Be a BBQ
Gamechanger.

When Hellmann’s teamed up with agency Wasserman / THE·TEAM and Irresistible Studios to create a major European campaign around UEFA Women’s EURO 2025, Video Cartel was brought on board as the South African production partner.

Featuring some of the biggest names in women’s football, including England’s Alessia Russo, Spain’s Alexia Putellas and Germany’s Jule Brand, the campaign set out to inspire BBQ lovers across Europe to become gamechangers themselves.

Directed by Amy Becker-Burnett, the creative concept was playful and ambitious. When an ordinary BBQ needed rescuing, Hellmann’s football stars would swoop in, superhero-style, to transform the food with a little help from the brand’s famous mayonnaise and sauces.

The campaign combined hero commercials, specialist food cinematography, visual effects and social content, with production taking place across South Africa, the UK and Europe.

Bringing the campaign together was a technically demanding exercise in international production.

While the football stars were filmed separately against green screens in studios across Europe, the food sequences and background plates were captured in South Africa.

This required meticulous planning and coordination between the international teams. Lighting, camera angles, eyelines and performances all needed to align so that the separately filmed elements could be seamlessly combined in post-production.

For Video Cartel, the South African shoot involved moving between two locations while managing a range of specialist production requirements.

Our art department created bespoke football jerseys, while our food styling and technical teams worked meticulously to achieve the perfect balance of burgers, sauces and product presentation. Every detail mattered, from the precise ratio of sauce to the way each burger appeared on camera.

Food wasn’t simply a supporting element of the campaign. It was central to the storytelling, demanding the same attention to detail as the performances and cinematography.

One of the more entertaining aspects of pre-production was the steady arrival of mysterious boxes from Hellmann’s.

By the time filming began, 88 bottles of mayonnaise and sauces had arrived from around the world, giving the team the opportunity to sample an extraordinary variety of international flavours.

But behind the fun was a production that demanded precision, speed and adaptability.

Our specialist food team worked meticulously to achieve the perfect balance of ingredients, burger presentation and sauce consistency, ensuring the food looked as irresistible on camera as it tasted.

The shoot also involved local female footballers, specialist FPV drone filming and a versatile art department, all working within a tightly coordinated production schedule.

The quality of the food work drew particularly enthusiastic feedback from the Hellmann’s team, a rewarding endorsement of the local crew’s expertise.

Working alongside Irresistible Studios and director Amy Becker-Burnett, Video Cartel assembled a highly skilled South African crew capable of meeting the technical and creative demands of a major international campaign.

Productions of this nature depend on more than technical expertise. They require flexibility, clear communication and an ability to anticipate challenges before they become problems.

With multiple countries, specialist departments and complex post-production requirements involved, collaboration was essential.

Our focus was not only on delivering exceptional production standards but also on creating an enjoyable, seamless experience for our international partners and clients.

The result was a campaign that brought together world-class football talent, ambitious creative storytelling and specialist production expertise across continents.

For Video Cartel, it was another opportunity to demonstrate the value of a trusted local production partner: a team that understands the creative ambition, delivers on the detail and makes even the most complex productions feel effortless.