One Peak Creative’s new spot for plant-based milk product Sproud not only touts the benefit of pea-based milk, but gave it chance to explore the value of a technology that the studio’s founders believe is going to be a big part of the future.
The spot was developed as something of a passion product by One Peak, which received a care package of Sproud products and liked the milk so much, they decided to make a spec ad for it.
“We were kicking around different ideas for us to create in our virtual studio, and this was one of the products that we really enjoyed. We came up with a bit of a concept that we thought would be really quirky and fun, and thought it’d be a really good idea for us to introduce ourselves to the brand,” explains Conar Fair, CMO with the production studio. “It was almost a free sample concept: ‘See if you like this, and if it works for you, then maybe we can keep working together.’”
The video is based around a play on words, with its star claiming that “drinking pea” is the best option among all the plant-based milk alternatives on the market.
And while the spot is set 200 years in the future, it was filmed in a garage in current-day Kelowna, B.C. using One Peak’s virtual production process.
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The team of six built a cyclorama and painted a green screen, then installed lighting and a T-bar ceiling. But the big tech investment was a system of infrared sensors needed for the “anti-latency” camera-tracking technology used in the process. That allows movement and focus to remain steady even within the cycloramic environment, which can project things like a full virtual room or skies, instead of just one wall of projection provided by a typical green screen.
“We started looking at the technology and realized it’s going to be a big part of the future of video production,” says Fair. “We wanted to get on it and start learning, and the best way to do that was getting our hands dirty. Once we got it all up and running, we started working on some different passion products and spec ads.”
While this kind of virtual technology is not new, the equipment needed has gotten accessible enough that even small teams – such as One Peak’s – can produce visual environments one would expect from larger studios, at a much lower price point and more efficiently, says Fair.
“Right now it’s not quite at the same level, but we believe it’s going to get there. So we wanted to learn, and be one of the first to offer it.”
The spot was shared with Sproud, who reacted with positive surprise to the video.
“It was unlike anything they had produced or thought of producing before, and I think their initial response was kind of shock, but they were really happy with it,” he says, adding that the brand is now meeting with One Peak to “discuss next steps.”
One Peak Creative was founded in 2015 in Vancouver. It last got attention from the rest of the industry in 2020 when, during the pandemic, it produced the “#Adsolation” series of spots that it made in a day for a wide array of brands including Bubly, Aviation Gin, Natural Balance and Doritos.
