At Clockwise, we’ve always believed the best branded content doesn’t feel like an advert.

It gives audiences something worth watching, tells a genuine story and gives a brand a natural role within that story.

That’s exactly what we set out to achieve with The Taste Trail, a purpose-led film production for Nestlé, created in partnership with PR agency CityPress.

The campaign follows extreme-distance runner Rob Pope (otherwise known as the real Forrest Gump) as he takes on a 500+ mile journey across Britain in just 14 days, exploring where our food comes from, how it is made and, ultimately, how we can help good food go further.

Along the way, Rob visits farms, factories and food redistribution centres, meeting the people behind the food we eat every day.

Purpose-led FILM PRODUCTION

For us, the challenge was to create content that could do several things at once. It needed to support Nestlé’s wider purpose-led campaign, engage audiences with Rob’s journey, educate people about the food supply chain and help shine a light on the work of Felix, while naturally featuring Nestlé products throughout.

The key was making those products feel like part of the story rather than an interruption to it.

Rob eating breakfast before setting off. A KitKat at the end of a long day. Conversations about the ingredients that go into the products we recognise from supermarket shelves.

These moments give the products a reason to be on screen. They are part of Rob’s journey, rather than simply being placed into it.

For brands looking to create effective branded content, we think that distinction is increasingly important. Audiences are smart. They know when they are being sold to. Give them a story worth following, and the brand becomes part of the experience.

Right in our sweet spot: crafting story-driven content with a high-retention social feel.

Production in some challenging environments

Shooting The Taste Trail took our production team across some very different environments, from a working dairy farm in rural Scotland to Nestlé’s huge confectionery operation in York and later to Felix’s food redistribution centre in Crawley.

And, as anyone who has filmed in Scotland will know, the weather had its own ideas.

The Scottish leg brought plenty of unpredictable conditions, but rather than fighting them, we looked for opportunities to use them creatively.

One of our favourite shots from the shoot came from exactly that approach. We found a perfectly positioned puddle and used it to create a hero shot of Rob as he continued his journey.

Sometimes the best production moments aren’t the ones you planned six weeks beforehand. They are the ones you spot when you’re on location and make the most of.

Shooting for an incredibly fast turnaround

The Taste Trail itself only lasts two weeks.

That creates a very different production challenge from a conventional campaign film. There is a relatively small window in which to capture the excitement around Rob’s challenge, generate PR momentum and get content in front of audiences while the story is happening.

That means our post-production workflow has to move just as quickly as the shoot.

Each episode needs to be planned carefully before we arrive on location. We need to know exactly what we’ve been approved to capture, which messages need to land and which specific Nestlé language needs to be included.

That level of preparation might sound restrictive, but it actually gives the edit team the freedom to work incredibly quickly once the footage arrives.

We’re not searching through hours of footage wondering what the film should be. We already know the story we’re building.

The result is content that can move from shoot to edit to delivery at pace, allowing Nestlé and Citypress to capitalise on the momentum surrounding Rob’s journey.

A project we’re proud to have been part of

The Taste Trail has been a brilliant example of what can happen when brands, agencies and production teams work together around a meaningful idea.

The campaign also generated strong momentum beyond the films themselves. The social content we created outperformed Rob’s recent posts across his own social channels, helping the Taste Trail reach and engage an audience well beyond the initial campaign activity.

The story also attracted significant PR attention, with Rob appearing on BBC Radio 2 and the challenge being covered by The Daily Star, The Mirror and The Express. For us, this is where purpose-led content really earns its place: helping to tell the story of why food matters, where it comes from and what happens when we find ways to make it go further.

We’re incredibly proud of the films we’ve created and of the role we’ve played in supporting Nestlé and FareShare’s shared ambition to help more good food reach the people who need it most.

Purpose-led content doesn’t have to sacrifice creativity. In fact, when the purpose is genuine and the storytelling is strong, it can give a brand an even more powerful reason to be part of the story.