Beautifully crafted creative or efficient delivery of assets at scale? VCCP Group thinks clients have had to compromise by choosing one of the other and has launched a global content creation studio to offer both. Girl & Bear centralises film, audio, design, print, photography and digital production services into an integrated unit within its global network. Its mantra is craft without compromise.
Girl & Bear has its headquarters in London but its 250 creators are spread across the world – Madrid, Prague, San Francisco, New York, Singapore, Sydney and Shanghai. The new studio will also work with production partners to provide the best talent in the industry.
Founding partner and group chief executive officer at VCCP, Adrian Coleman, stated, “Content creation and production is something we have always offered to our clients and as the making arm of VCCP, Girl&Bear now elevates our production offering globally, bringing further cohesion to our Group, and a challenger proposition to other networks. All brought to the market by an extremely talented leadership team who all bring different skills to the table, working towards one common goal to bring fresh thinking and new ideas to how we make.”
The agency will use its proprietary software, The Pathway, that will use data to enable highly finessed content creation, adaptation and transcreation or more personalised content across all channels, and to allow its makers around the world to work together more efficiently together. Girl&Bearwill service VCCP’s global network as well as offering cost-efficient production at scale in every region of the world through offshore solutions which will be run out of the Czech Republic, South Africa and Asia Pacific.
The new studio will be led by managing director, Claire Young, executive head of production, Anthony Austin and global head of operations, Dan Montalbano. Young has more than 20 years of production experience working at Mother, exposure and JWT, and has led production for VCCP London for the last six years. Montalbano has led global operations for the VCCP Group for the last two years and brings both client-side and London agency experience from brands such as National Geographic and Barclays, and agencies, Razorfish and AKQA.
Austin is a new hire, who spent nearly ten years as head of video production at Mother London before he founded Black Sheep Studios at BBH and then became executive creative director and partner at BBH London. The Girl&Bear senior leadership team will report into VCCP London’s chief executive officer, Andrew Peake and VCCP’s group chief creative officer, Darren Bailes.
The studio has launched with a portfolio of clients that includes Domino’s, O2 and White Claw. Recent campaigns include Domin-oh-hoo-hoo for Domino’s and The O2 in Fortnite Creative for O2.
Claire Young commented, “For us ‘how’ we make things is just as important as ‘what’ we make for clients. I’ve always wanted to reimagine production and creating Girl&Bear has enabled us to supercharge our making offering and evolve the industry model. We know that creativity is a business multiplier and we believe that great production doesn’t need to be a choice between pace, scale and craft – we’re in the business of ‘and’. World class integration is something that VCCP is famous for, and with Girl&Bear we are now in an even stronger position than ever to deliver on that promise.”
Anthony Austin noted, “VCCP has always produced beautifully crafted work. With Girl&Bear we will build on this legacy, while bringing a fresh approach to production through new ways of making, new technologies, new formats and always seeking out the best and most exciting talent. Girl&Bear empowers our makers to have a louder voice within the advertising ecosystem. They are an energetic, highly-skilled and passionate bunch, and I’m excited to be joining the team.
“As the challenger content studio we also wanted to address other areas of production we felt weren’t working, and change them for the better. Our ambition is to put our people and the planet right at the heart of our business, and we’ve created what we call our ‘Be Nice’ policy which outlines our guiding principles. We’re committed to sustainable practices in all that we do and we’re excited to be working with Greenshoot and AdGreen to ensure all production is made in the most sustainable way possible.”
Girl&Bear is also working with VCCP Group towards achieving B-Corp status, and to attract and support rising and diverse talent, it is working with partners, Free The Bid, BRiM, Justrunners, Brixton Finishing School and SCA. In November, it will host the Shiny Awards, which champions underrepresented directors.
Find more about Girl&Bear here.
[Cover image l-r: Dan Montalbano, Claire Young & Anthony Austin]
