Cannes Lions

Greater Things

FCB NEW YORK, New York / BILL & MELINDA GATES FOUNDATION / 2024

Film
Supporting Content
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Overview

Entries

Credits

OVERVIEW

Background

In the last 50 years, the world has made progress in almost every aspect of life. But 64% of the world still thinks we’re heading in the wrong direction. Fueled by constant bad news and polarization, a crisis of “doomerism” is threatening to erode our belief that a healthier, more equitable world is possible.

So, we tasked ourselves with a bold objective: to increase optimism in the UK, USA, South Africa, and India — demonstrated through engagement and enthusiasm with our content.

To achieve this, our brief was to provide the antidote to that pessimism by championing the people working together to make the world better. How? By asserting that problems CAN be solved, and communities can be transformed. The proof lies in these very partnerships that allows the ripple effect of potential to reverberate around the world. Because when you get the right partners together, the potential is endless.

Execution

The “Greater Things” film is like a whirlwind trip around the world, so the music needed to feel the same. Bollywood strings, African highlife guitar, a Kenyan choir, Chinese bamboo flute, Mumbai tabla players, a NOLA jazz ensemble, two ’60s reel-to-reel tape machines, and an 808 drum machine were all thrown into the musical blender to bring this score to life.

We wanted it to feel like a global DJ set that dropped in and out of locations while still retaining a melodic motif throughout.

The music had to lean into the different locations without ever feeling gauche or tokenistic. To ensure this, we consulted with local contacts in the UK, South Africa, India, and China to make sure the music felt authentic to that region.

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2024, BILL & MELINDA GATES FOUNDATION

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