Creative Director’s Choice: Mofilm’s Lorie Jo Trainor Buckingham on Lush’s ‘We the Bathers’
Creative Director’s Choice gives creative directors a chance to highlight the work they think is the best out in the ad world — the spots and campaigns they believe are making a difference.
We the Bathers from Lush
This week, Lorie Jo Trainor Buckingham, executive creative director at Mofilm, talks about the thought-provoking subject matter of short documentary ‘We the Bathers’ which was commissioned by beauty brand Lush.
I first saw ‘We The Bathers’ at a public screening at Lush Studios in London earlier this summer. Feeling much more like an exhibition than the launch of a marketing campaign, a representative from Lush appeared only to introduce the director and express their deep gratitude.
After watching the film, you can see why.
Directed by filmmaker Phoebe Arnstein, the 17-minute film documents 14 people across the world as they reflect on the role that bathing plays in their lives.
The film is a true homage of what can be achieved when brands collaborate respectfully with artists. Phoebe Arnstein manages to take something which, to most people, is a daily necessity, and reframe it as a human ritual of self-reflection, discovery and connection.
On the way home after watching the film, I found myself wondering about how other people bathed; if they lit candles? How long they bathed for? If it was an important part of their day? Perhaps even more surprisingly, I found myself left with a new-found curiosity about the body – most likely sparked by the array of naked bodies featured in the film, many of which came in shapes I realised I’d never seen before.
It’s exactly these raw, unfiltered observations of ourselves and our world that are still lacking in traditional forms of advertising. ‘We The Bathers’ provides a great example of how, by removing that filter, you can create work that is authentic and makes people see themselves and the world around them differently.
With so many brands missing the mark when it comes to talking about purpose, this is a timely reminder that purpose marketing doesn’t always need to mean activism. More often than not, it’s about identifying an undeniable truth behind why your company exists and building a narrative around it that feels deeply human and real.
With ‘We The Bathers’, Lush have done this incredibly well.
Lorie Jo Trainor Buckingham is executive creative director at Mofilm in London.
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To see the latest creative ads and campaigns, visit The Drum’s Creative Works section. If you or your creative director would like to be featured in our Creative Director’s Choice, please contact Kyle O’Brien.
