Shard Capital (based in London) asked Curve to create and produce a short 3-minute corporate video. The film would demonstrate the financial services that Shard offer, but more importantly the brief was to produce a film that “communicated and substantiated its brand model”.

We started the process by getting to grips with and immersing ourselves in the Shard brand, and we used this insight to underpin our creative thinking. The client insisted that they didn’t want the film to be overly “samey”, and they certainly didn’t want it to be typically “corporate”, so we employed a creative idea to drive the film.

….. and so came the idea of using “coffee” to deliver the key message! Picking up a coffee on the way in to work is the norm for city workers. Our storyboard featured a number Shard Capital branded coffee cups, which each “titled” the different financial services that Shard Capital currently offers. The film follows a Shard employee, from the point of ordering the coffees from the barista, through the building environment during which he introduces Shard Capital, and then onto where the appropriate coffee is delivered to the relevant head of department.

The film then uses a series of creative, yet meaningful interviews delivered by the key stakeholders. The film’s finale is a visual reprise of the branded coffee cup, but manicured with cappuccino froth and a “world” map stencilled in chocolate powder symbolising the global reach of the organisation. Curve also created an empowering strapline, which was used in the final frames with the coffee cup.

Shard Capital was delighted with the Curve’s response, and the film was commissioned in December 2016. Filming took place at their headquarters in London in January and the final film was delivered to the client at the end of February.

The video is used on their new website, on a loop in their main reception, at conferences and forums, and the production of a run of “video in the box” to be used for new business opportunities and other presentation purposes.

The success of the video comes from our understanding of the brand and culture of the client and communicating this throughout, and also the ‘big idea’ of using the coffee as the means of introducing each separate business entity within the company.

Curve picked up GOLD for the Shard Capital film in the category of ‘best use of video for business’ in the Kent Digital awards – June 2017. This automatically enters us in for the National awards for this category. We hear later this year.