Howatson+Company & Revolver: Feel the joy of belonging

Howatson+Company has created a new brand platform for Belong. It Feels Good to Belong has launched with a 60-second TVC that’s strange, and strangely mesmerising, set to a new version of Lady Gaga’s Born This Way. The film, in which a Snowy Mountains rocks appear to have human faces, was given its striking character by Revolver’s Steve Rogers. The idea of the film is that connection is all around us if we just look hard enough.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W6R4JVjMWvw&t=36s

To adhere to Belong’s values, the production of the campaign was approached in an inclusive and low impact way. The Snowy Mountains’ local Monero-Ngarigo people were engaged to ensure the storyline, lyrics and land were respectfully considered, with the production being 100% carbon offset. Audio descriptions have been applied to all visual video formats and will run on rotation for product ads on all commercial networks that don’t currently support audio descriptions for the vision-impaired.

It Feels Good to Belong will be used across the whole Belong business, including brand communications, product, sim card packaging, website, UI/UX and staff collateral.

It has already been integrated into two product films, featuring Belong’s carbon neutral promise. The visual identity was inspired by NFT art and features animated 3D characters and objects floating on black voids. These will be supported in digital and OOH channels.

Jana Kotatko, chief executive officer, Belong, commented, “We are incredibly proud of our new It Feels Good to Belong platform and brand work. Belong is a brand that is all about joy and inclusiveness and bringing people together, we couldn’t be prouder of how that is represented in this work and are thrilled to see it out in the world.”

Gavin Chimes, executive creative director, Howatson+Company, added, “Belonging feels great, so why be serious? ‘It Feels Good to Belong’ allows us to celebrate the joy of togetherness while fully embracing the random wonder and whimsy of the internet – which is at the heart of what Belong offers.”

Credits:

Creative Agency: Howatson+Company

Client: Belong
Chief Executive Officer: Jana Kotatko
Head of Brand, Comms & Culture: Kelly Schulz
Head of Product: Aaliah Eggins-Bryson
Brand + Creative Lead: Leanne Boyd
Brand Specialist: Clare Taylor
Marketing Chapter Lead: Nathan Cole
Product Owner – Trading & Propositions: Loretta Bell
Senior Marketing Specialist: Adelaide L’Estrange
Marketing – Trading & Propositions: Josh Bailey

Production Company: Revolver
Director: Steve Rogers
Managing Director & Co-Owner: Michael Ritchie
Executive Producer/Partner & Producer: Pip Smart
Cinematographer: Sam Chiplin
Production Design: Steven Jones-Evans
Editor: Alexandre De Franceschi
VFX & Post Production: Blackbird VFX
Music Supervisor: Trailer Media
Music & Sound: Sonar

Post Production: Heckler
Director: Julian Wolkenstein
Executive Producer: Carlos Zalapa
Producer: Maddison Costello
VFX Supervisor: Jamie Watson
Head of 3D: Tom Corbett
Design Director: Gina Wagstaffe
3D Team: Freddie Jiang, Phillip Wang, Gabor Prucsi, Boris Fomin, Dom Femia, Jack Scrase, Tim Jarick & Gareth Chang
Compositor: Nitin Amin
Animator: Kate Knott
I/O Team: Dan Page & Maud Chapuis