/Interview/ B-Reel
03/04/2007 | Filed under Design > Interview
A handful of specialist design companies team up with big ad agencies to produce some of the most expensive-looking work on the web. B-Reel is one of the elite bunch that gets to work on the biggest projects, and it has a full trophy cabinet to prove it
.net: What’s B-Reel working on at the moment? NL: An online showroom for the Swedish Post Office, a music video, an integrated commercial/web campaign for a soft-drink brand and a couple of title sequences. We recently produced an advanced Fl ash intro, to be used when Hertz offered rentals of the brand new Volvo S80 (217.70.33.82/s80). The production included advanced 3D modelling and animation, as well as 2D compositing and sound design. We made the intro together with Swedish web agency, Pool.
We also produced the web campaign for H&M’s winter-holiday lingerie collection, entitled See the Full Story. The style of the site was inspired by the 1920s, with Oriental and Victorian elements. The central feature of the campaign is a film-like commercial that stars French actress Emmanuelle Béart, who models the Christmas 2006 lingerie collection. For the site, we added an intro to the movie and also made it possible for users to interact with it, view the gallery, and read information about the collection.
.net: What are your specialisms, and what sort of niche are you carving out for yourselves?
NL: We want to be the most natural choice when people are looking for a creative production company that works with TV and online productions. We are a hybrid production company, comfortable with everything from tech-stuff to live-action shoots – that’s what makes us stand out from the crowd.
.net: You’ve worked with agencies like Fallon and Forsman & Bodenfors on some work – is that something that’s common for agencies like yours?
NL: We like it, as we get to work with the best ideas from the best agencies. This way, we don’t need to pamper a client for ages before we get to the fun part. About ten agencies worldwide work like we do. Our position is equivalent to a production company for commercials, with a high-standard creative connection to the agencies. The difference is that we make commercials, motion graphics and interactive productions. The interactive element is always at the core of our thinking and our work.
.net: What’s been your favourite B-Reel site to date?
NL: You’re often defined by your most recent work and this is especially true in the online world, where the development pace is so fast. The thing you make this month will naturally ‘outcool’ the stuff you made a month ago. Right now, our most recent site is a travel site for the MyTravel brand, Ving (www.vingfl ex.se); it has some impressive programming at work behind the scenes, while what you see is a super-simple interface that gives you loads of travel info and inspiration.
.net: What other agencies do you really admire?
NL: Barbarian Group, Hi-ReS!, Big Spaceship and Psyop. They may not all be agencies, but we do what they do, and we like how they do it.
.net: How important are awards to you?
NL: Awards are great – they mean we can have some celebratory beers in the middle of the day. In the last few years we’ve received valuables from Andy Awards, London International Advertising Awards, New York Festivals, Epica, Eurobest, Promax/BDA, Cannes Cyberlions, BUG Award and the FWA’s. It feels great to be rewarded for your work, and it gives you some international recognition, which we hope will trigger even more fine briefs coming our way.
Sometimes we’ve made the entire production from idea to final version, sometimes we’ve made only the production, but the way we work, we always feel that we have contributed enough to take pride in the prize. At Eurobest, the leading European advertising award show, B-Reel-produced sites took home two Gold medals and one Silver. The City Is Your Stadium received a Gold in the Integrated category and Silver in Interactive. Dear Mr B received a Gold in Interactive. Both productions were collaborative efforts by Forsman & Bodenfors and ourselves.
.net: In your opinion, what sort of clients would you say were ‘your people’?
NL: Clients who see us as a partner adding creative value, instead of just production talent for hire. And clients who look at online productions as a natural part of campaigns, not something you just add in at the final stage. We love easy-going, talented people with big dreams and big hearts. Who doesn’t?
.net: Can you briefl y explain your process of creating a client brief?
NL: The briefs we get range from getting an objective and a deadline to fairly worked-out concepts. We put together a team of art directors, animators, Fl ash producers and account people for the first debrief and bottom-up creative meeting. Then a smaller group, usually a mix of creative and account staff, finalises the concept to be presented. Our process is fairly worked out, and we try to let all the info fl ow freely within the creative team to get the best out of everyone.
.net: What will be the next big web thing in 2007?
NL: Strong user experiences with a growing emphasis on creating useful services that are tightly integrated with the client’s business. Utility is a new buzzword that’s going to crop up quite a lot in 2007.
Comments
Patek Philippe / 03/04/2007 / 14:46
It's a shame that company's like this has such a great influence on what's going on on the web. Just look at the www.vingflex.se site that they claim to be so proud of. It uses tables for layout, the (i guess) most important function doesn't work with javascript turned off and the w3c validator shows a result of 391 errors. And i haven't even looked further than that. When will these agencies learn best practises?
tomek / 04/04/2007 / 00:26 / http://www.profesjonalna-reklama.pl
Thanks for very interesting Interview. Greetings
Cormac Bracken / 11/04/2007 / 14:35 / http://www.dearadh.net
I have to agree with the 1st poster. Most of the text is in graphics with no alt text. The main page is 636k. The source contains various commented-out code and placeholders left over from development. Very unprofessional.
Joakim / 16/04/2007 / 15:40
From what I know B-Reel was just responsible for the Flash Development of that site.
Jen / 01/05/2007 / 01:08 / http://www.freebiescout.com/ps3guide.html
I find that page way too busy and bright, it doesn't look professional to me at all.
George / 31/07/2007 / 11:01
http://www2.ving.se/flex-flash/index.html
is the right adress.
Check your facts before starting dissing.
kisses and hugs
G
scott b / 25/10/2007 / 22:39
George, thanks for the correct link. The page did hold much more promise than the other link. However following that link I waited a whole minute for the first Flash screen, only to have it crash Firefox once it loaded. Just saying.
