Barclays' Ad-Skipping Rube Goldberg Machine

Daniel Fisher - Executive Creative Director, The Martin Agency London
Bob Partington [Pictured Below] - Director, 1stAvenueMachine

What was the brief with which Barclays approached you?

Daniel Fisher: They wanted to explore a more disruptive approach to their pre-rolls. But they didn’t just want to do something creative for the sake of it, they wanted something that could be related back to their product.

Pre-rolls seem to be more and more prevalent; do you think that will continue and how hard is it to get them right?

DF: I think we will eventually see new online video formats taking over but I can’t see pre-rolls disappearing in the near future. It’s a really tough medium, because no one likes to be forced to watch an ad, no matter which brand it’s for. The ones that get it right have an understanding of that.

The Martin Agency in Richmond has had huge success with their off-the-wall GEICO campaigns; do you think Barclays were drawn to the agency’s pedigree in that sector and platform?

DF: Yes, it was discussed a lot when we first met with them. The Unskippable campaign opened people’s eyes to the fact that this medium doesn’t have to be a creativity graveyard. Before that campaign it was unthinkable that a pre-roll ad might win creative awards, let alone the Grand Prix in Film at Cannes.

How did you come up with the final idea and what was Barclays’ immediate reaction to it?

DF: We wanted to do something that played on the fact that pre-rolls get in the way of the stuff people really want to watch. From there we came up with the idea of doing a film that saves you from actually having to skip and does it for you. It was a big departure from the kind of stuff Barclays have done in the past but they loved the idea from the moment we presented it to them.

Can you talk us through the process of designing the Rube Goldberg machine for the spot?

Bob Partington: The initial designs for this were pretty loose, it was mostly about identifying objects and mechanics that we could use in the machine which were cool and readable to camera-- as well, every object had to reflect some aspect of Barclays, like a car tyre for automotive, a wood chipper for agriculture, and a rocket for aerospace.

The next step was to pre-visualize the design 3-D. With all of the components in a virtual space we could compose to the virtual locked camera, keeping everything within frame and depth of focus. 

That left us in a pretty good place going to set with all of our components, and of course reality presents a whole new set of challenges, so we had a couple of days of serious tweaking before we are ready to shoot.

What were the main difficulties (assuming there were any) with the machine, and how many takes did you need?

BP: Of course we had all of the standard difficulties that go into making a Rude Goldberg machine, but we stacked on the added constraints of containing it not only to an exact locked frame but also an exact number of seconds, so we had to make physics behave. Also, the tennis ball at the beginning tended to bounce all over the place setting things off prematurely… but that is part of the fun.

We had countless partial takes, he would often be stopping short if something didn't work quite right, to avoid a long reset. We were basically shooting and tweaking all day and finally got the take we liked at the very end of the day, one of only a handful of full runs through.

Why was Bob Partington the best choice for director and what did he bring to the project?

Daniel Fisher: We decided we needed somebody who was part filmaker, part mad scientist, which is Bob all over. We’d actually shown his Google Speed Tests as reference when we first presented the idea, so we set up a meeting with him and found out that he happened to be this mad Rube Goldberg fanatic. We knew then he was perfect for the job.

What was the main challenge in delivering this project and what was the most rewarding aspect?

Bob Partington: The challenge was capturing this all in-camera, in a single shot. Not only does the machine have to work, right through to the end, but also it has to work to the camera, in a clear linear way so that the viewer can follow and understand, and be engaged. If we can pull that off, then we are all rewarded— it was great to be on set and see how many people truly were passionate about making this a success.

RELATED ARTICLE: The Martin Agency's First Self-Skippable ads for Geico.