In a context where some people assume electric heaters are not helpful enough, agency Leo Burnett France, together with European heating company Atlantic Group, managed to prove the doubters by using a peculiar, yet very interesting approach.

In a frozen and hostile environment where it seems that even the last form of life has stopped fighting for its existence, the Paris-based agency was able to resurrect nature based on the scientific ability of heat to create life even where all hope is lost. Within this week’s #ThrowBrandThursday we dive into a fascinating, but unfriendly environment, just to see nature bloom in a stunning way.

With a goal in sight to prove that Atlantic Group’s tagline “Heat Is Life” has scientific merit behind it, a team consisting of Xavier Beauregard and Hadi Hassan Helou of Leo Burnett, well-known Canadian filmmaker Olivier Staub, an engineer, and a botanist, ventured on a difficult mission where they had to endure some of the worst weather conditions. The results were simply amazing and were presented to the public through a short documentary titled “37 Days.”

Heat’s pure power was revealed on the top of a glacier in British Columbia at a height of 2,400 meters above sea-level, where temperatures reached around -30 degrees Celsius. In this sterile place, the team installed a huge sealed glass cube to find out if nature can burst to life even in such a challenging environment.

“The Cube,” as the artists called it, included two separated rooms which contained various life forms — while ice blocks were placed strategically above them in order to facilitate irrigation during the melting process. In contrast with the surrounding environment in which even Mother Nature didn’t have the courage to show its true colors, and thanks to the heating system installed inside the cube, nature seemed to remember what it is capable of and began to sprout.

It lasted no longer than 37 days for the pure world to show its innocence through the biologic process that permitted organisms and vegetation to find a way out of hibernation. And the final result? The frozen winter surroundings were animated with dynamic colored live silhouettes.

This “ode to life” as the Montreal-based director called it, surprised the heating company’s staff, who were astonished by the splendid result, “They had stars in their eyes when they first saw the film,” said Xavier Beauregard about their client.

The documentary film entered the top ten most awarded films in 2015 – 2016 globally, being an award-winning project at renowned festivals like Cannes Lions, OneShow, Eurobest, LIA, Kinsaley Sharks, NewYork Festival, Crystal Awards, Red Apple, ADC, ADCE, Clio, D&AD, and Andy Awards.

Credits:

Client: Atlantic Group

Agency: Leo Burnett Paris

Filmmaker: Olivier Staub