Climate Solutions

The Partnership

In 2019, Rolex and The Washington Post embarked on an unprecedented partnership called Climate Solutions, dedicated to amplifying stories of pioneering individuals tackling the world’s greatest environmental challenges. To complement the newsroom’s new section on climate visionaries, The Washington Post Creative Group produced partnership content that highlighted Rolex’s longstanding dedication to supporting adventurers and innovators who strive to better understand - and protect - our world.

With each year of our partnership, we have applied audience insights and learnings from the year before in order to develop and produce the most stunning and engaging multimedia features. As the partnership has progressed and expanded, video and audio has become the centerpiece of the series.

The WORK

After leveraging supplied Rolex assets in 2019, in 2020 we embarked on an ambitious four-part series, each release focused on a different pillar of environmental innovation. Within each pillar, we laid out the scope and scale of what Rolex Laureates had accomplished in that particular area of environmental protection, and would highlight two Laureates per piece in depth. We created a custom production approach, leveraging audio for our release on recycling and video profiles for our remaining three releases. Our protagonists ranged across Rwanda, Spain, India, and the U.S.

Just as this strategy was green-lit, Covid-19 emerged as a global pandemic. I had to swiftly adapt our plan, tailoring each production to align with the ever-changing local conditions. I had to re-think production: there would be no international flights. I had to lean in to fully baking out all pre-production planning with detailed style guide, story beats, shot lists, technical camera guides, and safety protocols because we would be hiring local teams from around the world. I had to consider wifi strength when deciding interview locations so that I could view in real-time. Ultimately, we were able to complete every production, perhaps not exactly as originally planned, but still wonderfully cinematic and action-inspiring. Below is one key film or recording per release:

In 2021, I worked closely with our pre-sale strategists to develop an expanded partnership renewal. In addition to our multimedia releases, we would embark on a brand new partner podcast, exploring the impact of Laureate projects through audio narratives and immersive soundscapes. As a client with incredibly high standards, their multi-million dollar renewal was the ultimate sign of a job well done in 2020.

Now mid-way through our 2021 program, I have tailored our video-led features to focus on individual Rolex innovators (in alignment with our newsroom’s focus for 2021), and we have launched two of the four video pieces.

Our original podcast, Planet Visionaries launched June 24th. Hosted by world-renowned free-solo climber, Alex Honnold, each of the four episodes will explore the guest’s background, motivations, project focus and future ambitions. The series spans the globe, with guests  hailing from the U.S., Argentina, U.K, and Peru. The podcast will combine thoughtful discussions interwoven with in-the-field audio elements. The result will be an immersive sound experience that allows listeners to put themselves in the Laureate’s shoes and feel inspired by their work.

Below is the trailer and initial episodes of the series:

Full series will publish here.

Throughout my two years on the project, my specific responsibilities included:

• Creative Development: Established the key story beats per episode, wrote and developed the video and audio treatments, established style guide, shot list, and over-arching program aesthetic and tone

• Crew Contracting & Briefing: Hired all production partners across video, audio & photo, established scopes of work and contracts, briefed vendors and provided daily feedback/direction, and served as central point-of-contact for any logistical and/or creative decisions

• Location Review and Direction: Reviewed and recommended locations or logistics based on client guidelines and communication needs

• Casting: Researched, pitched, and contracted celebrity host for the original podcast; served as the day-to-day contact for all talent updates

• “On-Set” Production Direction: Attended all filming and recording session to give real-time direction

• Paper Editing: Constructed the paper edits of all video/audio elements

• Cut Direction: Provided feedback and direction on each step of the edit process, including graphic art direction, shot selection, and audio references (as applicable)

• Promotion & Distribution: Researched and created custom promotion plan for our original podcast, including structuring paid partnership deal with key podcast platform

• Client Presentation: Served as the client-facing production representative on all calls, walked the client through deliverables as needed, responded to feedback, and pitched/explained any unique production approaches or elements being introduced

The results

In 2021, Rolex renewed their multi-million dollar partnership with The Washington Post.

Our Partnership Content has consistently surpassed performance benchmarks in both quality and quality of engagement. As well as receiving millions of page views, the average time spent has surpassed our time spent benchmark by at least 81%. Additionally, according to a custom research survey, after engaging with Partnership Content, there was a 50-point increase in reader sentiment that Rolex cares about the environment.