CATEGORY: SOCIAL, ONLINE
CLIENT: INSTA360
LETTING THE STORY CARRY THE CAMERA
Insta360 built its name on hardware. Best-in-class stabilization, 360 capture, a loyal following of action-sports shooters who already knew what these cameras could do. But their founder, Max, saw a gap before anyone else on his team did. Insta360 was excellent at showing what the camera does. It was not yet good at showing what the camera means to the person holding it.
That insight is what we used to brief ourselves.
So we came up with this ↓
Instead of chasing the brand's existing core, we went the other way. We built a documentary format called Insta360 Journeys: half day-in-the-life, half short film. One layer follows a person through their world. A second layer, pure voiceover, carries their reason for being there. The camera never explains itself. It just watches.
Then we picked three subjects who were already users, but instead of focusing on the extreme, we told their story.
THE USER ⤵
Aaron “Wheelz” Fotheringham
Inventor of wheelchair motocross, four-time world champion. Doctors told his parents he might never sit up on his own. He landed the first wheelchair backflip in history at fourteen.
All three of these stories proved the brand could mean something to almost anyone.
THEIR JOURNEY⤵
Judi Oyama
Oldest competitive female skateboarder and marketing manager at Lens Arts, still dropping into the bowl when most people her age put the board away for good.
Jett “Lil Danger” Carter
Already riding motocross, the camera mounted to the bike from an angle no hand could hold steady.
BUILT FOR EVERY PLATFORM
We made multiple versions of every journey, each built for the platform it would call home. Short, relatable cuts for TikTok and Instagram. Deeper, entertaining long form where you really get to know each athlete. Every edit was shaped to win where it landed.
THE RESULTS
Insta360's own marketing team called it "amazing work" and passed the cuts to their broader creator community, which came back universally positive. And all of it opened the door to Insta360's next swing: bringing a 3-million-subscriber creator onto the platform for a flagship brand project, on the strength of the same format and the same relationship.
THE TAKEAWAY
A camera brand doesn't grow by making better product videos. It grows by finding the people whose lives the product actually touches, and getting out of the way while they tell you why.