Never stop playing with Strongbow
Robot director Ayanda Duma brings playful energy and liquid storytelling to Strongbow’s Never Stop Playing.
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South African director Ayanda Duma continues to carve out a distinctive voice in commercial filmmaking with her latest spot for Strongbow, created in collaboration with agency Mortimer Harvey.
The film sits within Strongbow’s Never Stop Playing platform, delivering a vibrant, kinetic celebration of friendship, refreshment and playful escapism.
The collaboration came together organically. Duma had an existing relationship with the team at Mortimer Harvey and had been following the brand’s recent evolution closely. “I was instantly drawn to the project because Strongbow’s Never Stop Playing world is one I strongly resonate with,” she explains. “It’s a space for energy, playfulness, and reimagining worlds for a particularly punchy generation.”
While Strongbow has a clearly established brand voice, the brief itself offered room for interpretation. That openness proved energising for Duma, who was encouraged to push beyond embellishment and instead fully reimagine the story world. “It’s always such a delicate dance, infusing your own vision without changing the concept entirely,” she says. “With this piece, I was super energised to truly create rather than decorate.”
Credits
View on- Agency Mortimer Harvey/Johannesburg
- Production Company Robot
- Director Ayanda Duma
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Credits
View on- Agency Mortimer Harvey/Johannesburg
- Production Company Robot
- Director Ayanda Duma
- Post Production Tessa Ford Post
- Post Production Sphere Animation Studio
- DP Motheo Moeng
Explore full credits, grab hi-res stills and more on shots Vault
Credits
powered by- Agency Mortimer Harvey/Johannesburg
- Production Company Robot
- Director Ayanda Duma
- Post Production Tessa Ford Post
- Post Production Sphere Animation Studio
- DP Motheo Moeng
That creative freedom worked because of a natural alignment between director and brand. Duma describes her style as “audacious, playful and comedic with strong aesthetics,” qualities that sit comfortably within Strongbow’s identity. “I never felt like I had to convince the client of my direction,” she notes. “The synergy flowed seamlessly between us and the agency, and that’s evident in the final piece.”
At the heart of the film is an experimental approach to liquid as both narrative device and visual motif. The central idea was to explore refreshment from the inside out, transporting the viewer through liquid moments while showcasing Strongbow’s new bottle packaging. “We wanted to see how many ways we could play with liquid in a way that feels joyful and refreshing, literally and figuratively,” Duma explains.
Visually, the film balances product precision with immersive, playful storytelling. The cinematography shifts fluidly between perspectives, from cooler-box POVs to handheld moments within the characters’ world. Product moments confidently sit in the foreground before dissolving into the rhythm of real interactions. The edit mirrors this energy, oscillating between bursts of movement and moments of pause.
One of the film’s standout moments is a technically complex liquid transition achieved using a probe lens. Working closely with cinematographer Motheo and post teams Tessa Ford and Sphere, the crew engineered a bespoke rig, cutting and mounting a Strongbow bottle directly onto the lens to create a seamless journey through liquid. The result is a tactile, inventive transition that anchors the film’s playful tone.
Casting was approached with equal intentionality. Duma wrote the film with specific personalities in mind, visualising how each character moved, smiled and interacted long before auditions began. “I wanted our cast to feel like real people, who were really friends,” she says. A ‘voice of god’ narration helped guide the energy, allowing performances to expand and contract in rhythm with the edit.
Despite weather challenges and last-minute schedule changes, the production thrived on collaboration. One key moment of problem-solving involved sourcing a specific bottle pack for the bottleneck transition. Instead of shielding the issue, the team brought the client into the solution, quickly sourcing the required bottles from a nearby warehouse. “Instilling confidence and collaborating openly makes it easier to solve problems together,” Duma reflects.
For Duma, bringing fresh perspectives into commercial storytelling is essential. “The industry has long relied on stereotypical narratives,” she says. “As a Black woman director, it’s important for me to depict people of colour in nuanced, refreshing spaces, the ones I see around me every day.”
Looking back, she’s proudest of the film’s technical ambition and playful details, from the liquid transitions to the video-game animation inspired by the characters themselves. As for what’s next, Duma is keen to explore more narrative-driven work, particularly comedic storytelling and projects within the beauty and fashion space.
Strongbow’s Never Stop Playing ultimately lands as a joyful portrait of sociability, a celebration of squad energy, shared moments and effortless connection. As Duma puts it: “Just a group of friends who love to play, hang, go out, stay in, just real.”
