Music was a way to reach across language and cultural barriers, bringing people in Shell’s target markets together – so we partnered with five international singers, each with a different style and following, all with a track record of involvement in worthwhile causes that would make them an authentic ambassador for one of the energy innovations.

To really captivate digital natives we had to bring them together in a way that was fun, interactive and different. The concept was a

year-long energy relay, beginning with the release of a music video that would show the artists’ passion and talent, and relate the energy sources to people’s lives. For the soundtrack our global “supergroup” would collaborate on a single song, combining their different cultures and styles.

This would be promoted with a live (and live-streamed) event that would connect the artist ambassadors with audiences in real time, inspiring them to #makethefuture.

The search for artist ambassadors began in November 2015. Within six months Jennifer Hudson (US), Luan Santana (Brazil), Pixie Lott (UK), Yemi Alade (Nigeria) and Tan WeiWei (China) had all signed up. Each had vocal talent, a huge following and a desire to #makethefuture.

Renowned producer Steve Aoki brought their different cultures together in an upbeat remix of American Authors’ track BEST DAY OF MY LIFE. The artists helped to bring clean energy to life in an accompanying video, shot in May and released in September 2016 online (Youtube, Facebook, Spotify), customizing the experience in each platform and via digital OOH in global capitals.

In November Pixie Lott, Yemi Alade and Luan Santana travelled to Rio de Janeiro to demonstrate the technologies to locals. They performed in a rooftop concert, with sets timed so that their home audience could enjoy it on Facebook Live.

The Shell #makethefuture video’s original, compelling design immediately captivated audiences, becoming one of the most shared campaigns of 2016.

A colour-coded interactive version that allowed users to see and hear just one artist at a time achieved a 77% engagement rate -expanding on the linear video’s success by a factor of twelve.

In summary:

816 million video views

99 markets

Most shared brand facebook post of 2016

Over 1 billion people reached through earned media

329 earned media articles

Best-performing branded content in Shell’s history

The campaign proved how much can be achieved through collaboration.

The campaign harnesses music in order to attract viewers to Shell’s message, and then uses interactive features that entertain the audiences while at the same time educate and engages them about the need of more and cleaner energy solutions.

The campaign features the song Best Day Of My Life performed by six international artists.

To double our energy supply by 2050 will take a global collaboration to find sustainable solutions. The next generation must lead it, so the #makethefuture campaign was targeted at millennials in key global markets.

Digital natives often follow their favourite music artists on YouTube, Twitter, Instagram and Snapchat much as they might follow friends, making it easy for Shell’s talent partners to reach them when they shared the music video and campaign messages.

However keeping their attention online is difficult so to root the campaign in the physical world and keep momentum going we also planned for some of the artists to appear at a live event shortly after launch. They would demonstrate the clean energy sources and perform in a concert in Rio de Janeiro favela that was already using the innovations. The action would be streamed to a global audience through the relatively new Facebook Live platform.

By 2050, the world will need double its current amount of energy supply.

And for most people, the discussions around the future of energy are difficult to engage with because it’s not necessarily clear how these issues connect to their current or daily lives. These problems are usually treated as boring, discouraging and unalterable.

The company’s brief, then, was to grab the attention of “millennials” regardless of where they were or what language they spoke. The objective was to get them thinking about how their phones were charged, or their homes heated; to showcase bright energy innovations; and to harness the power of collaboration.