After 2020 officially wrapped up, we at Roar weren’t sure things could get any more eventful than that. But, we were wrong. 2021 actually turned out to be one of our most memorable and eventful years yet. It was a year that saw us undertake landmark projects that demanded all of our creativity, energy, and focus. But, as we now reflect on the incredible ride we’ve been on together, it only seems fair that we assemble our list of top highlights from 2021.
So, let’s dive right in.
‘If we close our eyes to the past, we remain blind to the present.’ This was the philosophy that guided us when we undertook “Project 72”, our first ever feature-length documentary production.
Aside from telling a gripping and entertaining story, the project aims to be a comprehensive resource of key milestones in Sri Lanka’s history post-independence, by focusing on a string of intersecting events as well as key debates and issues of the time.
After kicking off pre-production in 2020, we commenced shooting of the film this year and are on track to premier it in 2023.
Aside from educating and engaging our viewers with this critical period in Sri Lankan history, we hope “Project 72” will also be the start of many more full-length documentaries to come from Roar Media.
In 2020, we started work on the inaugural episode of ‘Foodscapes’, our brand new documentary series that explores the extremely varied and delicious food landscape of Sri Lanka, from classical fine dining creations to the fusion of eastern and western cuisines.
It wasn’t long before we found a willing partner in MDF, who were keen to tell the story of Sri Lanka’s long forgotten coffee industry in a creative and compelling format. We at Roar could not think of a better topic to kick off this new series.
After nearly 10 months of rigorous production, the end result was a 21-minute documentary that, in three languages, told the incredible story of how Sri Lanka’s coffee industry once flourished, then died overnight, and is now being resurrected by passionate individuals and companies who are looking to make the island’s specialty coffee world famous.
The documentary premiered on September 25th 2021 and, in a short period, became one of our most watched and acclaimed pieces to date. Next year, we plan to further satisfy our audiences’ taste for high-quality documentary storytelling with more episodes of ‘Foodscapes’.
A year into Roar Digital’s run as a Facebook Authorised Sales Partner in Sri Lanka and the list of brands we have managed to help has grown at an astronomical rate.
From setting up shop on META-owned social media to acquiring potential high-value customers through Facebook leads and educating our clients and the local public on campaign optimisation, Roar Digital managed to service over 2000 local and multinational brands this year.
In addition, the team has also conducted a series of webinars or training sessions for over 4,000 participants.
2020 set in motion a series of fundamental changes to the way we work at Roar. Having seen and felt first-hand the socioeconomic stresses of the pandemic, we realised that we had vulnerabilities to check in order to be better prepared in the event of a sudden crisis.
In 2021, we adopted a hybrid work policy based on surveys we conducted with our staff. Now, they are no longer required to turn up at the office five days a week eight hours a day. Instead, they could choose to work from home for most of the week and only turn up at the office as and when necessary. What’s more, they would be provided with furniture, an internet allowance, and other provisions to help ease them into work from home.
Not only was it a safer way to work, it helped our staff break the monotony of the typical nine-to-five and become more efficient overall.
At the start of 2021, we had accumulated close to seven years of continuous growth and expertise in telling stories and working with local markets. We had also gained considerable experience working with international markets through the creation of full-on digital content for B2B companies.
Project ‘Hello World’ was inspired by our keenness to apply our expertise across new markets and satisfy a significant global demand for high-quality creative content and storytelling.
Kicking off in the early part of 2021, ‘Hello World’ has already proven to be a fruitful enterprise through our ongoing collaborations with international industry giants such as Ackcio, GWC Logistics, and Grobest to name a few.
While tempting to remember what has been a remarkable year through the highlights, 2021 has been just as memorable to us for the collective experiences and candid memories we shared with each other that bonded us ever so tightly as a team. Despite all the trials and triumphs we experienced this year, we certainly learned much from it. We hope you did too.
