Shackleton × Defender
Partnership creative, and a desert field test with the Defender Rally team, shot when the retail kit was late.
3 days. 30°C heat. 3 crew. 3 drivers. 4 deliverables. 370 stills.
Overview
Shackleton is the official expedition apparel partner to Defender’s Dakar Rally team. In 2026 Base Camp shaped the partnership’s second year and produced a field-test shoot in the Moroccan desert with the team’s drivers.
Outcome
Shot and in the edit. The film is due in early 2027.
Challenge
Shackleton is the official expedition apparel partner to the Defender Rally team, which races the Dakar. Year two needed more than kit with a logo on it: a reason for the two brands to be seen together, and pictures that prove it. The plan was to shoot the new retail range in the Moroccan desert.
Role
Base Camp shaped the partnership’s second year, then went and shot it.
- A partnership framework across product, experiences, marketing and North America.
- Concepts for the year, including a London-to-Morocco drive and an in-store Dakar hub.
- Briefs for the Defender collaboration.
- Creative direction, production and on-camera interviews in Morocco, September 2026.
The kit didn’t make it
A week before the flight, the factory slipped and the retail samples wouldn’t arrive in time. So the shoot changed subject. Instead of a model in the dunes, it followed Shackleton arriving at a real Defender field test with the team kit, and the people who wear it.
Three days at Erfoud
The team worked out of a kasbah hotel near Erfoud: two ramps in the workshop, trucks out front, test loops into the desert from seven in the morning. Testing is reactive. A fault in the first ten kilometres sends a car back to the ramp, so the crew followed the work, not a shot list.
The drivers
Time with Rokas Baciuška, Sara Price and Stéphane Peterhansel came in the gaps between runs. The questions grew from Shackleton’s own values, Courage, Capability and Care, and were agreed with Defender’s press team first: nothing about fatigue, nothing that asked a car past its limit.
Into the dunes
The loops ran north of Erfoud and south towards the dunes at Merzouga. The crew worked the edges of the routes, ready for a car that might come past in five minutes or not at all.
A crew of three
Charlie Smith, Toby Roney and Matt Bowen all shoot stills and film, so the crew could split or stack in seconds. Interviews ran in the workshop between jobs. When the cars were out of reach, the crew switched to Shackleton’s own story: the range in the place it is made for.
Side by side
The point was never a jacket in a desert. It was two teams working in the same place on the same problem, and kit worn by the people who test the cars. That is what the footage shows.
01 — Challenge
The plan was to shoot the second year’s retail kit in the desert. When the product wasn’t ready in time, the shoot changed: a reportage story about the people behind the wheel, following a real Defender field test.
02 — Role
- A partnership framework across product, experiences, marketing and North America.
- Concepts for the year, including a London-to-Morocco drive and an in-store Dakar hub.
- Briefs for the Defender collaboration.
- Creative direction, production and on-camera interviews in Morocco, September 2026.
03 — Approach
The field test ran at Erfoud and in the Merzouga dunes, with time alongside drivers including Rokas Baciuška, Sara Price and Stéphane Peterhansel. The plan: a 60–90 second hero film, short social films, stills and driver interviews.
Identity
04 — Outcome
Three days in September 2026 produced driver interviews, film and 370 edited stills from Bright Stream Productions. The hero film and social cuts are in the edit, and the film is due in early 2027.
Credits
Project Description
Shackleton is the official expedition apparel partner to Defender’s Dakar Rally team. In 2026 Base Camp shaped the partnership’s second year and produced a field-test shoot in the Moroccan desert with the team’s drivers.
Client
Shackleton × Defender — Rally Partnership
Date
2026
Services
Partnership Strategy / Concept / Production / Creative Direction
Sector
Apparel × motorsport
The work. What we did, and what it changed.
The plan was to shoot the second year’s retail kit in the desert. When the product wasn’t ready in time, the shoot changed: a reportage story about the people behind the wheel, following a real Defender field test.
- A partnership framework across product, experiences, marketing and North America.
- Concepts for the year, including a London-to-Morocco drive and an in-store Dakar hub.
- Briefs for the Defender collaboration.
- Creative direction, production and on-camera interviews in Morocco, September 2026.
The field test ran at Erfoud and in the Merzouga dunes, with time alongside drivers including Rokas Baciuška, Sara Price and Stéphane Peterhansel. The plan: a 60–90 second hero film, short social films, stills and driver interviews.
Three days in September 2026 produced driver interviews, film and 370 edited stills from Bright Stream Productions. The hero film and social cuts are in the edit, and the film is due in early 2027.
3 days. 30°C heat. 3 crew. 3 drivers. 4 deliverables. 370 stills.
“The work wasn't just about making it look better — it was about building a clearer relationship between product, story and experience.”
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