Pop culture’s current queen, 18-year-old songstress Billie Eilish, is the face (and voice) of a new campaign championing the often maligned Gen Zs.
The two-minute long spot is for German telco firm Deutsche Telekom and defends young people’s apparent screen addictions. Rather than being addicted to scrolling through mindless dross, the ad suggests that the Zs (those born after 1995) are using technology to enact real social change.
It’s the work of Saatchi & Saatchi London and is part of Deutsche Telekom’s ongoing #WhatWeDoNext campaign.
Eilish – who, alongside Greta Thunberg – has fast become the voice of Generation Z, not only narrates the work but adds the backing track, too.
Other Gen Z stars feature in the film, including climate activist Eirini Vougiouka; Jahkini Bisselink, who at the age of 18 was elected to work as a Dutch Youth Representative at the UN; and hacker and cyber-security expert Philipp Kalweit.
Check out the work below:
https://youtu.be/Uj-zpXspfxQ
The spot was directed by Vincent Haycock, who’s best known for shooting music videos for the likes of Harry Styles, Lana Del Ray, U2, Paul McCartney and Florence+The Machine.
Haycock commented of the spot: “We wanted to capture the spirit of this generation and show their collective voice harnessed by their use of social media. They are a generation that uses technology and social media to raise awareness and create communities.
“We set out to make a film that felt honest to each of the characters’ world. Most of what you see is either their actual world or inspired very closely by who they are or what they represent. Billie’s is the voice of this generation, her music and words are very important to Gen Z. Having her narrate the film couldn’t have been a better choice,” Haycock said.
