BRANDED ENTERTAINMENT · TRADE MANIA · ISTANBUL · 2023
STORY
READY. SET. TRADE.
Trading, charts and numbers. So we turned it into a four-episode comedy.
Trade Mania is a game that teaches you to trade with a virtual account, competitions and rewards, before you put real money in. Its team flew in from Dubai and Lebanon to Istanbul, and at the Geeks34 studio we shot a campaign with Lebanese actor Joe Trad that opens with a laugh and ends with the app.
Not an ad listing features. A story that makes you remember the characters.
THE USUAL
Screens, charts, coins, and someone in a suit giving you advice.
WHAT WE MADE
Two friends in one room, constant bickering, and a mysterious voice watching them through an old TV.
ENTERTAINMENT FIRST. PRODUCT SECOND.The audience walks in through the comedy, and finds the product inside the story.
THE CAST
Two of them, and a third voice.
JOE
Joe
Serious, quick-tempered, and hates looking like he doesn't know. Played by Joe Trad, as a character written under his own name.
FARID
Farid
A blogger who loves food and jokes. Easygoing, seems less serious, but he's the one who learns first. Played by content creator Farix.
● REC
THE VOICE
The voice
An AI watching them through an old TV. We never see it, but it's what ties the episodes together.
4 EPISODES · ONE STORY
Four episodes, and the story moves like a chart.
Each episode reveals part of the game and pushes the story forward. In episode three, the roles flip.
ROLE SWAPJoeFaridA story line, not data: who's confident and who's rattled, episode by episode.
READY.SET.TRADE.
FROM PAPER TO FRAME
One room, two worlds.
Half the room is a messy living space, half is a tidy, lit gaming set. The same place in all four episodes, so the characters are what changes.
01The scriptFour of them, one per episode.
02The sketchThe room on paper, before it was built.
03The neonThe game's logo, 80 × 53 cm.
04The studioThe Geeks34 studio, empty.
05The setTwo worlds in one room.
06The lightGaming light, not office light.
07The frameAnd the story is ready to be told.
TRADE MANIAEP01
INT. THE ROOM — NIGHT
JOE
FARID
THE VOICE (O.S.)
Messy loungeGaming set● REC01 / 07
THE GAME
And here's the game itself.
That's what the episodes were about, without ever explaining it.
01 · PRIZE POOLCompetitions with prizesA competition every week, and whoever finishes first wins.
02 · VIRTUAL ACCOUNTA virtual accountEvery player starts with $100,000 that isn't real.
03 · LIVE RANKINGLive rankingThe leaderboard moves in front of you with every trade.
A screen recording from the app at the time of the campaign, 2023.
CAMPAIGN TEASER
The teaser.
ON SET · IN THEIR WORDS
From the set, in their own words.
“When an actor is in a place where the service is great and surrounded by kind, professional people, it really impacts how they perform in front of the camera.”
Joe Trad
“Honestly, we didn’t expect to finish everything in just one day… We accomplished exactly what we had in mind.”
The Trade Mania team
Quotes taken word for word from the video's subtitles.
4episodes
4scripts, one per episode
1campaign teaser
From the idea to the last episode.
Creative direction and campaign developmentMe, through Geeks34. Four connected episodes instead of four separate ads.
Pre-production, set, shoot and editMy team at Geeks34 at the time, in the Geeks34 studio in Istanbul.
CastJoe Trad as "Joe", and Farix as "Farid".
Behind the camera
Shoot day at the Geeks34 studio.
A complicated product? We tell it as a story people remember.
From idea and script, to set and shoot, to a campaign that runs across formats.
Messy loungeGaming set
