The Creative Process Behind “Think Unthinkable” by Jenius
Jenius's commercial video, Think Unthinkable, has captivated the attention of the broader community on social media. Its "dark" visuals present a fresh and progressive idea in the advertising world, especially for banks or financial institutions. Netizens' responses began to flood Jenius's social media platforms when the question, "What Kind of Life Do You Want?" was teased as part of this campaign. Various discussions emerged on several digital platforms leading up to the release of the Think Unthinkable video. Many associated the message in this campaign with Jenius's disruptive presence in the Indonesian banking and financial sector through previously unimaginable features. Think Unthinkable emphasizes Jenius's message while inviting people to break free from conventional thinking patterns and live life according to their desires.
Jenius has been a pioneer in the digital banking industry in Indonesia, consistently delivering innovative solutions based on inputs from Indonesia's digitally savvy community in the past seven years. The narrative in the Think Unthinkable commercial stems from the idea that, often unknowingly, humans get trapped in systems that make us conform to uniform thought patterns and life choices. Environmental pressures often deter many from expressing what they truly desire. Think Unthinkable serves as Jenius's call to everyone to look back to what they genuinely want in life—a mindset that is original and unique to each person.
In the making of this commercial video, Jenius collaborated with the creative agency Animal3 and Ray Farandy Pakpahan as the Film Director from Berkah Film (Production House). The creative process behind Think Unthinkable was an impressive experience for the Animal3 team. As the creative agency responsible for developing Jenius's brand direction, Animal3 found the brief offered by Jenius to be both intriguing and challenging. This collaboration stemmed from the need for developing ideas that Jenius wanted to convey. The story in this video reflects the majority of people whose thoughts are shaped by their surroundings, whether it's family, school, the workplace, or community. Hence, characters wearing different-shaped “helmets” were introduced to represent thoughts molded by the surrounding environment. According to Aim, Creative Director of Animal3, this idea emerged after discussions around Jenius's position and vision as a digital banking pioneer. Artistically, the word "pioneer" portrays a figure who is willing to offer innovation and oppose uniformity. "In this project, the issue we wanted to address was uniformity and stagnation in daily life," added Aim.
Febrian Ditra from Animal3 shared that the ideation process for the big concept of this commercial video took nearly a year. According to Ditra, Jenius already has a characterful and distinct visual branding compared to their competitors. "In terms of branding, Jenius likes to provide a pleasant and non-rigid experience," explained Ditra. This allowed Animal3 to explore more ideas for this commercial video.
The most attention-grabbing aspect of the Think Unthinkable video is the characters with differently-shaped heads, including circles, squares, and triangles. Surprisingly, designing the characters' "heads" took quite a long time. "Originally, the idea was about how we could show people's heads being shaped by their environment," clarified Ferry, Art Director of Animal3. Initially, the characters in the video were designed with masks. However, the Animal3 team reconsidered to make sure the message was easily understood by the audience and not overshadowed by artistic concepts. Eventually, basic shapes with proportions fitting human bodies were chosen, with each shape representing thoughts shaped by different surroundings. Circles represent thoughts shaped by family, squares represent thoughts shaped by the environment, and triangles represent the moment where people start to develop idealism and stances in their lives. Apart from the characters' "heads," another uniqueness of this video lies in the use of muted colors rarely seen in banking commercials. The low saturation of colors adds a spooky impression. "Regarding color, the discussion within the team was quite intense," revealed Ditra.
In any visual work, colors play a crucial role. After completing the production or filming process of this project, the team was divided into two camps. One felt that the raw color results—from costumes, art direction, and lighting—were good and should be retained. On the other hand, another camp felt the need to desaturate the colors to bring out deeper emotions and be in line with the overall concept. "This discussion was very interesting because it meant everything we designed in this video had meaning. Ultimately, we had to carefully discuss every detail all over again, and we decided to use muted colors to support the narrative," stated Ditra.
Ditra then unveiled another uniqueness of the Think Unthinkable project, which is the change in font used by Jenius. "Jenius has its own font called Jenius Sans. In this project, we developed our own font called Jenius Serif," explained Ditra. Animal3 collaborated with Tokotype, who previously worked on Jenius Sans, in designing this font. According to Ditra, this font change was proposed by the Animal3 team to align with the artistic concept of Think Unthinkable. Every detail was meticulously considered, such as the upward diagonal line in the "unthinkable" tail.
Concluding the discussion, the Animal3 team recounted that this project went smoothly both internally and externally with the client. As a client, Jenius supported Animal3's progressive idea for Think Unthinkable, which became the talk of the creative industry. Both Jenius and Animal3 were pleased with the response received after the video was released to the public. Through this project, Jenius aims to encourage the audience to question themselves again: How much progress have we made in our lives? Are we living according to our desires, or are we following what society dictates? After that, it is hoped that more people will dare to take steps to gradually realize what they want. This call is not just for Jenius users but also for the broader community who want to discover what they truly desire in life in ways never thought of before—just like Jenius, always bringing new breakthroughs and viewing things from a different perspective. Think Unthinkable also embodies the spirit Jenius has had for seven years, since its inception, disrupting the banking industry in Indonesia by offering a simpler, safer, and smarter way to manage finances and life directly from a smartphone. The features available in Jenius were also developed in new ways to address pain points that conventional banking couldn't meet. By emphasizing this spirit once again, Jenius believes that Think Unthinkable is a first step towards living the life we want.
