TINE with a new brand identity for the Asian market!

Brown cheese has become an important national treasure for most Norwegians, something we proudly mention in the same breath as the cheese slicer, the binder clip and the bunad. Now the Asian market has also taken notice of the iconic cheese, and brown cheese has in just a few years become a trend in, among other places, South Korea, where it is served in desserts, on coffee and even on pizza.

Norwegian milk is world-class in terms of quality, and TINE sees great potential for new growth for its dairy products in Asia. When they decided to build the TINE brand in Asian markets, thorough insight work was carried out. The result is a brand platform centred on the cold, arctic landscape and the iconic Norwegian red cow.

Sølvrev was approached to develop a completely new brand film, specifically designed for the venture.

Exotic Norway

• "It was important for us to present TINE as a high-end brand in the expression, while also telling a warm and human story that brings out all the qualities of TINE and, not least, inspires use of their products. We therefore wanted to position ourselves closer to fashion and lifestyle brands in the brand expression rather than traditional dairy products, and create something that was beautiful but did not feel like a generic tourist advertisement for Norway. The excitement of the taste had to come through clearly!" says director Sigurd Fossen.

The choice of location therefore naturally fell on Lofoten, and the footage was shot at Nergård on Vareid, a farm that has been supplying TINE with milk since 1959.

• "Although we wanted an authentic film, it was important for us to convey the right emotions. We therefore chose to use both the real farmers and actors to achieve the right mix of people," says producer Christer Dyngeland. "We are incredibly grateful for the effort from both the farmers and the actors during the shoot. In total, three different films had to be produced in just three production days, and they showed great patience and determination in helping us get the video exactly as we wanted!" he continues.

An ice-cold delight!

A key element of the film was snow-covered mountains and magnificent nature, which meant the project had to be postponed twice to achieve the right weather conditions. "It is always difficult when the weather plays a major role in filming. On the first dates we had planned in Lofoten there was a full storm, and a cabin with tourists inside blew out to sea. Filming then would have been practically impossible, and we are glad we postponed. But when all the beautiful snow rained away just before our second planned trip we started to get more worried – would we even manage to shoot in snow before winter was over? We breathed a sigh of relief when heavy snowfall came just weeks later, and we jumped at the chance to capture the idyllic, exotic winter conditions," producer Christer says with enthusiasm.

• "We had few hours of light to work with and had to work at a fast pace. When you are standing knee-deep in snow at several degrees below zero in a stiff gale, with the car stuck in a ditch, it is fair to say there are many other places you would rather be. But when we saw how beautiful the footage was, we all agreed it was more than worth the brief discomfort," says director Sigurd Fossen.

Strong at visual branding

• "One of the reasons we chose Sølvrev is that their work has shown they are skilled at visual storytelling that builds brands. They immediately understand the brief and have a strong customer focus. We found them to be very flexible and responsive throughout the process, while also being clear about their own recommendations – and they never let up until everyone was happy. We are once again very pleased with the result," says TINE project manager Tone Blandhoel.

• "Sølvrev has a broad background in music video production and has worked for some of Norway's biggest artists including Aurora, Sigrid and Astrid S, as well as international stars such as Nardo Wick and The Kid Laroi. Coming to this type of work with a slightly different approach is, I believe, an important success factor and one of the things that sets us apart from the crowd of production companies. While demonstrating that we understand the brief well and want to solve it, we also show that it can be done in an exciting way that both excites and evokes emotion through a more abstract approach to visual storytelling," adds account manager and CEO Daniel Eikeland.

"Despite its powerful look, the brand film was executed by a small crew who handled everything from script, communication outputs and project management through to shooting, editing, music and grading. We must also give credit to those we brought along on the assignment, including DOP Kristoffer Grindheim, who carried the heavy camera rig around and produced fantastic images for us at a fast pace!" says director Sigurd Fossen.

• "Ultimately we are incredibly grateful that TINE agreed to send us to Lofoten. This is an adventure we will not soon forget," says Dyngeland.

New talents and experienced voices

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  "Finally I want to add that it is important to us to work with new talent – the composer of the soundtrack for this prestigious job is actually only 20 years old," producer Christer Dyngeland says with enthusiasm. "This also stands in contrast to veteran Dennis Storhøi, who did the voiceover for the film and who we were incredibly pleased to have on the project. He clearly adds a whole other dimension to the film and brings out the exotic Norwegian quality in the English pronunciation – which we of course asked him to exaggerate just a little," Dyngeland concludes with a smile.