MTS Premium: hack the system
Art direction and CG/VFX for BBDO
In summer 2022, MTS launched a youth campaign for its Premium family plan. The BBDO Moscow insight: a family plan isn’t just for family — you can split it three ways with friends. Slava Marlow, Karina Karambeibi and Ilya Kuruch, playing hacker Ilya Troyanov, spend the summer at a country house. Five episodes, one formula: Ilya “hacks” yet another system with a homemade gadget, and Slava calmly shows that Premium already does it all. Every episode ends with a family photo gone wrong.
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Robot arm and packshots
Director David Bintsene shot the series on motion control: a robot arm repeats each camera move to the exact frame. It shaped every stage of our work — in pre-production we planned the camera moves and transitions, in art direction we built the world of the country house and the packshots, and in VFX we stitched live action and graphics together. The final shots spoof awkward studio family portraits: three friends posing against liquid chrome, a rhinestone throne and a shower of gold, with each transition passing through a phone screen.
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Episode 1. Unlimited
A pier, deck chairs, a gray summer day. Ilya tears past on a jet ski with his laptop open, yelling that he’s hacked the system: the Wi-Fi flies now, the whole internet is theirs. Slava doesn’t look up from his phone — the whole internet is already theirs, they’re on Premium. The episode sets the formula for the series. Packshot: the friends pose in front of a palm-tree beach backdrop.
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Episode 2. Spam
Ilya, in a tinfoil hat, crawls out of a silver tent by the grill and offers Slava an “innovative unwanted-call deflector.” Slava replies that Premium already blocks spam — and calls his mom back. Packshot: the friends against liquid chrome, picking up the foil from the scene.
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Episode 3. Music
Ilya has “hacked” the sound system: a wall of speakers by the fountain, cables and headphones so the whole crew hears the same thing. Slava shows that on the family Premium plan everyone can play their own music on MTS Music. The camera dives into the phone screen and lands in the packshot: a family portrait on a rhinestone throne, cat in arms.
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Episode 4. Cinema
An open-air movie night. With a telescope and a laptop, Ilya has built an “innovative neighbor-screen recognition system” so everyone can watch a different movie at once. Slava, holding a bucket of popcorn, reminds him that on Premium you can already watch whatever you want on KION. Packshot: three friends in cowboy hats under a rain of popcorn.
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Episode 5. Cashback
By a blue fountain, Ilya demos a “cash magnet” that’s supposed to pull money back in. Slava points out that Premium pulls in more: cashback comes back for everyone. Packshot: the friends catch a golden shower of coins.