Mac Premo Captures How Paul Octavious Is 'Built For Chicago'

Mac Premo Captures How  Paul Octavious Is 'Built For Chicago'
 
If it seems that 'content' is the buzzword du jour through the creative industry at the moment, that's only because there's an awful lot of 'content' emerging that's worth buzzing about. As brands grow more and more confident in the skills of agencies and production houses creating online work that people choose to (figuratively) tune in to, the breadth of work that gets produced itself swells – meaning plenty of doses of cracking creativity for us to enjoy.
 
A piece of work that straddles both the commercial and content categories is the 2-minute TV and web-based 'Built for Chicago' for Sprint. Directed by Supply & Demand's Mac Premo, the film follows noted Chicago-based photographer/commentator Paul Octavious as he takes people around Chicago, showing off his city and the inspiration for his work. Combining the informative nature of personality-led documentaries with the aesthetic qualities of more commercial work, the piece works on both levels – showcasing the connectivity of the brand whilst entertaining and informing the audience.
 
Indeed the connection with audience is cemented by a bolt-on contest promoted within the film – targeted directly at the Twitter, Instagram and Vine aficionados of Chicagoland. People of the city are tasked to post the very things that make Chicago Chicago, using #BuiltForChicago. The winners of the contest will be featured in an exhibit at the Art Institute in November, with Paul Octavious himself narrowing down his fifty favorite contestants and the city will voting for the top ten.
 
We caught a few moments with Mr Premo to quiz him on his involvement with the project, the choice of Paul Octavious as subject and his take on the branded content revolution.

 
How did you get involved in the project?
 
The creative team at Leo Burnett sent boards over to Supply & Demand - the production company that I am represented by - via their Chicago rep Doug Stephen (MillerStephen).  When I saw the core of the idea they were shooting for, I was immediately excited about the opportunity.  I got right to the keyboard and started hammering out my take, working on a treatment. I just started getting my thoughts on paper; figuring I would edit the language and tone later, make my proposal a little smoother-edged. In the end, we sent over almost exactly what I wrote first draft because it ended up jibing so well with the straightforward nature of how we felt this project should be handled. Even all the swear words.
 
The film fits nicely between a more straightforward 'ad' and 'branded content'. What did it feel like making it? What drove the creative?
 
The creative was really driven by the subject, Paul Octavious. The nice thing about this project was that the driving force is this dude who makes pictures with his phone and blasts them out across the world using the capabilities of his mobile network, so our objective with the spot was to really tell the story of what he does. What Sprint brought to the table was the means of his medium, so we were able to just let that do its job and concentrate on the cool parts.

 
Paul Octavious is a fascinating and engaging subject. How was he chosen?
 
He was chosen by measuring awesome. He came out with a very high level of it on paper. Thankfully that translated over to actual human interaction.
 
The film is part travelogue, part interview. Was it important to get the balance of insight and sightseeing right? Was there any pressure to have more mention of the brand in the project?
 
Balancing insight and sightseeing was more about striking the right tone in illustrating the relationship between Paul and his environment. Frankly, I think Paul could bring creative visual insight to just about anywhere he goes. Chicago is the canvas he calls home, so it was a matter of showing the city from his perspective while maintaining a respect for a place much bigger than one man. I was raised to respect architecture above most art forms, so it was a true pleasure to work with someone excited about and reverent to the city around him.
 
As for pressure to mention the brand, we really wanted to see how this played out as naturally as possible. Of course there were certain elements of the product that we wanted to establish and communicate, that we wanted to advertise, but it was the goal of the agency to have that come across in actual and practical terms-- not as a method of acting, but as a method of testimony. Really, they gave Paul a phone and hooked him up to the Sprint network, and then we talked about it. So I think the pressure was less on us to advocate the brand, and more about the images and story that came out of this.

 
Is it just us, or does the film incorporate a lot of the Vine/Instagram style imagery (i.e. the fast cutting walking looking like a Vine clip and the sun-kissed photography of Instagram)? Was this a stylistic choice or just our internet-addled brains projecting onto your work? 
 
Now that you mention it, probably both. It was a stylistic choice, a way that I felt created a nice symbiosis between the lens I see the world through and the way Paul represents it through his photographs, but it is clear that he and I have both been informed by the internet-addling of our collective aesthetic. I would go into this more, but I have already lost interest. I am now facetweeting.
 
What? I don't know where my pants are.
 
How do you feel about branded content? Is it freeing to work on a project that less brand focused?
 
We are currently in a period that is simultaneously jaded as hell yet far less cynical that even just a decade ago. That creates a fantastic opportunity for branded content: viewers will accept that concepts and ideas are being brought to them by a brand if they are told a brand is the deliverer, but if they feel like the brand is trying to hide itself, sneak its participation in, the whole endeavour becomes disingenuous and the content is immediately dismissed. So a brand can say 'hey, I'm a brand, here is some content', and then let the content just be what it is, and I think the un-cynical appreciation the viewer might feel from been having been delivered something nice to watch creates a positive association with said viewer and delivering brand.
 
Those were a lot of words. I can make it simpler: brands have the opportunity to be patrons of content and not hide that. My hope is that they take the long road, choose patronage and engender a deeper loyalty with their customer base by toning down their desire to hammer home messaging. Frankly, it's the PBS model.

 
Are there more films to come in the series?
 
I certainly hope so. This was a great project to work on, top to bottom, and it would be invigorating and humbling to keep meeting and filming cool people doing cool stuff. I am a great enjoyer of cool stuff.