Why is this work relevant for Entertainment?

'Stories of Ambition' is an 8-part documentary series presented by JLL and hosted on Nat Geo. Told entirely through interviews, the series follows the unique stories of six young climbers - communicating JLL’s brand promise of 'Achieving Ambitions' in a culturally relevant way. Sharing in the passion and determination of these young climbers is naturally inspiring for the audience, regardless of their level of interest in sport climbing. These really are human stories that we can all relate to... making this series incredibly entertaining to watch.

Background

Over the last decade, climbing gyms have been popping up in cities all over the world attracting over 25 Million people and counting. In 2020, history will be made when the sport makes its Olympic debut in Tokyo, but despite its growing popularity, the sport is still heavily underfunded at country level, leaving many athletes struggling to follow their passion. So to help young athletes make it on the world stage and position themselves as an enabler for young talent to pursue their urban passion, Global real estate firm, JLL wanted to support a group of climbers across Asia Pacific, providing financial support, technology and expertise to achieve their ambitions. The content also aims to leverage the growing popularity of sports climbing to create impactful customer experiences to increase awareness, differentiate and ultimately drive growth.

Describe the creative idea

To help young athletes make it on the world stage and to show that JLL help people Achieve Ambitions, we proposed creating an 8-part documentary series following a group of the world’s most ambitious climbers as they come together for an intensive training camp in Tokyo in preparation for the 2020 Olympic qualifiers. During training camp, world-class coach Ian Dunn develops a series of training sessions and profiles the athletes using JLL technology to improve their performance in the new combined Olympic format of lead, speed and boulder. Whilst the training camp provides a backbone for the content, each episode also delves into one of the climber’s back stories filmed in their home city. During the backstory, we explore the struggles and triumphs of the athlete. Their fears, challenges, doubts, weaknesses and how the city they live in plays a key role in both shaping and achieving their ambitions.

Describe the strategy

‘Stories of Ambition’ further cements JLL’s global positioning of Achieving Ambitions and leverages the growing popularity of sports climbing worldwide to connect with younger audiences. Drawing on business parallels between real estate and climbing using metaphors told through a coach, athletes, innovative technology & world-class facilities, we crafted a story that would inspire climbers and non-climbers alike to follow their passion, discover what motivates them and get the support they need to make their dreams a reality. By creating a series that was entertainment in its own right, we were able to secure a Network Partnership with National Geographic that would extend reach of the campaign far beyond JLL's traditional audience.

Describe the execution

First, we found six climbers across Asia Pacific and filmed their unique stories of ambition in Japan, Singapore, Hong Kong, Australia and India. Then we brought them to Japan for an intensive training camp with Great Britain Coach Ian Dunn, where we profiled them using new JLL motion capture technology to improve their performance. After filming in 5 countries over 6 weeks, we created an 8-part documentary series and partnered with Nat Geo to bring the content to audiences worldwide. National Geographic was selected due to its ability to reach an engaged audience and the strength of their social channels with over 2.1 Million social followers across Asia. The entire production lasted 6 months. The output included 8 x 4-6minute episodes, 60” series trailer, 30” and 15” trailers for each episode, sub-titled for each market. The series was also supported by a digital, print and outdoor media campaign.

Describe the outcome

So far, the series has already reached over 8 Million people with 7,600 views daily at an 86% completion rate, 30% above industry average. The series is performing well above industry standard in engagement with: CTR 5x Industry Benchmark on social (at 1.24% vs 0.25% average) VTR 80% (vs 60%) on social Videos 2x Engagement vs Industry Benchmark Videos CTR 4x Industry Benchmark The campaign has also received support from local Press including South China Morning Post, The Straits Times, Marketing and Digital Market Asia. Globally, the series has received overwhelming support from JLL followers, the press and the wider community and is helping enable a new generation of athletes to achieve their ambitions.