A vision for the future
SWIFT
New strategy reveal for SWIFT
The Briefing
SWIFT is at the heart of the global financial system, helping banks transfer the value that keeps the world’s economies working. Around half of all high-value cross-border payments worldwide use the SWIFT network. Today, the world is changing faster than ever and SWIFT has to keep evolving too. That’s why the organization has developed a new strategy for the coming years: more transparency, more efficiency, more security. This is the message we had to convey.
The story we wanted to tell
We wanted to avoid the traditional set of images that financial institutions usually produce. This is why we suggested using visual metaphors to express the main challenges of SWIFT’s future. From that perspective, sport was a good match. It gives us the opportunity to illustrate the challenges, the speed, the precision, the performance.
Once we’d decided on this, the sport metaphor offered a lot of interesting visual directions. To make the link clear with the financial world, we used motion design, creating digital flows moving on real pictures.
Laurent Stine, film directorI wanted to create a very dynamic environment that caught the viewer's attention for the whole of the message.
Shooting
The film is built around four sport disciplines. We wanted to film individual athletes to be able to link them directly with SWIFT. It also gives the opportunity to get really close; getting to the heart of the action and the performance. This is also the reason why we filmed in large venues – to create a very graphic environment.
We shot all the sequences in Belgium in a very short time due to the narrow timeframe of the production.
Post-production
For such a film, the editing is absolutely key. We wanted a very dynamic cut. The blend of slow motion pictures, electronic music and very rhythmic editing creates a visual tension. This tension is emphasised with the sound design which becomes almost another character in the story. Then we used a soft female voiceover to bring the emotion.
Broadcast
The film première was a live broadcast at SIBOS, the international financial event organised each year by SWIFT. Then the film will live on SWIFT’s own website. We have also produced very short versions of the film suitable for social media, in various picture formats.