In the run-up to the 2014 World Cup, Genco Male Grooming decided to raise awareness to their “World Cup Lock-Ins”. Drinks and festivities would coincide with the live streaming of every match in-store during the ‘lock-in’. To spread the word, we developed a strand of daily, viral videos featuring Genco’s main stylists as football pundits. The idea was that by just adding the zeitgeist of a world cup, everyone becomes an “instant expert”…

Pre-production

Blessed with a colourful and engaging staff, Genco’s football knowledge spanned from the insightful to the indifferent. Consequently, the interviews would need to be as tongue-in-cheek as possible. Similarly, they should deliberately pre-empt each match’s outcome (red cards, penalties etc.).

Production

Shot as a series of interviews, each stylist was asked the same questions in turn. Filming them against a green screen, we could create a believable TV channel ident for Genco with onscreen graphics.

Given that these videos would be delivered online, we decided to shoot each of the interviews separately. That way each character could occupy the most screen real estate. Using judicious cutting and sound mixing we could cut between each of the stylists and make it feel like they were reacting off one another.

Post Production

Running for 30 episodes, each one 0f the interviews had to be fast and funny. By sourcing suitably atmospheric cheering crowd sound effects, each episode’s beginning and end quickly the established the tone of the strand. Editing our commentators together, comedy gold quickly ensued. Some knew a lot about football, some thought they did and some didn’t care – but everyone was funny.

Released on time, Genco’s Instant Experts ran for all of its thirty episode’s and still even stands up today. Whilst the names and venues of may have changed, the truisms and bitingly funny observations of the Instant Experts has not.