Music was a way to reach across language and cultural barriers, bringing people in Shell’s target markets together – so we decided to create a music video featuring five international artists. Together, this global “supergroup” would collaborate on a single uplifting song, bringing their musical cultures together.

To really captivate digital natives the film had to bring them together in a way that was fun, interactive and different. The visual concept was a “hive of energy” – a 3D honeycomb in which each hexagon contained an artist or a sustainable technology for which they were an ambassador. Set to music, it would showcase the artists’ energy and talent, and demonstrate how the different innovations relate to the audience’s lives.

The song itself would feel relevant to a global audience of digital natives, with an upbeat tempo and forward-looking lyrics. Its reinvention would show how collaboration can transform things and #makethefuture.

The search for music partners 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 in their home country, and a genuine desire to #makethefuture.

Finding a song for them to collaborate on was a challenge; American Authors’ BEST DAY OF MY LIFE had upbeat energy and forward-looking lyrics that would resonate with audiences everywhere. Renowned producer Steve Aoki brought five sets of vocals together in a spectacular international remix.

Each singer helped to bring a different energy innovation to life for the video, shot in May 2016 released on YouTube, Facebook and Snapchat in September 2016. In November a concert starring Pixie Lott, Yemi Alade and Luan Santana was streamed via Facebook Live, and the artists also used interviews and social media to promote #makethefuture.

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 generate cleaner energy solutions. The next generation will need to lead it, so the #makethefuture campaign was targeted at millennials, particularly in the target markets of the US, UK, China, Nigeria and Brazil.

This demographic is known to switch constantly between different platforms and devices. They follow their favourite music artists on YouTube, Spotify, Instagram and Snapchat and will readily share content they love.

The obvious platforms were YouTube and Facebook, where the video starring our global “supergroup” could be viewed on a computer, tablet or phone. To engage millennials for longer, we added an interactive video on Snapchat, making history as the platform’s first vertical video.

The talent would help to engage audiences in their different regions, performing at a live event and sharing their musical collaboration on YouTube, on social media and in interviews.

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.