In National Geographic’s "Limitless with Chris Hemsworth," Chris explores how to live a better, longer life. After discovering he has an elevated risk of developing dementia, he’s on a personal mission to protect his brain now and in the future. One of the best ways to improve brain health is learning a new skill, particularly learning to play a musical instrument. While filming "Limitless" season two, Chris has just two months to learn the drums and join his friend, Ed Sheeran, in a surprise appearance on his world stadium tour. This story is likely to go viral with audiences posting their photos and videos. Our goal is to own the moment for National Geographic, promote "Limitless" season two, and connect with Ed and Chris’s large social followings.
We created a plan that included strategy, creative concepts and distribution: a short recap video to be posted across Nat Geo and talent social media accounts immediately after the concert, as well as a longer behind-the-scenes cut for YouTube. The first step was to get buy in from all stakeholders, including internal Nat Geo teams, show production, Chris Hemsworth’s team, and Ed Sheeran’s team. There were many challenges to consider, including keeping the appearance a surprise; promoting the show without spoilers; getting a camera crew behind the scenes access without disrupting the concert or show production; quickly turning around the edit, approval and posting processes; and producing at a distance while the concert was happening in Bucharest, Romania. Once we had all of the teams aligned with the strategy, we created a detailed schedule and designated points of contact from each team. By collaborating closely with talent teams, we were able to tap into existing resources including Ed Sheeran’s videographer, who was able to quickly shoot and edit the recap video. The resulting video was approved and posted that night as a collab between National Geographic, Ed, and Chris, and gave audiences around the world their first look at the exciting moment when Chris joined Ed on stage, with a shoutout to the Limitless series. Additional footage was uploaded by the production and talent teams and edited into the Youtube video posted later that week.
Overall, the concert video was one of Nat Geo’s top performers of the year on social, with 34M video views, 25M impressions, and 2.9M engagements across accounts. The concert recap videos, posted immediately after the performance as a collab with Ed Sheeran, Chris Hemsworth, and Nat Geo on Instagram and Tiktok have over 24m video views. The longer behind the scenes video posted on Nat Geo’s YouTube and Chris Hemsworth’s Instagram account has 7m video views. Sentiment was overwhelmingly positive, with commenters excited to see the show, and the video was also shared by major press outlets.
