Real estate firm JLL aims to take storytelling to new heights with 9-part docuseries

Global real estate consultancy JLL has partnered with Dentsu Aegis Network’s experiential marketing agency MKTG to launch a brand sponsorship campaign. Featuring climbers from Singapore, Australia, Hong Kong, India and Japan, MKTG created a nine-part documentary series, in partnership with National Geographic.In a cross-collaboration effort with Isobar and gyro, the series depicts the back story of each athlete from each of the five countries, as well as the struggles and ambitions throughout their journey to the top.MKTG created a motion-capture climbing suit which uses sensor fusion technology to analyse a climber’s movements and turn it into kinematic data. With the ability to capture and visualise movements into a video replay, this collaborative training platform aims to give climbers and coaches new insights to an athlete’s performance by reviewing posture, rhythm, techniques, speed and endurance.In a statement to Marketing, Nicole Worthington, chief marketing officer, JLL Asia Pacific said the firm is constantly coming up with creative ways of storytelling and aims to engage consumers with the documentary series approach.With its first brand sponsorship campaign, JLL looks to tap into new audiences who have an affinity with JLL’s brand ambition and are inspired by the urban sport of climbing. According to Worthington, climbing is a sport that is growing in popularity with an estimated number of 25 million climbers globally.JLL aims to increase brand awareness of its company and reach new audiences outside of real estate. As a company that is focused on helping clients achieve their ambitions and empowered to do so with its suite of tech products and services, JLL wanted to take the same approach with the climbers, Worthington said.The sponsorship campaign and documentary series will be promoted across JLL’s paid, owned, earned and social channels. In a bid to reach the relevant audiences in a brand-safe environment, JLL will also be marketing the video series as well as other brand owned content on its official website.Worthington said working with MKTG on this campaign was a great experience as both parties shared the same belief. “Together, we were able to pioneer the motion-capture climbing suit, and see it come to life in our partnership with National Geographic. We hope this will continue to help and inspire athletes around the world achieve their ambitions,” she added.Michael Hemmingway, regional business director, MKTG Asia Pacific said climbing has become increasingly popular, thus this is an exciting opportunity to launch a campaign that capitalises on the growing trend and exposure leading into 2020.“We’re also proud of coming up with the innovation within climbing, using tech and data to make a real impact on the climbers’ performance. Building a sponsorship property from scratch across the region was certainly a challenge, however, seeing this make a real difference to our climbers has created a very powerful and compelling narrative,” he added.