Retroviral’s Find Your Fire, a trilogy of films for the Eastern European market, is an example of local talent and creativity overcoming geography (Image supplied)
“This is the kind of work that reminds you why you do what you do,” says Mike Sharman, founder and chief creative officer at Retroviral.
“We took a brief and found something human inside it. That truth travelled - conceptualised and shot in South Africa, delivered across Eastern Europe - and that’s where the magic sits.”
The campaign leans into the symbolic power of fire - not just as utility, but as a catalyst for courage, connection and change.
How it came about
But the campaign came from a Bic campaign from two years ago. That started as a single, deeply human story has ignited into a cross-continental creative partnership – the documentary-style commercial celebrating Paralympian Mpumelelo Mhlongo and his journey to carrying South Africa’s flag at the 2024 Paralympic Games.
The 60-second film, grounded in resilience and national pride, struck a chord far beyond its initial brief.
That impact travelled.
Months later, Bic’s global procurement team in France came knocking.
The result: a new international mandate for Bic Lighters, brought to life through a trilogy of films for Eastern European markets under the Retroviral platform Find Your Fire.
Different human truth
Each execution explores a different human truth:
- A rock concert where a dead phone gives way to a sea of lighters - and a reminder that presence beats pixels.
- A chef stepping away from security to ignite his own kitchen dream.
- A European summer solstice ritual in which wishes written on paper are set alight in pursuit of prosperity and possibility.
Produced in SA
The films were brought to life in collaboration with Spitfire Films, with director Andrew Kyriakou leading a detail-obsessed production process alongside producer Liesl Lategan and team.
Retroviral’s creative and strategy team, including Koketso Masisi, Kgothatso Maditse, Nombuso Chany Teisho, Elizma Keyter and Pippa Misplon, drove the work from insight to execution.
A South African-born idea
The campaign has since rolled out across multiple Eastern European markets, with large-format billboards and film placements now live - a visible marker of a South African-born idea scaling globally.
From a single story of national pride to a multi-market campaign, the work underscores a simple truth: when you find the human spark, geography becomes irrelevant.Or, as Sharman puts it: “The juice was worth the squeeze.”
