Make Memories
Global brand campaign
GetYourGuide turned the camera around and filmed the emotion, not the view.
Agency
Digitalsinn (direction, production)
Deluxe (Thailand)
Mamma Team (Barcelona)
Location
Bangkok, Khao Sok, Barcelona
Shot Feb–Mar 2023
Markets
France, Germany, UK, US
On air from June 2023
Deliverables
60s hero film + 15 cutdowns (30s to 6s)
16:9 · 9:16 · 1:1 across TV, YouTube, social and radio
My role
Senior Brand Imagery Manager. I was hands-on from first brief to final grade, working with Digitalsinn and the Creative Lead on film, and leading the stills.
Pre-production: Created the storyboards and shot lists. Wrote the model and styling briefs and the on-brand guidelines for out-of-home, including framing for tight crops and space for copy. Selected the models and the photographer, Peter Beavis. Balanced the film and photo schedules with Digitalsinn.
On set: Made the styling calls at wardrobe fittings in Bangkok and Barcelona. At every location I worked alongside the Creative Lead on film and directed the stills, keeping every frame on brand.
Post-production: Gave feedback on the story edits and owned the look and feel of the color grade, working in the room with Digitalsinn. Selected the hero stills for retouch and rollout.
The film carries the story. The stills carry it everywhere else: out-of-home, print and social. Both are below.
The Film
Directed by Anderson Wright (for Digitalsinn). The score is a classical rendition of Toto's "Africa", recorded live with members of the Prague Film Orchestra. Credited on ads of the World.
Cutdown versions
YouTube 15-second version. Focused on tour guides.
UK linear TV 20-second version. Emphasis on the brand.
The idea
We’re not selling an experience. We’re selling the feeling.
Travel advertising shows beautiful places. Make Memories shows what they do to people. The moment an experience becomes unforgettable looks like a face: wide-eyed under the Sagrada Família, screaming in freefall, crying from a Thai chili.
The campaign grew out of customer research, testing of earlier work and clear business objectives. Its insight is that emotional moments are remembered more sharply, so every film and still puts the expression first and the setting second.
The job was awareness and consideration across four markets and every channel: TV, YouTube, social and radio. One idea had to work as a 60s hero film and 15 cutdowns in three formats, plus campaign stills for out-of-home, print and digital. It became the campaign’s north star: Make Memories with GetYourGuide. It was made by GetYourGuide’s Creative Studio, with Digitalsinn and director Anderson Wright as production partners.
From storyboard to frame
Storyboard drawings next to the frames that shipped
Campaign stills
Six moments, one rule: the face leads
Each motif had a specific feeling, a camera position and a branding moment worked out in advance.
Sagrada Família
Awe. Out-of-body.
Stained-glass light across the face of a traveler looking up in wonder.
Aquarium
A child's wide-eyed wonder.
A young boy in a Guiding Red sweater, wide-eyed in the aquarium tunnel, watching the fish.
Skydiving
Terrified and thrilled at once.
Red jumpsuit made for the shoot, logo placed around the harness. Instructor in a palette-matched complement.
Kayaking in Khao Sok
Free, light, a little disbelieving.
Three people, with the guide at the back, paddling beneath the cliffs of Khao Sok. Shot mid-action without losing the serenity.
Thai street market
Surprise, then delight.
Shot from the side of a styled food cart: a traveler leans in to smell the spices, a guide beside them.
Wat Arun temple
Quiet wonder, a little humbled.
A traveler taking in Wat Arun, with the focus on open, respectful expressions.
Out of home
The stills ran in out-of-home and print. Pictured: Berlin Hauptbahnhof.
Prepared for the unknown
We set the rules before we landed, so the shoot could stay free.
Weather, crowds and restrictions can’t be planned away at any location. What I could do was build a system strong enough that the team could improvise inside it.
The brand lives in the frame, not on it
I set one rule for every scene: a Guiding Red moment, whether the guide’s shirt, a life vest or a pair of shoes. Never two red tops side by side, and never an orange that drifts toward a competitor.
Built for every format
I briefed the photographer to shoot wide enough to crop tight, with calm space for copy. The stills were planned for out-of-home, print, display and social, and the film was cut in 16:9, 9:16 and 1:1.
Real, never posed
Energetic, authentic and in the moment: not posed, not a fashion campaign, not cartoonish. Casting covered a range of ages and backgrounds. For the skydive, we cast veteran jumpers who stay in control of their faces at speed.
Ready when plans change
Drones were restricted over the market, so we put a camera and crane on a local restaurant’s roof. For the kayak scene, a camera boat and a camera operator ready to dive in let us shoot from beneath the surface.
Behind the scenes
Photographer Peter Beavis, photographing our models at Wat Arun temple.
On set shooting the kayaking scenes in Khao Sok, Thailand.
Credits
All campaign work shown was created for GetYourGuide and is © GetYourGuide. Shown here as a record of my role. Rights holders: if you’d like anything changed or removed, please email theo@theoklingenberg.com and I’ll act promptly.
Creative Director
Danna Blum
Creative Lead
Emma Brooke
Senior Brand Imagery Manager
Theo Klingenberg
Senior Art Director
Nader Shousha
Executive Producer (GetYourGuide)
Geraldine Gramenz-Hohlbein
Senior Video Editor
Andras Olah
Senior Copywriter
Laura Messer-Jackson
Production company
Digitalsinn
Director
Anderson Wright
DoP
Todd Martin
Photographer
Peter Beavis
Executive Producers (Digitalsinn)
Daniel Duendar, Lutz Lieberknecht
Producers
Viviane Voelker, David Besecke
Production Assistant
Kerstin Dautel
Editors
Max Paschke, Jan-Fabian Klein
Post and color
Storz & Escherich, Lutz Forster
Music and SFX
Addict Music
Further reading: Behind the scenes with the Creative Studio (Aug 2023) · Editor Jan-Fabian Klein’s page.
Related: Make Memories US (shot on the Colorado River and in New York).