If fate shuts you out, you can either surrender or take a risk to flip the odds in your favor. There’s no such thing sure bet, but this is a sound one: your story can shift when youre properly hydrated with ionized alkaline h20. So, If there’s a rulebook, rip it. If doubt, eat it. If parched, supercharge it. It’ll change it. 

We launched “Change the Equation”; Essentia’s new brand platform that serves as a provocation to all by taking over the hottest pressure cooker for risktakers; New York City.

Our three films, made in partnership with  director/ photographer, Vincent Haycock and DP, Ryan Marie Helfant, dwell in the delicate balance between glory and failure. This is not sport as we know it, but somewhere between everyday and spectacal, ritual and revelation.  It’s a mantra of defiant endurance recast as Abramović-esque performance art.

Throughtout the summer months, we took our provocations into the wild, weaving the Change the Equation POV and bold, technical design system in to the fabric of NYC through traditional media and bespoke artifacts.

Bespoke
“If Thirst, Quench It” emergency hydration outfit by @gabbois

vincent haycock, director/stills photographer
ryan marie helfant, dp
sam ostrove, editor, cabin
nicole,  editor, cabin
dante pasquinelli, color  
parlament, vfx
q department, sound
please call me champ studio, animation  

max friedman, nyc photography
zach hetrick, nyc photography
stefania curto, nyc photography

The national launch of the 2025 Change the Equation platform establishes a distinct direction for Essentia—rejecting the polished minimalism and passive wellness codes that define traditional premium water brands in favor of a provocative mindset that embraces risk as the catalyst for achievement.

Our campaign channels the audacity and cultural energy at the heart of the brand through a suite of films inspired by the way risk and achievement are captured, consumed, and celebrated today. With a bold, graphic visual language, we spotlight the split-second decisive moments unlocked by proper hydration.

Using visceral graphics and emotive imagery, the product films turn Essentia’s proprietary process into a sensory-driven story of supercharged hydration.

We flipped the script on traditional performance photography, taking the familiar imagery of athletes pushing their limits and injecting it with attitude, irreverence, and a visual wink that cuts through an oversaturated category.

By blending raw athleticism with unexpected visual details and fashion-forward styling, we created a campaign language that elevates Essentia beyond the conventions of the standard performance water brand across social, digital and OOH.

ryan takashi chun, director
karol jurga, dp

paul o’reilly, editor cartel

anchor mak, editor, cartel  
terry simpson, color  
blacksmith, vfx
q department, sound
please call me champ studio, animation

track: death in vegas “hands around my throat”

ryan takashi chun, photographer
studio rm, retouching

For as long as women have run, they’ve done so in shoes designed for the anatomy of men’s feet, But there’s far more nuance than simply sizing down. To launch the blissfeel shoe  (lululemon’s first step into footwear) we partnered with Acadamy Award nominated director, Sophia Nahili Allison and DP, Michael “Cambio” Fernandez to create a poetic ode the intracacies of a woman’s foot backed by the care and devotion put into making the first running shoe made for women, first. 

To articulate lululemon’s thoughtfulness for the female runner in motion we created a visually artful and poetic love letter to a woman’s foot.  This direction is crafted to portray the raw feeling of running in shoes that finally fit like they’re supposed to.

Alongside a talented group of artists, we set out to create a diverse world of a woman’s body, designed typography that felt alive and created a nuanced sound design that mimics the imperfect cadence and rhythm of running.

sophia nahli allison | director
cambio / steve steng | dp
andrew morrow | editor
jerry chia | editor
alex bickel | color     
mike howell | color
purple martin | vfx
ballad | sound design
tanya griffiths | illustrator
lisa sorgini | photographer
magda wosinska | photographer

It’s not about who you know right now, but who you could meet and what they know that help us all go further.  When all you inherited was persistence, LinkedIn can help you find your in.

To launch Linkedin’s first global brand platform, we created a charming, mini muisical serving as a metaphor for the billions of people on the platform.  In partnership with director-duo, Alaska, DP Pierre de Kerchove, choreographer Sherri Silver and the talented Lexi Lancaster, we turned a laundromat into a magical place to find the career path you’ve been looking for.

2024 Clio Silver Award | Best Use of Music
2024 D&AD Wood Pencil | Cinematography

made with  droga5

jennifer yoon
toby evans
laurie howell
amy werblin
erika kohnen
tom mcqueen
george mcqueen
phil le brun
ads dechand 
christian zerbel jasmine paylor 
connor hagan
mike ladman

“gurrilla” by remi wolf | music
alaska | director duo
pierre de kerchove | dp
sherri silver | choreography
paul watts | edit at cut + run
sophie burlap | colorist
kevin | vfx
jonny+will | puppeteers

When the iPhone was first released the world fell into a cult-like devotion. Years later, we find ourselves in a relationship with almost the same device that is no longer living up to it’s revolutionary start. In this film directed by Mike Mills, we take on the perspective of the iPhone finally realizing it’s been replaced for someone who can actually provide more.

made with  droga5

tom mcqueen
george mcqueen
jennifer yoon
jono paul
okan usta
steph mccarthy
georgia johnson
gulshan jaffery
cooper stallings
mike ladman

mike mills | director
arseni khachaturan| dp
grant surmi | edit exile
travis moore | edit exile
tim masick | colorist