When you produce events of the calibre Drive is used to, you think you’ve said goodbye to party poppers and balloons. At least that’s what we thought – until we were asked to release ten thousand of the latter into Neal’s Yard, bang in the heart of London’s Covent Garden.

Our brief from Frank PR was to direct and produce a viral movie to enhance the profile of the Aero ‘Feel the Bubbles’ TV campaign. With product owners Nestlé seeking to reinvent their time-honoured aerated chocolate bar in order to reach a younger demographic, we needed to make a movie that appealed to young people without targeting them specifically on film – it’s now against the law. Yes, it’s true: the days of the Milky Bar Kid are well and truly over. The piece also needed to maintain the ‘Street’ feel of the above-the-line TV commercial where untold numbers of chocolate-coloured balloons are let loose in a Californian skatepark along with pro skateboarder Bob Burnquist. The emphasis on the youth market required a radical shift in brand messaging for the chocolate giants and agency JWT – this message needed to go viral and really get people talking. So that’s where we came in.

In true Drive-in style, our inimitable production team were ready for the logistical challenges we knew would present themselves. Hard-won council permissions obliged us to guarantee public access and freedom of movement within the space at all times, minimising disruption to local business, residents and the public by agreeing to strict time limitations: on site at eight and out at noon. This meant engaging the help of the local church – St. Paul’s – to inflate the balloons overnight, ready to be transported, on foot, in 1000-capacity nets, for their morning debut.

Exceeding the original brief, we delivered a concept, a treatment and a narrative, transforming this tranquil West End enclave into an bubble-filled urban dream-scape. Despite the rigorous production schedule we still managed to record the days events with comment and input from public and crew, creating a ‘Making of’ documentary. Images captured on the day by invited Getty photographers have subsequently been archived, ensuring the event the posterity it deserves – and thus reaching as many people again. With featured star UK beatbox champion MC Zani providing an all original royalty-free soundtrack, the finished piece was an out an out winner, successfully released to the web and winner of a 5-star rating on youtube. Enjoy.

Click here to watch the Aero viral video.
Click here to watch the making of video.

Sachal recently invited us to design and produce ‘a very special evening’ to celebrate the official release of their very own music collection, the Sachal Music Album – a collection of 12 discs recorded over the last five years at the illustrious Abbey Road Studios in London. Sachal Music is a label devoted to South Asian music, promoting the musical traditions of the Indian sub-continent and the works of the finest composers and artists of Lahore.

Home to Sachal Studios, Lahore remains one of the great and ancient cities of Pakistan. Often referred to as ‘cultural heart’ of the country, it is home to Pakistani art, film and intelligentsia, surviving the turbulent political events that have characterised this part of the world. For the record company, an significant aspect of the occasion was to pay tribute to this cultural heritage – and put its traditional musicians back on the global music map.

London-based music promoter, Jay Visva Deva of the SAMA arts network and Sachal project consultant, approached us on the recommendation of Abbey Road. Following the success of four years designing and producing Sound & Vision, Cancer Research’s premiere rock-and-roll music event and auction, it’s an honour to have become their preferred event supplier – and to swing into action with our winning formula for transforming Studio One – home to the Fab Four no less – from a functional recording space into a glamorous party venue. Drive is the only company that has been able to navigate the technical restrictions of this listed building, installing our bespoke-made flown-rigging that enables us to dress the venue and and deliver state of the art video, audio and lighting solutions without touching the walls.

Taking the visually stunning Sachal album artwork and Bollywood-style music videos as our starting point, we designed the event to reflect and illuminate these striking paintings and graphics. Colourful silks, vibrant floral arrangements and opulent furnishings were combined with careful architectural lighting and large format prints of the album covers to successfully bring the album art to life.

Our dedication to being a full-service creative events specialist was reflected in our custom offering to Sachal: a film/edit package to record the event in order to showcase their performers to multiple audiences. We conducted a number of interviews with producers, arrangers, composers and musicians and created a compelling short documentary.

Guests at the event itself included prominent music industry representatives, coverage by Sony Television UK & India, and presenters from Asian television network (ATM) and Radio 3. In the words of client: it was the talk of the town.

I am indeed pleased and delighted to say that Drive Productions delivered a ‘state of the art event’ for Sachal Music at the Iconic Abbey Road Studios in the shortest of production time – just 72 hours. The Drive team, upon receiving the brief, went full steam in delivering an event many of our guests described as ‘out of this world’.
Jay Visva Deva – CEO, SAMA Arts Network