Unlock an emotionally and visually driven storytelling approach to help Messenger Rooms stand out against the COVID-19 cultural backdrop from both a product and production standpoint. Ultimately the goal was to build awareness of Messenger Rooms by showing compelling reasons to use this new video chat product to connect with friends and family over the many alternatives.

When the world went into lockdown, we had to find ways to stay close to our loved ones. So Facebook created the perfect platform MESSENGER ROOMS.

To launch MESSENGER ROOMS, we needed a campaign that would capture the attention and hearts of people, and entice them into exploring the platform. (Whilst also making it clear how people can use it).

“PICTURES” was where we landed.

A concept that establishes a new tech product, by leaning into a tech product that’s been around for over 100 years – the photograph.

The film brings to life how MESSENGER ROOMS is for close friends and family by taking photos of REAL FRIENDS, and having them re-create the activity in the photo, now in Messenger Rooms.

In a culture of seemingly infinite video-call alternatives, we needed Messenger Rooms to raise above the competition by connecting with a deep human emotional truth, not through functional features. Our strategy was simple – show that technologies may constantly change, but the power of real close friendships endures; even if not together due to COVID-19.

We took old, analog photos from real groups of friends and recreated the same scenarios, now happening digitally and remotely, through Messenger Rooms.

To make it visually compelling and engaging, we used morphing techniques, done artisanally by one person, to create the magic of pictures coming to life and for the elaborate transitions from scene to scene.

“Pictures” was produced in the early stages of Lockdown. Everything needed to be done entirely remotely, and no one had much experience with it yet.

The task was not a small one: direct over 50 talents remotely, each in their own home, and then put it all together seamlessly.

Film kits were sent to each of the actor’s homes, with cameras, lights, microphones, props, and instructions on how to use it all.

The spot ran across digital platforms including Hulu, GroupNine (The Dodo/Thrillist) and Warner Media (TNT) and ran from 5/19/20-6/20/20.

Our creative ambition was to unearth the humanity living inside the video feature.

For success we needed to connect emotionally with GenZ and Millennials so they talked about this new innovation, and in doing so, inject Rooms into the cultural lexicon.

The campaign saw huge upticks in conversation, indicating that our human-first approach to a tech solution was working?

- The Pictures advert had 369MM impressions and 690 TV GRPs?

- Mentions of “Messenger Rooms” and “video chatting” increased by 6X (+489%)

- Music related mentions of our talent, The Beatles and Messenger in the week of launch increased by 4x (+278%)

- This resulted in driving Product Awareness +3.3ppts above benchmark goal and Message Pull-Through +3.1ppts above goal.

Messenger Rooms became visible and culturally relevant to Gen Z and Millennials, and therefore a new option to this audience in this competitive video chat universe.