Romain Quirot Duplicates Success in New Voya Financial Spots

Jan. 26, 2024

REVERSE’s Romain Quirot directed a pair of spots for health, wealth, and investment company Voya Financial. The campaign, aptly titled “Better Together,” features identical twins who walk and talk in perfect harmony. The spots – "Office Twins" and "Greenhouse Twins" – build on Voya’s belief that workplace benefits and retirement savings work better together and continue the company’s tradition of snappy walk-and-talks. They launched this month across national broadcast, streaming, and digital channels.

Conceived by BBDO Atlanta, the scripts called for entrepreneurial twins to seamlessly move and interact in various environments and situations, explaining the benefits of Voya in a way that felt organic and playful. Looking to enhance the visual interest in these stories, they brought on Quirot for his choreographic lensing and light visual comedy style, as seen in his acclaimed commercial work for Uber, CareCredit, and Air France.

Quirot recalled:

"The key to these spots was to incorporate snappy transition techniques subtly to avoid detracting from the performances and the core message of the campaign. The result is a slightly heightened reality of the Voya brand world dynamic and colorful, drawing inspiration from musical comedies like La La Land."

 

Mike Hanley, BBDO’s SVP Creative Director, who led the campaign added:

"Voya is an optimistic and positive brand, and we've been building a tone and character in our work over the years that is important to get right. Romain is a true collaborator. He understood the Voya brand voice right away and knew where the opportunities were to elevate the work. His use of color and choreography perfectly captured our vision and took the spots to the next level."

 

To pull off the concept, the production required an extensive casting search for actual twins who were emblematic of the campaign’s target audience. Each set of twins had to bring acting chops and chemistry to their performance while also meeting the production’s demand for laser-focused blocking to ensure continuity transitioning between each shot. 

Quirot said:

"As a father of young twin girls, I know there’s a chemistry between twins that’s hard to replicate in post. I’m glad we did this very extensive casting process. The talent we cast brought a certain magic and an opportunity to even improvise and capture lighthearted banter that only real twins could deliver."

 

While shooting, Quirot impressively assembled a live edit montage using his phone to ensure the agency team had all the necessary shots and timing in the performances to make them seamless. 

Voya Financial's iconic Orange Money characters, "Val,” the squirrel, and “Vern,” the rabbit, also make a cameo, courtesy of VFX company The Mill, which has played a paramount role in bringing the beloved CG-animated characters to life since 2017. Val and Vern represent the money that one needs to set aside for retirement and charmingly deliver the concluding tagline: “Voya. Well Planned. Well Invested. Well Protected.”

REVERSE Founder/EP Thibaut Estellon concluded:

"This campaign speaks to our ability to find solutions that elevate the creative while cracking the code to complex production challenges. It’s also a tribute to what’s possible when you have an ambitious and supportive agency and clients. We had a blast playing in their sandbox and discovering exciting ways to bring these brand values to life."