Year 1

“The Big Picture” is a 9-part documentary online series, and one national broadcast spot, about Dawn’s commitment to its wildlife partners. In each episode, we meet scientists and volunteers who are making great strides in wildlife protection every day. The success of their efforts are told through the stories of ducks, seals, pelicans and sea lions.

The stories were shot at the International Bird Rescue Center in San Pedro, California, and the Marine Mammal Rescue Center just outside of San Francisco in the Headlands of Marin County.

We enlisted Rob Lowe to narrate the documentary series and promote across News and other publicity events.

Initially, we wrote an outline for a 7-part series; however, once we got on the ground, we realized the amount of stories we could tell effectively, and we expanded it to 10 parts (including a 2 minute teaser and blooper reel).

We also cut a :30 second national broadcast spot out of our documentary footage. Dawn is still running their national commercials with footage we captured over the course of these three years of documentary story-telling.

Awards

Effie Finalist for Integrated Campaign

Webby Awards for Green Initiatives

Silver Addy for Cinematography

Mashie Finalist for best Video Series

Cannes Selection

This short video shows how The Big Picture story played out across branded content, social, TV, web, and in-store channels. The series earned over 12 million views in the first 6 months, grew Dawn's business 10% in the year that it ran, and increased the brand's lead as #1 in the category.

process

The specifics of each story were determined based on extensive scouting, pre-interviews, and observation of the rescue centers.

Additionally, while we were shooting we were nimble and quick enough to manipulate the stories based on what was happening at the rescue centers.

We had a small group of decision-makers that could collaborate with myself and determine in the moment what was best for the story and how to proceed.

Finally, the 30 second spot was not just a simple cut down of the documentary. We were targeted in getting specific, brand-heavy shots that told the story well, but also fit into our documentary. We wanted to be sure we could tell the story we needed to in only 30 seconds, while showing the brand, and connecting with our audience.

Year 2

After telling the stories of so many animals, we wanted to give people the chance to experience what it was like to volunteer at the International Bird Rescue Center. So we shot a POV take of what a couple days in the life of a volunteer might look like.

Year 3

We shifted focus back on the people who volunteer at the Marine Mammal Rescue Center. We followed a very similar template to our first year of shooting.