What led to this project?

A brand is only as memorable as its visual identity. Sun Life has gone through sizable visual and verbal expression changes on the road to becoming expertly distinct in our industry.

For our visual identity, and particularly when it comes to our photography, the play of light and shadow not only looks effortlessly sophisticated, but also represents our brand's understanding of the human experience. We acknowledge and accept the dark times in life, all the while knowing that light is not far behind.

Because of this singular visual and conceptual point of view, our branded images can't always be found through stock photography alone. To broaden the scope of Sun Life's visual representation, we needed to develop custom photos that accurately represented all our markets.

Asia is our fastest growing market, but also the one in which we had the biggest challenge to curate on-brand and culturally relevant photography. Every aspect needed to feel authentic and genuine, including the people, the clothing, the locations, the styling, and the props. That's something that can only truly be achieved when you have full creative control.

And that's exactly what led to the latest Asia custom photoshoot. This massive project was made possible by our Global agency partners, photographers from North America, and dedicated local production crews within each region.

Ultimately, we created 200 globally licensed images from 5 countries over 22 days.

The process

Firstly, we needed to identify the gaps in our photo assets, and that involved hearing from our partners in the Asia regions. Together, we developed an extensive shot list involving a variety of scenes, interior and exterior locations, and a multi-talented cast. Our photographers were able to map out scenarios for all 5 countries with 2 full days of shooting in each region. In the end, we captured over 250,000 raw images! That's a lot of sun.

With complete control over lighting, styling, and composition, we were able to ensure that we followed our brand guidelines in every single shot. And with the photographers' effortless style of shooting, the images feel real, authentic, and represent captured moments that you simply cannot find in stock.

The unique challenge with this shoot was that we had 5 different countries that all had different looks. The wardrobe, the locations, the set design, and the props all needed to reflect their own specific cultural nuances, and yet, all still had to feel like Sun Life.

The home settings in Indonesia, for example, were modern but rich with warm woods and natural textures. We made sure that our talent embodied a comfortable, relaxed attitude, and their wardrobe was equally relaxed with a colour palette that stood out against the backgrounds without being jarring.

Our next challenge was making each region feel unique and authentic. In Malaysia, our locations were fairly neutral in tone, so we added visual interest with pops of colour such as a bright backpack or colourful kite. In Vietnam, we did a formal scene with a mother and daughter dressed in traditional ao dai, the silk tunic and pants for special occasions like Tet. But we also needed it to look modern and more on trend to align with our brand. The collaboration of the local marketing teams was invaluable in providing input when making decisions like this so that we truly reflected the best and most authentic aspects of each region.

In the end, we exceeded our goals of not only providing some great additions to our image library, but taking a whole-hearted collaborative approach to working with our markets in pushing our brand forward and delivering on creative excellence.

The overall project was like nothing I had ever done before and was by far the biggest photoshoot I have ever been a part of during my career. Seeing that side of the world and soaking in local customs and experiences was the plus to the actual 'working', but the bonus was meeting the local regional teams in person, getting to know them, and working alongside them to develop creative assets that are perfectly tailored to their needs.