How to get a lesson in DE&I from Trevor Noah

Branded documentaries, on the whole, are designed with a targetted public audience in mind, whether to entertain, inform or, preferably, a bit of both.

For Expensify's LAT Talks (LAT being Long Ass Table), the aim was different - the films instead created for internal use, to provoke conversations and awareness within the company itself.

Hosted by Expensify’s Joanie Wang and Puneet Lath, directed by PRETTYBIRD's Sam Bailey, and developed in collaboration with culture and diversity expert Zanele Mutepfa-Rhone, the LAT session's first episode taps guest star sees Trevor Noah, award-winning host of The Daily Show, speaking on issues of race, equity and inclusion; covering these topics both in his show and as a business leader working through them on a day-to-day basis. 

We were fascinated by how internal education could become widespread content, so spoke to ECD at the agency behind the campaign, Alto's Jason Bagley, about how it all came together.

Where did the concept for this project come from? Apart from the obvious, what was the problem you were trying to address?

When our friends at Expensify see anything that they think could be better, they can’t help themselves but try to make it better. So when they saw how heavy most corporate conversations around diversity have been and how scared people were to discuss it, they knew they wanted to create a more approachable and entertaining way for their people to have these important conversations. That’s when they reached out to Alto. 

The idea started out as an internal series, but as it developed, Expensify wanted to share with their clients and the world.    

We were inspired by the giant tables they have in every Expensify office - the idea is that no one is ever left out from sitting at the table. They call them Long Ass Tables. We liked what those signify in Expensify’s culture, and we thought it carried over nicely to conversations about diversity and inclusion, so that became the concept. 

The idea started out as an internal series, but as it developed, Expensify wanted to share with their clients and the world.    

When did Trevor Noah come on board? How was that achieved?

While we were still coming up with the show concept, Expensify was exploring the types of personalities and perspectives who would be a good fit. 

They knew they wanted to discuss big important topics but with a human feel (and some fun) to engage people in the content and conversation. Trevor Noah came up very early in that process as a perfect fit. 

When Expensify reached out to Trevor, he loved the concept and purpose of the show, and he agreed to be our first guest. 

Sam Bailey is a great shout for director. What skills, in particular, did she possess that won her the job?

Sam’s work shows an ability to tackle various cultural topics in a very entertaining way, which was exactly what we wanted. She also has a strong creative POV on things, which is what we look for in a director. 

Sam, our DP, Prettybird, and the entire production crew of diverse talent did a phenomenal job on everything from shootings, choosing the location, incorporating the Long Ass Table, and more. 

Trevor even commented on how impressed he was with the crew. 

The film is fairly lengthy for today's ADD society. Were there any discussions about cutting it shorter?

We knew the topics we wanted to discuss in this series are more nuanced and complicated than can be explored in 60 seconds, and that’s one of the reasons we knew it had to be entertaining and fun to watch. 

Sam’s work shows an ability to tackle various cultural topics in a very entertaining way.

Our aim is to really explore the issues relating to diversity, equity, and inclusion that continue to plague American business - and businesses globally - and that takes time to get into. In our experience, as long as something is genuinely interesting and entertaining, it will find an audience.