How Union’s Einar Brought “One People” Together for Pepsi

Union’s Einar Brings “One People” Together for Pepsi, TBWA\Chiat\Day

Showing a global community of people who care about making the world a better place was the challenge for the introductory TV spot for Pepsi’s “Refresh Everything” campaign. The creative solution was to shoot a diverse group of people who would be seen in a spot that put their faces together in a constantly changing mosaic of images.

Pepsi's "One People," edited by Einar.

More than just a production challenge, this spot presented a unique editorial challenge as well—one that Union Editorial was clearly up to meeting.

For the commercial—titled “One People,” which broke last month—Union editor Einar Thorsteinsson travelled to Cape Town, South Africa, where he spent more than a week on set with Paranoid US director Francois Vogel and the creative team from TBWA\Chiat\Day in Los Angeles, creating a remarkable visual collaboration promoting Pepsi's "Refresh Everything" campaign.

This is the upbeat spot that cleverly divides the screen into squares, then connects the people seen in the squares into an interlocking grid, creating a metaphorical link for their shared goals and driving home the message that, no matter what issue you most care about, we’re all united by a common desire to make the world a better place.

“What do you care about?” the voiceover asks in the spots opening frames, as the Black Eyed Peas hit “One Tribe” plays in the background.  On screen, we see frames of people arranged in a square configuration, each holding a sign bearing one word. When strung together, the signs say things like “I care about people.” 

“We’re giving away millions for ideas that help move the world forward,” the voiceover continues, as the images on the screen move about to form a variety of scenes. The announcer steers the audience to the Pepsi Refresh Everything project web site, www.refresheverything.com, where they can find out how to submit their own idea for consideration.

“I usually spend quite a bit of time pulling selects to find the perfect moment that will stand alone on the screen,” says the editor, who typically goes by his first name.  “Here, there are as many as 64 images onscreen at once, working together in many cases, so the process was very different. And regardless of the number of images onscreen, each one still had to distinguish itself, so we had to anticipate which image would be driving the viewer's eye at a given moment.”

As the spot progresses, the audience picks up on the “connecting” device, and wonders what the payoff will be. “So we started by looking at the storyboards in reverse,” Einar explains. “Throughout the shoot, we would get bits and pieces of those boards that had been shot. We'd communicate each night and could tell Francois what was lining up and what might still be needed.”

"We were working with over 50 shots a day, a lot of footage, and needed everything we did to work when we got back," recalls Senior Visual Effects Supervisor Todd Iorio of resolution la. "We designed a simple post workflow that allowed Einar to be cutting the day we got footage, and we were also compressing and uploading Avid media from Cape Town to L.A. and New York, so the other spots in the package could be in progress at the same time."

"Tying so many images together required a singular vision," says Einar. "The creative process was very fluid, and Francois mapped this out very well. I was thrilled with how well the Avid and the After Effects worked together. My rough lineup could go into Todd's system and we could work together to really make it unique and beautiful."

"Einar and I worked very closely on this," Iorio concurs. "He’d be working on timing and getting elements together, and I would be composing scenes. There was a lot of back and forth, and the close quarters made for a closer collaboration, which was really necessary with this project. Of course, it was great to get back to L.A. with all of our project files and setups and plug them right back into the artists and infrastructure we have here, including the color workflow. With this many moving parts in production, this spot is a real testament to how our flexibility on the back end gives clients more room for creative."

Being on set throughout the shoot, and getting dailies twice each day, allowed Einar to keep up a brisk editorial pace, and within two days of returning from Cape Town he had what he calls “a pretty fluid cut.”

The cut stayed on course over the next week or so, as the team worked with agency and client to finalize the project.

Of the completed “One People” spot, Einar says, “What I find really gratifying is how the younger generation is responding to it. They appreciate that it’s not a hard sell – it’s entertaining and clever, and that’s what they want. From an advertising standpoint, I’m impressed at how it really stands out as a Pepsi spot. Sometimes you see cool stuff, but canullt remember the brand. This spot is Pepsi through and through.”

Agency credits on the project go to Chief Creative Officer Rob Schwartz, Group CD Brett Craig, Creative Director Michael Tabtabai, ACD Xanthe Hohalek, Art Director Dustin Artz, Copywriter Chris Jones, Executive Producer Anh-Thu Le and Assistant Producer Doris Chen. Cathleen O’Connor and Claude Letessier were EPs for Paranoid. The spot was shot by DP Michael Cleary.

Published March 10, 2010