna Valerie Deering as the emotional linchpin to the story and creating the visual metaphor of Valerie in the empty stacks of the library. A crew in Detroit and a crew in San Francisco gathered the video assets needed to create this moving and very well received documentary.
A co-production of The Mercantile and Lone Pine Creative.
Read more about the partnership between Marygrove College and the Internet Archive at the Internet Archive.
CONTROLLED DIGITAL LENDING
An animated video for the Internet Archive explaining “Controlled Digital Lending” a way for libraries to safely and securely lend their collections digitally, an important foundation for ensuring that Libraries of the 21st century can continue to their mission of democratizing access to knowledge.
Produced and co-written with the talented animator Josh Kalven at Lone Pine Creative.
The HP Garage: Jeremy Bailenson by Jongsma-O’Neill for Hewlett-Packard
MERCANTILE edited and supervised post-production for the directing team Jongsma-O’Neill and their production company, Sustainable.
We drew upon our work in Virtual Reality to help craft the story of Jeremy Bailenson at the Virtual Human Interaction Lab at Stanford where he’s experimenting with the ways in which Virtual Reality affects our perceptions of the world.
Filmed in the historic Hewlett-Packard Garage, where Silicon Valley was born, this is a beautifully shot Branded Documentary that manages to maintain its documentary integrity while showcasing the good work that HP has been up to for the better part of a century.
Westbrook Media X T-Mobile
We worked with Will Smith’s company Westbrook Media to execute on creative for T-Mobile’s campaign “The World is Getting Smaller” creating an endless looping Twitter ad using Tiny Planet transformations.
We conducted camera-tests with the Westbrook Media crew, then designed the VFX process to generate the effects and supervised a one day shoot that created this eye-catching Twitter ad.
