I Mean It Creative rolled up their sleeves to tell the story of the century-long heritage brand Eyüp Sabri Tuncer, which was established in 1923, the same year as the foundation of the Turkish Republic.
We organized simultaneous shoots in Los Angeles, California and in Ankara, Turkey to create the TV Commercial and an accompanying teaser that draws connections between the brand’s roots and the foundation of the Republic, while also unveiling the brand’s new visual logo and sound logo.
Shooting the teaser and the first half of the commercial in LA, I Mean It started the project with some thorough research in order to collect documentation including old photographs and authentic documents such as the very first brochure created by Mr. Tuncer.
Once these items were collected, we continued the pre-production process by selecting the correct, period-appropriate props and creating a set that replicates what Mr. Tuncer’s workspace may have looked like 1923.
Meanwhile on the casting side, we hunted down an exact look-a-like of Mr. Tuncer, the founder of EST, using old photographs to compare our selection of actors, before finally getting approval from Mr. Engin Tuncer on the actor that most resembles his grandfather.
We separated the production into four parts; The first two in Los Angeles and the remaining two in Turkey.
Our LA Team started by shooting the ‘heritage wall’ which was used for the teaser, displaying all the collected photographs and documents which were printed, framed and hung. We continued the production in LA by shooting the parts of the commercial that include our look-alike actor experimenting with plants and perfumery equipment.
Simultaneously, our team in Turkey organized a shoot to capture scenes for the commercial that take place in the first EST Store in Ankara. These scenes include Ms. Pelin Tuncer, the Marketing Director of the company and great granddaughter of founder Eyüp Sabri Tuncer. Her inclusion in the commercial added a meaningful touch in telling the story of the family-led brand. The production team in Turkey also shot at the EST factory, where all the scenes at the end of the commercial showing the products in mass production were captured.
Bringing together all of these elements, I Mean It moved forward with the editing process by first creating a short teaser for the commercial that sets the tone and focuses solely on the foundation of the Turkish Republic and the mindset that emerged with it.
