Visit Victoria’s “Stay Close. Go Further” campaign had been in development, in partnership with Monster & Bear, for over two years – a collaboration between the two companies that had been stalled many times due to the presence of a pesky pandemic.

Regardless of the multiple covid-induced setbacks, we were thrilled to be producing the three-part marketing brand campaign; taking audiences on an expedition through Victoria to boost tourism in the state following the easing of covid restrictions which (at the time) were promising to come into action. Flash forward almost an entire year before production could actually commence – squeezed into the space between two lockdowns no less!

Visit Victoria first approached our team of creatives, we tapped into exactly what they were looking for – a content production agency and creative partner that would be capable of delivering exceptional narrative films, via the lens of Victoria’s incredible landscapes, all while driving the narrative through the locals throughout the state.

But not in the typical, ordinary way. Visit Victoria desired to push the boundaries, bringing a sprinkle of magic to what could’ve easily been a very simple, predictable tourism campaign, and Monster & Bear was there to help them achieve this.

The people of Victoria needed to be inspired after being very uninspired for the previous two years.

Our co-founder Sarah Hickey designed the brand stories and creative direction, paving the way for our gifted team to follow, with Julian Lucas (Director), Josh Mitchell-Frey (Cinematographer), and Maria A. Perdomo (Producer) at the head, bringing the visual aspect to life. Traversing a colossal 162 individual locations (yes, one hundred and sixty two!), over a combined 3 months of filming throughout the three key regions, our crew captured spectacular sunrises, surging rivers, and striking scenery, putting the beauty of Victoria on show.

“The Murray was the first of the brand films we were producing for the Visit Vic campaign, so we were obviously very excited to get started, the biggest challenge (aside from covid) was obviously the sheer distance that we had to cover with the Murray covering a lot of the border of Victoria”

– Josh Mitchell-Frey, Cinematographer

But the films also dive into more than just the extraordinary terrain that makes up Victoria, expanding to also explore the animals, landmarks, and remarkable characters that make up the spirit of each region. The three maker films each intertwine both people and land, escalating to where they converge, before coming to a rest on a further reminder of the astonishing natural architecture, and nailling the concept “Stay Close. Go Further” message from Visit Victoria (if we may say so ourselves.)

Fun Fact: The Murray brand campaign was shot in locations all along the Victoria border – from Wodonga to Mildura – we traveled over 550km!

The Murray was the first of the three Visit Vic shoots, one which we were able to learn from and develop better methods for shooting the rest of the brand films. As our first “away from home” shoot during covid, our flexibility, nimbleness, communication and scheduling abilities were really put to the test. We learned quickly that things were very different to how we would normally approach them pre-covid. This meant adapting, keeping an open mind and being flexible. As producers of marketing content, we already know that being successful means being able to think on our feet, and using creative solutions for anything that crops up – covid included – so it wasn’t a stretch when we had to implement that same thinking for this shoot.

“When you’re working with a smaller team, you get to know how people work which means you’re able to work very quickly, which meant we were able to capture a lot of beautiful sunrises, sunsets…shooting the ancient land was really special.”

– Josh Mitchell-Frey, Cinematographer

The Murray, and the entire Visit Victoria “Stay Close, Go Further” marketing campaign showcases Melbourne content agency Monster & Bear’s dedication for delivering the full creative package in any situation – from pre-production to post production – creating branded content from story development and treatment, production shoot days, to editing, sound design and colour grading, bringing your marketing content alive. No matter what “uncertain” or “unprecedented” event comes our way, we’ll be there for the ride.