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2C 2.0 were thrilled to join forces with long-time collaborators and friends at Turner in conceptualizing and creating animated branded content for tbs. And what better time than now to lean into animation?
“We created this concept long before Covid-19, travel restrictions and shooting regulations hit,” says Cheryl King, 2C 2.0 creative director. “We chose to pitch animated concepts to offer something different and unique to the sponsored content “scene” where we typically see shoot-based integrated spots. We work with such talented designers and animators that we wanted to explore sponsorships and brand integrations in a new way – fusions of brand colors, fonts, key messaging and imagery for both the network and the sponsor.”
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With a growing track record of unique, fun and compelling campaigns that integrate world-renowned brands, 2C Creative was commissioned by ESPN to collaborate on a promotion involving Dunkin’ Donuts. The goal was to find a clever, comedic way to integrate the messages of the sports media conglomerate and its larger-than-life Monday Night Football analyst and Super Bowl winning former head coach, Jon Gruden, with the new mobile app from one of the world’s most recognized coffee and donut brands. In essence, it was about creating a seamless marriage between unlikely bedfellows, all while balancing the agendas of the different stakeholders involved.
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We all know 2020 was a unique year for many reasons and even sports fans found themselves uncertain that the comfort of “the big game” would even be there. Despite the logistical challenges, football continued to enthrall audiences and deliver exciting game play that provided a welcome distraction amid record-breaking stats.
For the third year running, NFL Network tapped us to create the spot promoting the biggest night before the biggest game of the season, “The NFL Honors 2021” which airs the night before Super Bowl LV. The NFL Honors is an opportunity for fans to see their favorite players off the gridiron and on the red carpet to celebrate their accomplishments.
Given the unique peculiarities of Covid protocols, we were tasked with how to capture the visual excitement of a live event without the usual trappings of the crowd. Focusing on our modern gladiators through careful gameplay selection and stealthy use of 2020 Honors footage that didn’t betray current social distancing norms. 2C also created a custom graphics package that framed action with bold uses of brush strokes mimicking gold leaf and sparks to focus the eye.
Fortunately, host Steve Harvey never disappoints to inject much appreciated humor and energy into the spot juxtaposed with the solemnity of the NFL Hall of Fame presentation.
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Give Us Win or Go Home. One final chance to extend the season. Give Us the AL Wild Card.
The AL Wild Card game is a must watch playoff game. It is a culmination of the season storylines, the top stars, and the biggest moments mixed into one single elimination game. This year’s matchup features a historical rivalry with the New York Yankees facing off against the Boston Red Sox.
Working together ESPN and 2C came up with an attention grabbing treatment to make this year’s promos really pop. Taking exciting game moments and distressing them with a glitch effect and moody treatment overlays we took the footage to another level. In addition hand crafted text animations were created to help the copy compliment the mood that the cover of Metallica’s “Nothing Else Matters” evokes.
One of the biggest challenges with the MLB AL Wild Card promos each year is being prepared to pivot and evolve the initial spot to focus on the teams that actually clinch the 2 slots in the game. This year was no different as it came right down to the wire with a contentious competition.
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This fall, ESPN has a Major League Baseball postseason unlike any seen before.
To promote its telecast of the MLB Wild Card Series, ESPN worked in collaboration with agency 2C 2.0 around the idea of “Fall Frenzy,” a multi-sensory-overload-level creative campaign with a series of spots that make you see, hear and feel the Frenzy.
The concept was a custom shot-by-shot, multi-layered treatment inspired by 90’s grunge rock poster art to capture what makes this postseason unique: more teams, more pressure, more stars.
Together, ESPN and 2C 2.0 created a home-run campaign that truly embodies the elevated excitement and the unexpected nature of fall baseball this year. Executed by a talented, curated team of designers, animators and editors spanning 2 countries and 5 time-zones, the campaign includes both English and Spanish versions, cut-downs and radio.
With four days, 16 teams and the best of three, the “Fall Frenzy” on ESPN and ABC takes place September 29 through October 2.
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Launching the first line of toys for Blue’s Clues & You!, the hit remake of the groundbreaking, curriculum-driven interactive series Blue’s Clues, Nickelodeon called on long-time partners 2C 2.0 for a linear and social advertising campaign. The goal was to create an enchanted VFX experience to bring to life Nickelodeon’s original, live-action “Kid Fantasy” concept in which Blue leaps from the TV screen to help a little girl find clues that transform normal objects into awesome Blue’s Clues & You! toys, games and even a super-soft plushy!
From green light to delivery, 2C worked closely with Nickelodeon to overcome the inherent challenges posed by the pandemic, pulling off a feat in the coordination of the live-action shoot and VFX process. The teams planned extensively over Zoom to ensure that each shot would work for VFX, as only the DP/camera operator and mother of the talent could be present on set.
“There were so many challenges to think about with COVID and remote-style shooting, which was the safest option at the time. We had to make sure that the two-person production team on the ground with our talent could do everything the client wanted sans a traditional crew,” said Director Tony Cohen. “What made things easier was 2C’s expertise and availability to talk creative out, especially with the animation aspects being added to live action.”
2C is no stranger to working remotely. With its curated teams spread across the globe, they were well-prepared for the challenges COVID would present to post-production alongside trusted partner, Nickelodeon.
“Many of us have been working remotely for quite a long time, and we’ve had plenty of practice living in a hurricane zone, so quarantine work-life is fairly similar to our normal way of working,” said 2C Creative Director Cheryl King. “The teams on this production spanned over 5 time zones – from L.A. to Miami to Dublin – so we both planned extensively to ensure a seamless successful project and worked to cultivate and maintain open and honest communication – an absolute necessity during this time of change and evolution in our industry.”
Once the shoot was completed successfully, 2C went to work, both editing the live-action spots and handling VFX to ultimately create a colorful, fun and engaging product launch campaign consisting of 30- and 15-second linear spots that could run on such OTT platforms as FireTV, SamsungTV and Pluto, to name a few. The campaign also includes a mini-series of short social spots at various ratios of 1x1 and 9x16 to span the social platforms.
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NBC Sports’ comprehensive consumer engagement plan for its annual “Championship Season” has been aided by a collaboration with 2C Creative (“2C”), which was tasked to find a fresh, visually compelling way to promote several different extraordinary events, make them feel even more epic, and bring it all back to NBC. The network has returned to 2C for 5 years running to create new shots to freshen the campaign as it was so successful.
NBC Sports’ Championship Season consists of six sports and nine events over an 11-week span in the spring and summer – the Kentucky Derby, Preakness Stakes, Belmont Stakes, The PLAYERS, Premier League Championship Sunday, French Open, Stanley Cup Final, Tour de France, and The Open.
Included in the campaign is a new promotional spot where these worlds collide in vivid color.
2C, which had previously worked with NBC on award-winning spots for the Sochi Olympic Winter Games and Rio Opening Ceremony, as well as the network’s 2014 Super Bowl upfront presentation, was awarded the project after being one of a few agencies selected to pitch creative concepts.
2C’s concept focused on accentuating the most impactful moments of each iconic sporting event with an explosion of colored powder that links back to its own corresponding feather in the NBC Peacock logo. These explosions -- triggered by the athletes’ contact with their playing surfaces – also included materials such as asphalt, grass, ice and clay born right from the respective sports.
Tapping a growing expertise in marrying in-camera special effects with CG in post, 2C orchestrated and shot real explosions, knowing the NBC brand demanded the kind of aesthetic and authenticity only possible through this kind of process. The desired effect required that everything be shot in high speed and high resolution, which called for the Phantom Flex 4K camera system. It also meant constructing and testing effects rigs that could basically create the look, velocity and direction that they wanted out of their materials.
With the initial effects as real as possible, the creative agency then used CG to integrate everything into existing event footage. Scene selection was an important part of the process, as each visual-effects moment was motivated by the action taking place in the shot. Visual consistency amongst the scenes was essential, which presented a major challenge, as footage came from various sources and in differing speeds and frame rates. 2C focused on the painstaking tasks of separating the athletes, recreating backgrounds, bringing real-time clips into smooth slow-motion, tackling motion blur with 3D takeovers, and even reconstructing flowing horse manes so that every scene felt authentic and no detail was overlooked.
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Enlisted by CNN Creative Marketing to collaborate in promoting seasons three and four of the HLN Original Series “Vengeance,” 2C Creative (“2C”) gave the campaign a cinematic feel, opting to approach the launch promos more like main titles in style and pacing and delivering elements that heighten a sense of danger through contrasts. Watch campaign highlights HERE.
“Vengeance” is an HLN Original Series about revenge, betrayal and murder. Each season follows 10 true-life mysteries through all of the twists and turns that lead to arrests, verdicts and justice. “Vengeance – Killer Coworkers” premiered Sunday, January 5, and the campaign will evolve for season four – “Vengeance – Killer Families” this summer.
With campaign elements that include launch spots, key art, the HLN Original Series open, episodics and graphic toolkits, 2C’s concept takes the familiar scenes and objects from our work and home lives and injects them with a True Crime twist. The scenarios are simple – a desk, a break room, a kitchen, a living room – but each has been tainted with murder so it’s both familiar and shocking, normal and unsettling.
To create these completely custom scenarios, 2C used a combination of 3D elements and compositing. Heavy shadows and shifting darkness isolate the focus on the scene of the crime while a desaturated palette helps emphasize the blood stains in each location, embodying the element of murder. The story is told with titles, as authentic audio from the show provides the pacing.
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There’s what you’ve heard… and there’s how it really happened, teases the newest promo for “How It Really Happened,” an HLN Original primetime series debuting its sixth season on March 14. Longtime creative partner 2C 2.0 was enlisted by CNN Creative Marketing to deliver the extensive on-air marketing campaign. A true collaborative effort, the teams were in sync for every step of the process, with Bill Platt leading the creative on CNN’s end.
In approaching the campaign, 2C focused on what sets “How It Really Happened” apart from other similar docuseries, using the editorial language and visual elements to demonstrate this quite literally. The agency created a graphic device that starts with floating headlines and audio clips of “what you've heard” in the news before diving deeper into teasing what viewers actually haven't heard in the second half of the spot.
“This series is special in the way it gets beyond the headlines most people see to reveal that there’s so much more behind every story. By focusing on this differentiator, both editorially and visually, we were able give the new season a distinctive feel while getting to the heart of the show’s appeal to viewers,” said 2C Creative Director Cheryl King. “I really enjoyed getting to help see it through from ideation to completion.”
2C, which had actually teamed with CNN to promote two prior seasons of “How It Really Happened,” delivered a Season 6 on-air marketing campaign consisting of a launch promo and six episodic spots (all with cutdowns), as well as a topical graphics package.
Hosted by critically acclaimed actor Hill Harper, the HLN Original primetime series “How It Really Happened” delves deeply into some of the most notorious crimes, mysteries, trials and celebrity tragedies of our time.
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When our friends at Disney+ invited us to help create an exciting, energetic, and compelling “Coming In December” spot, we immediately focused on the sheer breadth of tones and styles across their packed slate. New originals and big premieres, including Marvel’s Hawkeye, Star Wars: The Book of Boba Fett, The Diary of a Wimpy Kid original movie, and Welcome To Earth with Will Smith, inspired us to find just the right words to describe the selling point for each unique property. We were also excited to work with Disney+ branding, including their new 2.0 toolkit throughout, to help create unmistakable service attribution.
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For 2C Creative, which has collaborated with Twentieth Television on numerous “Bob’s Burgers” promos since the series entered syndication in 2015, the goal is always to find a fresh, new way to feature the show’s clips in funny highlights that would generate weekend viewing. Team 2C researches by watching many hours of episodes, laughing until their guts hurt and then honing in on just the right balance of cast members and messaging.
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Shot two days before the Oscars in the iconic Hollywood Roosevelt Hotel, this year’s contestants on American Idol got the platform of a lifetime by appearing in a Queen-inspired promo during the Academy Awards. Covering the Queen tune “Don’t Stop Me Now,” this year’s crop of crooners participated in a continuous shot video that took them through an elevator, dressing and green rooms before ending up on a rooftop stage.