Portfolio: CREF Careers | LAI Video

CREF Careers

We partnered with the Mortgage Banking Association to bolster their CREF Careers initiative—an outreach program designed to interest college-aged students in pursuing a career in real estate finance. Working with MBA’s member companies, our crew highlighted the type of millennials already benefiting from flourishing careers in the industry. And we did it with dutch angles!

Recruiting Millennials

To speak to the younger generation, we knew that we had to be authentic. We decided to intertwine several “day in the life” threads of existing CREF professionals. We worked with MBA and its sponsoring member companies to identity the fresh faces that best embody this new generation. From the guy who has a well-paying job to the gal who wants to travel while maintaining a work-life balance, these personalities invite young viewers to say “hey, that’s me!” or “I could TOTALLY do that.”

Going Dutch

During the interview sessions, Favata, Phil and Patrick tilted the cameras to achieve a canted or “Dutch” angle. While this type of slant can create a sense of unease or tension, we embraced the technique to empower the subject—to compliment their confident body language with a bold, dynamic angle. During each day-shoot, Ellyn and co. shadowed the individuals around the office, onto recently-sold properties and even to networking events and softball games. We aimed to achieve a comprehensive snapshot of their typical work days. Cubicles, high fives and all.

It Takes a Village

In addition to the peppy full-length video that Jun cut together, we also created a 30-second spot intended for specific social channels for both MBA and its members. We created a variety of still graphics and GIFs to drag as many eyeballs to the CREF careers microsite. MBA funded the video-based campaign with the help of member companies interested in pooling resources together to debunk the misconception that mortgage banking is a "Wall Street" job. In a coordinated effort, MBA and its sponsors launched CREF Careers and will continue to roll out new content for the foreseeable future.