Director Dan Mace isn’t letting travel bans mute his festive spirit. The South African award-winning director and YouTuber has built an audience of close to 800,000 subscribers on the video platform, based on his remarkable ability to commercialise his creativity. His ‘Seeing Sounds’ series has seen him recreate The Weeknd’s Blinding Lights with a physical brick, his ode to the Bieb’s Peaches was constructed with – you guessed it – actual peaches and now him and his team at JOE are revving up the festive season with a remake of ‘Santa Claus is Coming to Town’… with Checkers Sixty60 scooters.

‘When I heard that the food delivery brand was going to be dispatching 2,500 scooter drivers of joy this festive season, our team at JOE, in collaboration with the team at 99c, jumped at the opportunity to turn our collective frowns upside down. We composed this track and the associated video because we refuse to go gentle into that Silent Night’. Says Dan.

Listen, you’re not behind the times if you haven’t heard of JOE yet and nope, it’s not affiliated with the folks from Joe Public either. JOE is a creative film agency based in Cape Town which specialises in creative and narrative-driven content that focuses on ‘Story First’.

JOE is founded by Dan Mace, who over his 10-year career has gathered an online following of over more than 1.2 million people across various platforms *faints. Dan has a knack for telling relevant stories in an entertaining and engaging way.

You MUST have seen his online video of his wedding during lockdown last year, complete with cardboard cut-out guests and a streaming priest, #Zoomgoals! Check out JOE’s page on IDIDTHAT for now and in the new year we’ll be bringing you more about the JOE team, why agencies will want to collaborate with them and what Dan’s sausage dog has to do with it all, so keep your eyes peeled for JOE.

Back Row (L-R): Chris Moore (Editor), Jason Winde (Sound Designer & Composer), Luke Veysie (Director), Sarah Kozlowski (Producer) Mid Row (L-R): Chris Mace (Financial Manager), Jeremy Saner (Directors Assistant), Reuben Mateke (Studio Manager), Luc Ramsden (Editor), Shonté Williams (PR & Social Media) Front Row (L-R): Liam Cockcroft (Cinematographer, Editor & Motion Graphics Artist), Raine Grunau (Producer), Dan Mace (Founder & Director), Jarrod Allies (Brand Creative)

Dan says of the Xmas Sixty60 spot, ‘We, South Africans are some of the most resilient people in the world, despite so many of us having had our holiday plans scuppered. This project is dedicated to putting the ‘festive’ into festive season, and a smile on the faces of South Africans who need it most at the end of another crazy year.’

Finally, in order to put their money where Mace’s mouth is, Checkers Sixty60 will be kitting all 2,500 of its drivers in Santa suits this holiday season and doing its bit to spread some cheer for its customers across the country. Ho ho ho yes please!

TVC CREDITS:

Director: Dan Mace
Producer: Raine Grunau
Agency: 99c
1st AD: Matt Muskett
DOP: Liam Cockcroft
1st AC: Marco King
2nd AC: Tafadzwa Pasi
Camera assistant & Stills: Marc Williams
DIT: Jürgen Painczyk
Data Wrangler: Luc Ramsden
Stills & BTS: Oliver Amos
Sound Designer: Jason Winde
Set Sound & Boomswinger: Michael Smith
Art Director: Lydia Geldenhuys
Art assistant: Albido Maphinda
Covid Officer & Unit: Gerald Delport
Set PA: Jeremy Saner
Editor: Liam Cockcroft
Assistant Editor: Oliver Amos
Catering: Tiny Little Kitchen