“We love making up stories.” The tagline for BETC’s new TVC for Canal+ is clearly also a glimpse into the heart of the agency’s creative department.

In Unicorns, BETC has invented a fiendishly funny story to answerthe question, “How come there are no more unicorns?” Housed it in an epic cinematic production…

…And delivered the message that the original programming on Canal+ is an absolute must watch, which is the ad’s aim after all.

BETC Paris now has a prodigious library of Canal+ ads that is perhaps as famous as its client’s original content.

BETC Paris turned to director, Matthijs Van Heijningen, again to make Unicorns. He was also the directorial talent behind The Closet and The Bear. The film was produced through Parisian production house, Soixante Quinze.

Mostly though, it’s the agency’s stylish sense of humour that stars:

“The most complicated part of making the film was the kind of epic discussions we had about what a pair of Unicorn b***s actually look like, because obviously no one has ever seen them. We thought of putting stars there, or little furry things. We ended up opting for a bit of sobriety. Well, a sort of sobriety at least…” [Stéphane Xiberras, chief creative officer and president, BETC Paris]

Creative credits:

Agency: BETC Paris

Executive creative director: Stéphane Xiberras

Creative director: Olivier Apers

Art director: Aurélie Scalabre

Copywriter: Patrice Dumas

TV producer: Isabelle Ménard

Director: Matthijs Van Heijningen

Production company: Soixante Quinze

Producer: Yuki Suga

Post production: Mikros

Sound: Kouz