Last month at SXSW, Marketing reported on Blackberry’s fan collaboration/branded content extension of its Z10 Keep Moving campaign, featuring content created by celebrity brand ambassadors Alicia Keys, Neil Gaiman and Robert Rodriguez.
For one of the three initiatives, acclaimed Sin City director Rodriguez made a 10-minute film, leaving holes for fans to fill in by acting, tweeting, and supplying photos for missing persons posters. You can watch the finished project, “Two Scoops,” below.
The film won’t be winning any Oscars—but it should earn a nod for embodying the ideal of branded content.
Blackberry’s role in the film is made clear in five behind-the-scenes videos where Rodriguez talks about how Blackberry supported the project, and how the brand’s philosophy meshed with what he was trying to do as a creator.
But the film’s not a thinly-veiled commercial—there are no references to Blackberry in the film itself, and no overt product integration, though Blackberry is mentioned in the credits. Blackberry’s unusual cult-hero ambassadors are a clear message to consumers that the company’s looking to support artists, not co-opt their art for a marketing campaign.
