Vacationing on Mars? Don't Forget to Bring Eastpak (and Fido)

Eastpak visits Mars in a kitschy yet somber retro-futuristic spot from Antwerp-based agency Mutant.

A group of twentysomethings lounge around in swimsuits, rocking bubble-helmets fit for a 1950s pulp magazine cover. They bounce across dunes and take astro-pup for walkies in the forbidding landscape.

No one thought to bring oxygen tanks or pressure gear. But they’ve got skateboards, basketballs … and lots of branded backpacks.

It’s almost like an early MTV-video distillation of Eisenhower-era space tropes. There’s also a nod to the brand’s 1997 “Skeleton” campaign, jumbling time periods even more.

It feels so … odd. Self-consciously so. Juxtaposing moody visuals with silly antics proves strangely compelling. There’s an undercurrent of anxiety that grounds the narrative and keeps our attention from floating off into orbit.

“With everything that’s going on in the world today, we wondered how mankind would fare on its next destination,” Mutant founder and CCO Odin Saillé tells Muse. “We see a group of friends on a weekend getaway exploring Mars by doing different activities we recognize from our current everyday life.”

“It all seems innocent, but there is an underlying tension: Are we built to resist an extreme new environment? And more importantly, are we built to resist making the same mistakes we did on Earth. Eastpak’s optimistic vision proves that even the harshest conditions can’t temper humanity’s resilience. We are ready for whatever the future throws at us.”

The crew shot on the Spanish island of Lanzarote last fall. “The volcanic landscape on the island was the perfect backdrop to bring our story to life,” Saillé recalls. 

For the low-gravity sequences, “We used a special contraption developed by a father/son stunt team from Paris,” he says. “It was challenging to operate under windy conditions, but the models proved to be natural born space travelers. The whole shoot had a vibe of an actual otherworldly expedition.”

The work will run in North America, the U.K. and various markets in Europe, the Middle East and Asia. 

“We want to give people hope that we’re durable enough to work through our issues, and at the same time make them think about what we have to do to learn from our mistakes,” Saillé says. “We can’t fuck up two planets, right?” 

With Gen Z and their pets leading the way? Nah, never happen.

CREDITS

Agency: Mutant
Client: Kelly De Block, Florence Blanckaert, Pete Winkworth
Business director: Maarten De Cuyper
Creative director: Odin Saillé
Client director: Innie Tran
Art director: Usman Abdul
Design director: Frank Schouwaerts
Design: Ben Boliau
Motion design: Bob Van den Audenaerde   
Client manager: Lina Mertens

Production: Bleunuit
Producers: Ernest Bouvier, Maky Margaridis
Line Producer: Ernest Bouvier
Production assistant: Nina Perquis
Directors: Maky Margaridis & Tristan Feres
Photographer: Louis Lekien
Production service: 24/7
Local Producer: Gunther Haase
Production coordinator        Patrick Klosse
Production assistant: Jaime Antonio Hernandez Perez
Location manager: Poppy Ramos
Location manager: Francisco García Mateo         
Runner: Daniel Cabecera
Runner: Alberto Santana
First director’s assistant: Hugo Lebaillif
First photographer assistant: Elie Carp
Director of Photography: Cyrille Hubert
First Camera assistant: Léo Duclos
Second Camera assistan: Hugo Willocq
HMC: Poppy Ramos, Desi Make up /Honey wagon
Stylist: Edem Dossou
Stylist assistant: Anh Quynh
Set designer: Maori Thienot
Gaffer: Hector Garcia
Electrician: Natan Hernandez
Electrician: Miguel Angel Crespo
Key Grip: Patrick Cauderlier
Grip: Alexandre Cauderlier
Grip: Mael Lamberton

Cast 
Christophe Diawaku Mbila 
Jeff Cokson
Philippine Lecat
Victor Bouhier
Chloé Payen de Lapierre 

Editor: Rémy Monti
Cleaning/Flame: Julien Mercier
Color Grading: Arthur Paux                               
Sound composition: Rémy Monti 
Singer & VO: Jazz Sanusi
Recording: Siméon Viot & Rémy Monti