NEW WORK SEES THE RETURN OF THE TEENAGE MUTANT NINJA TURTLES FOR DIRECT LINE
Follow up spot features licensing of Donatello and Leonardo from the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles
Donny’s back! This time he’s joined by his big brother Leonardo for a brand new 30-second film for Direct Line.
Our journey with Direct Line and their creative agency Saatchi & Saatchi London started back in 2019 when we were brought on board to explore possible character options for their ‘We’re On It’ campaign. After months of research and rigorous shortlisting, the heroes of the campaign were chosen: RoboCop, Bumblebee from Transformers, and Donatello from Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles.
These three iconic heroes of the entertainment world each starred in their own 60-second action-packed film which saw them out beaten by Direct Line, who are so efficient they beat some of the world’s greatest heroes!
Born Licensing managed the entire licensing process from start to finish meaning we were involved at every stage of production, ensuring that both the Rights Holder’s and client’s interests were being met.
Read more about the original campaign with Donatello, Bumblebee, and RoboCop.
Donny’s Back!
We were delighted to hear that Direct Line wanted to bring back Donatello for a follow up 30-second film to address new marketing goals, and as ViacomCBS’s licensing agent (the Rights Holders of TMNT) we were bought on board to again manage the licensing process.
The process was much the same as the original spots – albeit with some differences… On the first campaign Born Licensing’s Owner and Director, David Born, was on-site in Cape Town during the shoot to handle any licensing issues. Covid-19 sadly meant that for this spot we had to attend the shoot remotely – a surreal but surprisingly effective experience thanks to the experts on set!
Welcome Leo!
The production window was extremely tight for this film meaning we had to lean on our strong relationship with ViacomCBS to push through timely approvals. Whilst Donatello’s CGI designs and voice had previously been approved from the original spot, we had to manage the development and approval of Leonardo from scratch, ensuring all stakeholders from ViacomCBS were happy with how he was portrayed.
The Mill were once again brought on board to bring Leo to life, and they did an amazing job. Bryan Buckley, who directed the original spots, was also back at the helm. His signature cinematic approach, combined with amazing special effects, a great script, and most importantly two awesome retro heroes, resulted in a brilliant 30-second film which we’re super proud to have worked on!
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Born Licensing welcomes Emmet Wright to the team as Licensor Manager for North America, Australia and New Zealand-based campaigns.