Next time you saunter down an airport walkway, you may have the opportunity to deliver the mail with a CG dog named "Bullseye" or open doors to glimpse the unusual goings on in four Marriott Hotel rooms.
Both interactive installations are the creations of digital media studio Tronic for Xerox's new global "Ready for Real Business" advertising campaign.
In partnership with agency Y&R New York, Tronic designed and produced two interactive CG / live-action productions, one of which features Target, the other Marriott Hotels, for the Xerox business-to-business campaign, which launched in September. The two productions run in rotation on life-sized, nine-screen interactive video displays at Atlanta, Denver, Los Angeles and six other airports.
"We're quite pleased to have been selected to design and produce this interactive out-of-home installation in this high-profile campaign," said Tronic EP Brian Camp. "The creative freedom we had enabled us to bring new elements of game play to the airport environment to deliver brand messaging in more interactive and engaging ways," added co-founder Vivian Rosenthal.
Tronic is known for their blending of the digital and physical, and this project offered a unique opportunity to create a new kind of advertising that mixed gesture based technology with commercials and gaming to create interactive storytelling. No longer is it as passive viewing experience, suddenly you can disrupt and interactive with a commercial and it's actually fun, it transforms into a game.
Target Delivers... the Mailers
To deliver the message that Xerox is the partner who can take care of the back office technology and services so you can focus on real business, Tronic produced an amusing interactive game to showcase Xerox's role in managing Target's direct mail program. When one walks by the life-size video wall, they trigger the dog "Bullseye," who paws at the screen to grab your attention. Press "start" and "Bullseye" jumps into the waiting motor-scooter sidecar and you're off on his rounds delivering direct mailers. Using hand gestures, the driver must avoid road hazards and construction barriers to deliver envelops in mailboxes of matching colors. Successfully delivering the mail scores points enabling you to progress through four cities to finish in New York.
"We had the chance to create a series of dynamic CG urban spaces," said Fredi Phillips, a senior designer at Tronic. "Initially we considered a two-dimensional approach but realized that a three-dimensional space would be more effective. The animation reflects the iconic architectural styles of the four-featured cities, with each round finishing at a symbol: San Francisco's Golden Gate Bridge, the St. Louis arch, New York's Statue of Liberty and the Washington Monument in D.C.
Marriott Doors Open to Reveal...
To demonstrate how Xerox partners to help global corporations run their businesses more efficiently, in this case Marriott's global invoice process, Tronic recreated the hallway of a typical Marriott Hotel.
Passersby see a darkened CG hotel hallway with four doors. As one approaches, the lights come up and the doors open upon a hand gesture to reveal one of 30 entertaining vignettes.
The room situations were filmed on location at a Marriott Hotel by O Positive Films, while Tronic created the CG hotel environment to integrate with some 30 live action sequences. As people open each door, they get a peek at different things happening each time. The scenes include: an executive putting, a hamburger eating contest, a team mascot and a cheerleader, someone practicing yoga, ironing clothes, drying socks with a hair dryer, a women drinking out of pot of coffee, a young woman applying game day makeup, a magician, a Mariachi band, a man with gold fish in a bag, a knight in armor; you get the picture.
Opening the fourth door sets off a CG paper blizzard, which obliterates the hallway. A housekeeper, filmed against green screen and comped into the CG hallway, arrives with her cart and begins to clean up the mess, in a visual metaphor for Xerox's invoice management system.
New material for the Xerox airport campaign will be produced over the coming months, which is expected to have a long run.