KEEP UP WITH THE CLICKS

TitleKEEP UP WITH THE CLICKS
BrandDHL
Product/ServiceLOGISTICS/DELIVERY COMPANY
Category A02. Script
Entrant 180 AMSTERDAM, THE NETHERLANDS
Idea Creation 180 AMSTERDAM, THE NETHERLANDS
Production MERMAN London, UNITED KINGDOM
Production 2 MASSIVEMUSIC Amsterdam, THE NETHERLANDS
Post Production MARSHALL STREET EDITORS London, UNITED KINGDOM
Post Production 2 BLACK KITE STUDIOS LTD London, UNITED KINGDOM
Post Production 3 MPC LONDON, UNITED KINGDOM
Additional Company FACTORY SOUND STUDIOS London, UNITED KINGDOM
Credits
Name Company Position
Kalle Hellzen 180 Amsterdam Chief Creative Officer
John Messum 180 Amsterdam Executive Creative Director
Dylan Berg 180 Amsterdam Senior Copywriter
Gustavo Figueiredo 180 Amsterdam Senior Art Director
James Southward 180 Amsterdam Senior Integrated Producer
Ben Dodwell 180 Amsterdam Business Director
Abraham Turner 180 Amsterdam Account Director
Pamela Villaflores 180 Amsterdam Business Affairs
Martin Krejci Merman Director
Siobhan Murphy Merman Executive Producer
Jess Ensor Merman Producer
Joost Van Gelder Merman Director of Photography
Robin Brown Merman Production Designer
Tim Thornton-Allan Marshall Street Editors Editor
SJ O’Mara Marshall Street Editors Edit Producer
Adam Crocker Black Kite VFX Creative Director
Hannah Ruddleston Black Kite VFX Producer
Jean-Clément Soret MPC Colourist
Anthony Moore Factory Sound Studios Executive Creative Director (Audio)
Josh Campbell Factory Sound Studios Sound Designer

Write a short summary of what happens in the film

We open on two office employees in Sydney, 1998. One of them is capturing his colleague on a handy-cam purchasing a book (The Millennium Bug) on his computer. Introducing the era of when E-commerce began. A rhythmic V/O narrates a flowing film that describes the growth of E-Commerce over the past two decades. In parallel we highlight the challenges merchants have keeping up with customers’ ever-changing expectations & demands around the world. With the support of DHL however, we see overnight delivery requests, and fulfillments being made, in far and isolated destinations. Throughout the film, varied filmic techniques keep the audience surprised and engaged. Stop-frame animation, timelapse, and dynamic editing techniques keep the edit ‘visually’ flowing to the rhythm of the smooth and seamless V/O - reinforcing DHL’s integral role of supporting merchants, helping online businesses large and small ‘Keep up with the Clicks’ in an ever growing global market.

Cultural / Context information for the jury

In 2020 E-Commerce experienced 10 years’ growth in 3 months as the world moved online. In order to keep up, merchants had to adapt to unprecedented volume and new ways of doing business. But the simplicity of E-Commerce - One click and your package is delivered the following day, belies the true complexity of shopping online. As the world’s most international logistics company DHL has been partnering businesses since the beginning of online shopping so they know a thing or two about it. When you’re tasked with producing a B2B TV spot to talk to online business owners, tell them about DHL’s expertise and first rate services in warehouse capacity, speed of fulfillment, website optimisation, local language and local currency payments... It’s in danger of being a bit, well, boring. Unless you tell DHL’s story through a thoughtfully written ode to all things E-Commerce. Delivered by the inimitable Tom Hollander.

Provide the full film script in English.

Sydney 1998. We’re looking through a Hi8 Sony handy-cam. A friend is filming his colleague in the office. He’s about to do something special. He’s excited. Looking at us, he says, “Check this out.” As he taps the keyboard we hear the opening line of our V/O: “It hasn’t been such a long time,” The video drops out briefly (a technical glitch, typical for Hi8 video), then glitches back to the excited colleague. “Since people first started shopping online,” He presses “Enter” on the keyboard and the camera zooms into his desk computer. We see the interface of an early on-line store as confirmation of the order appears… The camera continues to zoom in, travelling through the pixels, and on through fibre optic cables, finally emerging through the E-tailer’s computer in a bookstore. We see the merchant as he reaches for a book amongst piles and piles of other books. The V/O continues: “And it was easy to keep up with the clicks.” We see a quick montage of him packing and shipping the book - hands wrapping the book in paper…the packed book being put in the box… the closed box revealing the 1990’s DHL branding. Now we cut to a dream sequence where an anxious merchant is looking around himself as he fights off a swarm of computer ‘click’ icons. The V/O continues: “Little by little by little by more,” He runs but doesn’t seem to move. We hard cut to him waking up from the dream with a dramatic gasp. “The clicks added up to be more than the stores,” He checks the alarm clock, it’s 4:00 am. “And E-Tailers worked harder than ever before,” Now, quick cuts, we see different DHL couriers and different merchants in various work environments around the world. Couriers are picking up boxes and loading vans as the V/O continues: “Cause they had to keep up with the clicks.” A van door shuts, “Clunk” creating a rhythmic cut to the next scene. Now we watch as the camera pans around a series of online shoppers in different countries, the clicks are starting to ramp up for those merchants. A man sits at an old desktop computer in his living room. The V/O continues: “The clicks came from laptops then tablets and phones.” In a small NY cafe a young woman places an order on her laptop as she sips her capuccino. “Monday through Sunday.” An Asian man riding a bus through a cold, rainy city scrolls through a website shopping page. “Office and home.” In a bustling street market in some southern part of the world, a middle-aged Indian woman sits on a plastic chair beside her stall. She is ordering online on her phone while keeping herself cool with a handheld electric fan. “24 hours in every zone.” Now we are ‘flying’ through an enormous DHL logistics centre in full operation. Belts moving boxes, people loading and unloading - it’s all happening so quickly and smoothly - humans and machines in complete symbiosis. The V/O continues: “And still they kept up with the clicks.” We cut away to a computer screen where we see a Man United jersey being purchased (we notice the text on the E-store is in Mandarin.) The V/O continues: “Everything changed since early dot com.” Turning away from the screen, we observe that we are in a Beijing living room where a father is buying the shirt for his very excited teenage son. “Better have Mandarin with payments…” In a perfectly timed pan, we arrive on the father as he looks to camera. “...in Yuan…” We whip pan to a hispanic woman in her kitchen in Buenos Aires ordering something on her computer. She looks up directly into the camera… “...and pesos…” Whip pan again to a Mid-Western blue-collar worker sitting in his lay-zee-boy… “...and dollars…” Cut to a DHL salesman in a meeting room presenting to executive from the Man United E-store. The V/O continues: “To make sure you keep up with the clicks.” The DHL salesman points to a wall screen where we see the Manchester United merchandise E-Store. The manager focuses on the DHL guy pointing to the English text. We see it all change to Chinese - a localised version of the site. The Exec nods along...looks perfect. Cut to a tight shot of a DHL courier dead set on his mission. As focused as a SWAT team carrying out a raid, he passes us and continues up the seemingly endless staircase of a labyrinthine office building. The V/O continues: “All of a sudden, there are so many must-dos if you want to keep selling…” We cut to his feet rhythmically climbing the steps. “Like delivery there,” Quick cuts through still images show DHL couriers around the world making deliveries: In a maze of suburban houses that all look the same. “No there”, A different DHL courier caught in a winter snow storm. “Or there…” A beat, then another still of a DHL courier on a motor boat on a rough sea headed towards a secluded lighthouse at night. Cut to the CEO of a company energetically marching through an office space, followed by two assistants who can’t keep up with her tempo, frantically making notes of everything she says. One of the assistants is implementing her boss’s instructions in real time on a tablet. The CEO says, “...And make it tomorrow...First thing”. She stops abruptly and makes eye contact with her assistant. She gives her a questioning look as if to say, ‘Is it doable?’ Her assistant takes a deep breath, we can see the confidence in her eyes as she shows her boss her iPad screen. On it we see a DHL Track and Trace screen confirming 09:00 delivery the following day. The VO continues: “No time for borders”. We cut to see the merchants we’ve seen throughout the spot. We see A DHL plane, flying across the sky. Office building growing in timelapse. Business figures growing. “Gotta stay in control…” News titles, graphics showing booming sales and tracking of parcels. All creating one incredible, continuous uninterrupted stream of images. “To stay in the flow, and continue to grow”. Bookending the film, and bringing us full circle, we recreate a version of the opening montage of the package being prepared. Only this time it’s present day. And instead of a book we see a modern E-book reader. The VO continues: “But...we’ll help you...” The hands of the merchant place the E-reader in a box. He closes the box. The waybill barcode is scanned by a DHL colleague with his hand scanner. “...keep up with the clicks.” As the box is taped shut, we read on the yellow tape in big red letters: DHL. KEEP UP WITH THE CLICKS TITLE: DHL. E-Commerce. Simply Delivered. Rotates to read: DHL Excellence. Simply Delivered.