Behind the Scenes with BETC and Lacoste

If you’re looking for a traditional brand with strong heritage and a premium product, you’d do a lot worse than French fashion label Lacoste. For years the brand has raised its profile with a cool, high-end yachting theme to promote its catalogue of clothes, becoming synonymous with Parisian culture as a lifestyle staple.

BETC Paris also evokes cool, Parisian style and when the two meet up, sparks fly, like in the agency’s latest caign and a first TV push for Lacoste, The Big Leap, above.

Last Friday the spot, directed by Seb Edwards via Wanda, made our Ads of the Week, and this week we catch up with the creative team behind the work – Damien Bellon and Gabrielle Attia – just in time for Valentine’s Day, as they tell us about the inner workings of their film of exploding emotion, how the director took the ideas to the next level and why their hearts melt for the client.

Where did the idea come from, to base the ad in a café and tie it to an exhilarating rooftop scene?

The initial script was based on the idea of a man walking down the street towards a woman. Meanwhile we saw his double run on a rooftop to then take a jump as the "first" man crossed the street to reach for the girl he loves.

It was the director's idea to move the setting to a cafe. We loved the idea and it was one of the reasons we chose Seb Edwards rather than another director. The way the rooftop scenes ended up looks a lot like what we first imagined in the initial script.

Tell us about the technique used in the film, when the actors are floating in the air in the café.

When we briefed Seb, we talked about different ways of doing that scene but basically we said we wanted to find new technical grounds and experiments "like Henri-Georges Clouzot did in Inferno".

The floating was Seb’s idea, and to be honest we weren't too sure about it at first but decided to take a step back and trust him. It turned out to be the right thing to do!

The jump and the falling scenes were shot in a studio over two full days. It took a lot of wire, strobes, massive fans and machines – it was like being in hell on the shoot!

And what about the outdoor scenes?

In fact, the film was shot in Bangkok… why the hell Bangkok? Well, first of all we needed a massive modern city with tall buildings and good weather. Secondly we felt that the Bangkok architecture was pretty interesting visually, and thirdly – setting a production up over Christmas would have been tricky in Europe or South America.

Tell us about the music; how did you come across the remix of Disclosure’s track and why was it right for the film?

Music is always the subjective and painful bit but in the end we had a shortlist of three really different tracks of which we all had our personal favourite – from the client to the director and ourselves. Finally we decided to go for the most upbeat tune, which was also the favourite of the guys from BETC Music, our music department. It seems like it was a good choice as we're getting great reaction from people.

Why do you think it’s taken so long for a Lacoste TVC to come along?

This is the first time Lacoste has brought out a real TV and cinema brand caign and it was a fantastic opportunity for us. It is a great brand, it felt like a bit of a sleeping beauty.

The top executives at Lacoste have changed in the last year and it was time to break new ground. Combined with the fact that they're sponsors of the Winter Olympics it was simply perfect timing.

Working with Lacoste is interesting as you deal with a truly open-minded client. The film is the result of a true two-way relationship between the client and the agency.

No research group, no cost-controller, no storyboard. Just creative conversations and trust between the brand, the agency, the director and the production company…  The way things used to work 15 years ago, when advertising was driven by passion rather than fear and politics.

You can see the final spot at the top of this page and a behind the scenes film below.