Entertainment First. Advertising Second.
By Robert McCulloch
IDIDTHAT has just published an article taking us behind Woolworths’ Made in Italy series.
Behind Woolworths’ six-part ‘Made in Italy’ Docuseries
It tells the bigger production story: almost a month in Italy, 20 terabytes of footage and six half-hour episodes. It was definitely one of the best projects we’ve been involved with this year.
This is my take on what made the project interesting.
A unicorn
Disclaimer: This project is a bit of a unicorn.
It had an unusually brave client, a relationship between Woolworths and Big Sky Productions built over nearly 16 years, and enough trust to let the original idea become something much bigger.
Woolworths also put their money where their mouth was… twice. First, they backed the original trip and gave the team the freedom to explore what the idea could become. Then, once the series had emerged, they invested again in the media required to secure a weekly prime-time television slot.
(Interestingly, that media investment was still relatively modest compared with what a major national television campaign can cost, but more on that another time.)
Those are unusual conditions. But calling it a unicorn shouldn’t stop us from asking what can be learned from it.
Small teams, carrying more
Rick Wall directed, shot and edited the series, travelling with a two-person internal team from Woolworths. There were obviously many other people involved, but these three were the ones out there finding and carrying the story.
Rick wasn’t handing his footage over to someone who hadn’t been in the room. The conversations, unexpected moments and small details he noticed while filming were still with him when he sat down to edit this beast.
Nothing needed to be explained again. Very little was lost along the way.
This isn’t to say that smaller teams are always better. But there is something incredibly powerful about a small group of experienced people who can hold the whole idea in their heads and carry it from beginning to end.
Entertainment first
The part I find most exciting is the kind of advertising Made in Italy represents.
It puts entertainment first and allows the advertising to follow.
The truth is, people don’t want to feel targeted and advertised to. We’re smart. We know when we’re being sold something, and we tend to switch off when a product has been forced into a story.
What is particularly brave about Made in Italy is its restraint.
As a viewer, you may only realise later that the Italian products on Woolworths’ shelves aren’t simply inspired by the people in the series. They are actually imported from the producers whose stories you’ve been watching.
Even I found that discovery interesting.
Suddenly, these aren’t just premium-looking products in beautiful packaging. You understand where they come from, who made them and why they cost what they do.
Woolworths doesn’t force that message. The story allows you to reach it yourself and that makes it far more powerful. You know you’ve done something right when a customer buys your product and then tells someone else the story behind it.
The opportunity is to find stories in which the product genuinely belongs and make them good enough that people choose to watch, remember and share them.
You don’t always get the story you planned
On a personal level, this is the work I love most. And I’m confident enough to speak for Rick here and say that he feels the same way.
You can research carefully, secure incredible access and arrive with a clear idea of what you want.
Nine times out of ten, you won’t simply get it. Someone gives you a different answer. A planned moment goes nowhere. A person you had barely considered becomes completely compelling.
Sometimes you have to ask the same question in an entirely different way. Sometimes you have to stop asking and follow something unexpected.
That requires a particular kind of team.
You need people with enough experience to know what they are looking for, but enough confidence to let go of it when something better appears.
The strategy gives you direction. It shouldn’t become a script.
There is also something wonderfully human about following your own curiosity. If something makes you lean forward, stay with it. If you genuinely want to know what happens next, there is a good chance the viewer will too.
What we’re hunting
This is the territory that seriously interests us.
Not necessarily another six-part series in Italy, although that would be nice, but more opportunities to work with brands and agencies early enough to help find the story, not simply execute it once everything has already been decided.
To find the things a brand has an authentic right to talk about. To understand where its products belong naturally. And to create something people might actually choose to watch.
That feels less like advertising finding a different format.
It feels like a different way of thinking about advertising.
