Brickworks | Life Is Better With Brick
Better With Brick. Believe Me. I Know.
Filmed on location in Box Hill, NSW, the “Life Is Better With Brick” series is a five-part, tongue-in-cheek video campaign that compares the benefits of building with bricks over lightweight board. The goal was to help the renovator, new home builder, or architecture die-hard make those critical material selection choices when building a new home.
Let’s face it – bricks are not objects that lend themselves to comedy. Our approach finds humor in the unexpected, and, in doing so, highlights what everyone who has lived in a home innately understands about the humble brick – reminding them of what this simple building material has to offer over its grossly inferior substitutes.
Life Is Better With Brick | Introduction | Brick vs Lightweight Board
Life Is Better With Brick | Episode 1 | Low Maintenance vs High Maintenance
Life Is Better With Brick | Episode 2 | Enduring Style vs Short Term Fad
Life Is Better With Brick | Episode 3 | Noise Cancelling vs Noise Absorbing
Life Is Better With Brick | Episode 4 | Energy Efficient vs Energy Inefficient
Life Is Better With Brick | Episode 5 | Fire Resistant vs Combustible
Life Is Better With Brick
The brief for this project began as an idea two years before it became a reality. Brett Ward, the General Manager of International Marketing at Brickworks, has always aimed to change the status quo of advertising and content creation in his industry. With this campaign, he wanted to shake up the standard “compare the pair” campaign and create a series of short episodes that would entertain, educate and encourage customers to consider what they might have overlooked when selecting the materials that will shape their new home.
When presented with the original brief, we immediately saw the opportunity to do something new in the sector. Brickworks has a long history of taking what remains an unprepossessing building product and presenting it as a stylish, contemporary, and elegant building solution through stunning architectural photography and video production. This project took a different approach – shifting the focus from aesthetics to the intrinsic properties of the material.
Working with Damien Cassar and our core team, we spent six weeks in creative development, developing a wide range of ideas and storylines to find a concept that could address this challenge. The idea of using dating as a metaphor for selecting the materials for your new home resonated strongly with us. After all, why settle for so many faults and deficiencies when there are “plenty more fish in the sea” (or building products on the market)?
The key to success with projects like this is casting. In 2020, COVID restrictions presented many challenges for this process. Working through self-tapes and video conference recalls, long-distance negotiations allowed us to secure the best possible mix of three up-and-coming Australian actors – Laura Hughes, Cameron James, and Gary Clementson. Their energy on set brought our concept to life and created a sense of relatability that humanised the otherwise impersonal topic of building materials.
The outcome of this campaign speaks for itself. Its success has given the marketing team the courage to embark on more ambitious and unconventional briefs for future campaigns that will continue to disrupt the status quo within the building products sector.
Client –Brickworks
Director – Damien Cassar
Production agency – Found At Sea films
Executive Producer – Dan Trotter
Producer – Victoria Vlasova
DOP – Kevin Scott
Editor – Damien Cassar
Colourist – Adam Eden
Sound Design & Original Composition – Matt Sladen
Damien Cassar – Director
Damien Cassar is an ADG award-winning director, writer, and creative of film, television, and advertising, specialising in comedy. Damien had this to say about the brief and project which he directed for FOUND AT SEA and Brickworks:
"For me, this was a dream brief. I love conveying handy info about a product through comedy. So I was chuffed when Brickworks/Austral Bricks said yes to this concept – yes to investing in great comedy talent and yes to having fun with the format.”
“Then there's the product itself. I'm not going to lie, there have been moments of introspection in which I've turned to the ever-reliable bricks in my house and said ‘I can always count on you’, followed by ‘I would date you’, and, then when no-one's looking, ‘I love you’.”
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T: +61 2 91 99 80 09
E: production@foundatsea.co