Breitling – Summit Webcast

An important part of Breitling's brand communications is their bi-annual travelling Summit; a keynote event hosted at locations around the globe during which Georges Kerns, Breitling's CEO, announces new products, campaigns, and partnerships with the help of guest speakers and brand ambassadors. Spring is the key creative partner for Breitling's Summit, responsible for setting the look and feel, writing the script, designing the slides, and creating a number of the video assets which are shown during the event – work that was well underway for the spring 2020 Summit. Breitling's Summits have been held all across the globe, with previous instalments hosted in Dubai, Los Angeles, Beijing and Zurich. It had been planned since 2019 that the spring Summit would be hosted in Shanghai, though as COVID-19 began to cause lockdowns across Asia it became apparent that this wouldn't be an option. Back up locations in London and Zurich were discussed, but as the COVID-19 encompassed the globe, we quickly realised that a new approach was needed; it would be filmed and broadcast as a streamed webcast. With lockdown looming over Switzerland, our teams were able to organise a locally-based production company to film Georges in Breitling’s Zurich store (with no more than 5 people permitted at the shoot), whilst teams in China and other locations were mobilised to film interviews with other guest speakers. After a day of shooting, we had a hard-drive with 100s Gb of footage couriered to our team in London who spent the following fortnight editing, animate, sound-mixing and grading the 20 minute film. This was no mean feat. As Spring’s production studio had recently closed due to lockdown, all work was being done on home computers and home internet connections. Internal reviews and sharing with client for feedback was all done remotely, often with editing working sessions hosted over Zoom. Whilst getting used to this new way of working, our team also had to adapt to other challenges, such as homeschooling their children. While the circumstances were less than ideal, we were able to produce 4x versions of the film which premiered on video platforms in some of Breitling’s key markets, viewed by over 2.5m fans and consumers – far beyond the press and trade reach the usual keynote format achieved. The response was hugely positive, and Breitling were able to land a powerful brand moment at a time when the rest of the industry was regressing.