Facebook’s Newest Ad Shows How Groups Are ‘Still Going Strong’ During Covid-19

Wieden + Kennedy London and Portland created the spot for the social network.

Groups moved up Facebook’s priority list with CEO Mark Zuckerberg’s declaration that “The future is private. This is the next chapter for our services,” at the company’s F8 2019 developers conference last April, where a redesign of its website and flagship applications was unveiled with groups in a prominent location.

More Together, Facebook’s first major brand campaign, kicked off in May 2019 under chief marketing officer Antonio Lucio, and the company’s first-ever Super Bowl spot, featuring Sylvester Stallone and Chris Rock, was part of it.

The company said in January that 1.4 billion people use groups each month.

The message conveyed by “Still Going Strong” is that despite people being confined to their homes by Covid-19, they continue to embrace their passions.

People in Facebook groups covering topics including camping, cooking, crafts, creativity, dogs, gardening, parenting, rock climbing, skateboarding, surfing, women in technology and yoga are featured in the spot.

Facebook wrote in its description of the video on YouTube, “We might be apart outside, but in Facebook groups, there is still creativity, bravery and kindness. People are still sharing, still caring, still goofing about and still doing their thing, together.”

CREDITS:

Client: Facebook
Project name: Still Going Strong
Client contact: Chloe Bower, Kyle Christensen, Gianna Pisano
Wieden + Kennedy Portland
Global creative director and chairman: Susan Hoffman
Co-president and chief creative officer: Colleen DeCourcy
Account team: John Rowe, Hannah Hewitt, Samantha Lam
Media/comms planning: Lisa Johnson
Business affairs: Amber Lavender, Rylee Harper, Tara Allender

W + K London
Creative director: David Dao
Creatives: Katy Edelsten, Rachel Clancy
Executive creative directors: Iain Tait, Tony Davidson
TV producer: Anna Neilson
Account team: Francesca Yeates, Marlon Ge, Eldar Chen
Strategic planning: Indiana Matine, Rachel Holden, Lauren Ivory
Comms planning: Anjali Patel
Creative producer: Ross Dunstan
Design director: Aaron Skipper
Designers: Adam Hunt, Jonny Isaacson
Motion graphics: Jon Harris
Business affairs: Helena Tomas

TV Production
Production company: Knucklehead
Director: Maceo Frost
Managing directors: Matthew Brown, Tim Katz
Head of production: Francis Mildmay-White
Production designer: Joey Jenkins
Costume designer: Melanie Mildmay-White

Editorial
Editor: Andreas Arvidsson

VFX
VFX company: Time Based Arts
Partner/executive creative director: Mike Skrgatic
Grade: Lewis Crossfield
Senior VFX producer: Jo Gutteridge
VFX lead: Luke Todd
2D artists: Jamie Crofts, Ollie Ramsey, Bernardo Varela, Tom Robinson, Stephen Ross
Animation: Dan Lowe