Producing Award-Winning Video Content for Mammut

We worked with OBR Studios to develop and promote Totally Alone, an award-winning film about mental health and the outdoors

We’ve worked with Mammut’s UK team since 2017, helping them develop an ongoing series of content pieces with the aim of building the brand’s UK audience. These have included film partnerships with lifestyle publications, brand and retailer collaborations and an ongoing series of digital walking and climbing guides that take in iconic British locations with revered outdoor photographers and nature writers — like this guided scramble of Striding Edge.

In 2020, as part of a broader brand refocus on the emotional connection between Mammut products and the customers that use them, Mammut wanted to create a short film about Andy Fu, an ex-soldier from Liverpool who turned to Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu and wild camping to help counteract mental health problems.

The plan was for the finished film to be promoted and shown digitally but Mammut also wanted it to be strong enough to make the cut at adventure film festivals. This meant it couldn’t be overly promotional and the narrative and production of the film had to be of an extremely high standard so the film could stand up next to other entrants.

The Film 

For the production and filming we teamed up with Rufus Exton & Steve Bliss at OBR Studios, a production company and creative agency that specialises in documentaries, commercials and branded content.

The idea for the film was originally developed following the first lockdown. At the time we’d thought that all the major disruptions of the pandemic were over but we couldn’t have been more wrong. Frequent lockdown and travel restrictions meant the shooting of the film was repeatedly postponed and rearranged and it wasn’t until nearly a year later than originally planned, in the summer of 2021, that the film was finally shot.

Like many people, the lockdowns and restrictions taking place at the start of 2021 were hardest on Andy. His gym was closed, he was forced to find new work, and he couldn’t get out to the outdoor spaces he’d become reliant on. As a result, when the film was finally shot, it was all the more timely and compelling. Andy’s experience over the course of the previous year resonated with a lot of people and his determination and positivity about the future gave the film an uplifting narrative that perfectly encapsulated the general feeling following the pandemic and its subsequent lockdowns.

Promoting the film

Ahead of beginning work on the film, we’d established it was going to be hosted and promoted across YouTube, Instagram and Facebook with complementary organic and paid strategies.

For the organic promotion of the film, we were coordinating posts of multiple stakeholders on multiple platforms. As well as Mammut UK’s and Mammut Global’s teams, we worked with mental health charity CALM – who, having been shown the film, were keen to support and help promote it – and the focus of the film, Andy.

To make the most of these audiences, we decided against driving the traffic out of each platform to the film embedded on a landing page. Instead, we opted for the full film to be uploaded on each account on each platform, maximising the organic reach of the posts and organic views of the film and pushing meaningful organic engagement.

We then built on the organic strategy with a comprehensive paid campaign. Where possible we used the organic posts of the film as the basis for the ads, keeping the views and engagement in one place. We also drew on audience data provided by relevant stakeholders where we could, developing a targetable audience that was likely to be highly engaged with the brand and the film’s themes.

Aside from the digital promotion, we were pleased to have the film selected to be shown twice at Kendal Mountain Festival, an international film festival dedicated to adventure films. Ahead of the screenings, we worked directly with Kendal Mountain Festival’s team to make sure tickets for the screenings were sold out, providing a small portion of the project’s budget for ads that reached the festival’s audience. 

Results and Accolades

Following the film’s screening, it went on to win the coveted award for Best Short at Kendal Mountain Festival, a huge achievement reserved for the best in adventure filmmaking.

Online the film also went down a storm, gaining more than 45,000 views, 4,892 reactions, and dozens of shares during the three weeks it was promoted. The sentiment of the comments was overwhelmingly positive, celebrating Andy for his attitude and Mammut for their commitment to supporting such an important cause. As well as building awareness, the film contributed to the 28.29% uplift in organic brand search traffic the brand received in Q4 of 2021.