Thinking Of ( • )( • )

Breast Cancer Awareness: A Latin American Production In 50 Breast-Shaped Objects

Here at The Plus, we’re thinking of… ( • )( • ) but not in a pervy way. Thinking of… ( • )( • ) is the eye-catching name of a fantastic new campaign to raise awareness of breast cancer among men and women alike. Under the leadership of Hubert Reinfeld and his team of creatives at pan-American design company, Totuma, have made an audio-visual treat especially for their clients over at LIFETIME Latin America, and have dedicated it to survivors of breast cancer everywhere. Him and his crew have been making audio-visual content for the Latin American market for 14 years, formerly hailing from Venezuela, but now based in Miami following a turbulent political climate back home, “Due to the political crisis we needed to shut down our studio in Venezuela and move over to the U.S.A,” Hubert tells us.

Thinking of… ( • )( • ) is a video that is playful and bursting with colours, using 50 different objects to communicate a semblance with breasts. In this way it refuses to make a sensationalised spectacle out of breast cancer. We can infer that these survivors are strong, and that their scars are full of courage and dignity. “We didn’t want anything too dark or deep,” says Hubert. “We wanted to communicate a strong message but in a light way, which is not easy.” It can safely be said that they achieved what they set out to do. A vibrant and engaging journey to begin with, it almost takes a viewer by surprise to see, by the end, that it is a campaign with a serious edge, to be taken seriously. Effective design, stimulating viewing.

We chatted with Hubert to find out more:

The Plus: Tell us a little bit about Totuma, did you start it with a group of friends? How many of you are working together?
Hubert Reinfeld: Totuma started 15 years ago in Caracas, Venezuela. Yes, as any other company I guess, it started as a group of friends. Many things have changed over these years. We used to be a company of almost 40 people, today we’re only 6. Vladimir, Cristina, Alejando, Juan, Marcial and myself.

TP: How did you feel about the collaborating with LIFETIME Latin America?
HR: The collaboration was an intense journey, full of strong emotions. It’s a very complex subject, that’s why we wanted to start the campaign only thinking in ‘boobs’ or a pair of elements that make you think in them, so it becomes a light game at the beginning, something even fun to share in social media. But we also needed to communicate, or at least not alienate, people going through Cancer right know, survivors, and even already lost somebody to the illness. So there’s this fine line between all those elements, in the end this is NOT a game. At the end we’re happy and the client’s happy. We’re both emotionally exhausted, but satisfied with what we accomplished together.

TP: The concept is quite obvious, but how did you get the idea?
HR: LIFETIME’s Creative Director, Pedro Gonzalez, previous campaign was done using only typographic symbols: ( . )( . ). We loved that idea but wanted to go a step further, the final “click” came from this phrase:

“If only women paid as much attention to their breast as men do…”

We though, OK, let get everyone obsessed by breasts so they can “see” them everywhere and think about them in every day situations. That was the strategy at least, not sure if we accomplished that.

TP: What was the biggest challenge during the shoot?
HR: We tried to end the spot with two real survivors. The original idea was to have a couple of round bold heads, but it was impossible to find women willing to appear on camera in such a delicate physical and psychological state. The final shots are not real patients but computer generated, we made them anonymous not showing their faces, but also trying to put several different skin tones to try embracing all people.

TP: What’s the next big project?
HR: We don’t know, but we’re optimistic. Our best project is yet to come… : )