Building on Nespresso’s positioning as a creator of moments and credentials as an official partner of the Cannes Film Festival, we launched the world’s first vertical film competition. A call to arms for the mobile generation to shoot ‘Tall Tales’ on their smartphones - for Nespresso Talents 2016.

To inspire our audience, we commissioned three break-through short filmmakers to show what’s possible when you ‘go vertical’ and housed their creations on our campaign website.

We launched the challenge at the 66th Berlin International Film Festival, then to respected film schools, before it was picked up by bloggers and amplified online in partnership with Userfarm; who deployed their film crowd-sourcing expertise to reach filmmakers all over the world.

Nespresso Talents 2016 was launched at the 66th Berlinale; the Berlin International Film Festival. We asked three film industry influencers to create their own vertical films that were premiered at launch of the contest. This trio then became our panel of judges, sifting through hundreds of entries from 38 countries to select the final three winners.

Up-and-coming film makers from all over the world, including 16 selected film schools, were given the brief to create vertical films based on the creative theme of ‘Explore Your Extraordinary’. Bloggers, online magazines and the broader film press were soon discussing the revolutionary idea that not only is it cool to shoot via the vertical format but there’s now a new competition centred around celebrating those who use the format.

Three winners enjoyed an exclusive trip to the world renowned 2016 Cannes Film Festival, where their winning film was announced and celebrated.

Turning the film competition on its side not only produced some spectacular vertical films but engaged our audience, encouraged participation and delivered some blockbusting results. 384 submissions from 38 countries, 1700 online mentions, 8.5 million earned impressions and 99.7% net positive sentiment. All of which has contributed to Nespresso having more meaningful conversations with a younger audience, helping to build a new film genre and demanding a repeat showing next year.