Manx Talent Behind Olympics Advert

Isle of Man born Rachel Miles was one of the creatives to work on the BBC’s ‘Let’s Go There’ Tokyo 2020 ad campaign which was launched earlier this month during the Euros.

The main campaign video features a tour of Tokyo’s bright cityscape intertwined with the names and faces of Team GB.

Rachel said: ‘My role as a Creative is to come up with the big idea with my creative partner, Michael Tsim and follow the campaign through from start to finish. Being a creative in advertising means writing the script, creating the endline, choosing the director to make your vision (we chose Factory Fifteen as the Directors of the film due to their background in architecture), casting, costume, music, etc.’

The advert was created over the last year and a half and involved the UK based team working with talent from across the world. Rachel said: ‘There were a few hurdles to jump over because of Covid – sadly we couldn’t go to Japan to shoot, so in the end we had a link to the camera that was onset filming with local crew in Nakano, Tokyo. The production team and BBC Creative were all connected at 2am (due to the time difference) via Zoom.’ The team also worked over video call with Japanese composer Kenji Kawai, aided by a translator, and New York based Japanese illustrator Uta.

On working on such a campaign for such an iconic event, Rachel said: ‘I was terrible at sport and I run like Phoebe from Friends, so being part of the 2020 Olympic games was something I only ever imagined in my dreams. To launch the ad during the Euro’s England vs Germany game with 20 million viewers was a priceless feeling. To have that many people see your work is GOLD. To inspire someone to go on their first ever run, plant the seed in a teenage girl’s head to pick up a skateboard, level the playing field for female footballers are some of the reasons why I really enjoy creating positive work that helps shape the world for good.’

The Douglas born creative has previously worked on campaigns for David Attenborough’s A Perfect Planet, Strictly and Thomson (now TUI) alongside Michael but, despite her success now, she says her job wasn’t always obvious to her growing up. She said: ‘I never knew my job existed, in fact when the career advisor came to my high school on the Isle of Man and I told them I wanted to work in media they never understood. I think it’s important to make people aware that if you want a career in the creative industry, there’s so many more options out there then you might realise.’

Rachel said she enjoyed getting to showcase a different side to the iconic Japanese city than the usual cliché images of samurais and ninjas. She said: ‘Dreaming up a city that is famous for being overwhelmingly visual was a creative joy – we wanted viewers to discover something new each watch which nods to the feeling of being in Tokyo. One of the first thoughts was to have Team GB’s Katarina Johnson-Thompson as a gachapon toy – she is a heptathlete so it just made sense to have her as seven collectable toys. We invented an arcade game where Adam Peaty is a Fisher Warrior, we creatively changed his famous lion tattoo to a lionfish. The bedroom scene is an ode to cycling – it’s a shame Cav isn’t competing as there could have been a shrine to him. Imagine Mark Cavendish as a plush cuddly toy or even as latte foam art? ‘

She added: ‘The sound as we enter the gachapon machine is my favourite as it purposely falls silent to allow for a build and rise that gives you goosebumps – something that was planned and crafted.’ Also: ‘To have the creative opportunity to create over 50 Easter eggs was something I have always wanted to do thanks to Ed Catmull and all the creative geniuses at Pixar. Everything you see in the film is there on purpose and thought about a hundred times.’