COS

COS envisioned a large-scale campaign for its AW21 collection, which was executed in Budapest in collaboration with Progressive Productions. The collection’s clothes, accessories and the majority of the produced photos were revealed to the public during the London Fashion Week. In the weeks running up to the event, selected photos also appeared on the streets of countless large cities, such as New York, London and Tokyo just to name a few. These photos and videos could be found worldwide in every format and size, ranging from small scale posters and Instagram posts to the enormous screens at Piccadilly Circus, for example.

As the creative concept of the women’s and men’s collection coincided, they decided to photograph these simultaneously. As a result, 15 models arrived for the three-day shoot from all around the world, which gave a truly diverse look to the campaign. Amidst all the global travel difficulties due to COVID-19, this international collaboration was made possible due to Hungary's open travel policy. Business related travel has remained unchanged and restriction-free in Hungary since the beginning of the pandemic.

During pre-production many different filming locations were discussed, which went smoothly thanks to our in-house Location Database. We were able to recommend numerous unique locations, among which the Bálna was finally chosen. The Bálna is one of Budapest’s iconic buildings that combines modern and classical architecture on the Danube bank. The building is entirely covered in glass, resulting in it casting countless unique shadows in its interiors, which were given a central role in the campaign. For the photo shoot, we rented out four entire floors of the Bálna, which enabled us to create studio-like conditions.

All things considered, the project was able to get executed in Hungary due to the fortunate alignment of many components. The country’s central location and its open business travel policy were key, as well as us being able to quickly find a location that perfectly fitted the campaign’s creative concept. Last but not least, it was essential for us to have a lot of experience in carrying out Green Productions, which is by now an industry standard. So when COS requested the production to give special attention to being environmentally conscious and sustainable in alignment with their founding philosophy, we could offer our tried and tested Green Production Service.