Experience Manifesto

Orange Involves Concertgoers

A few weeks ago, Clilly had the chance to bring AudienceGames to Royal Albert Hall for the Orange RockCorps concert. We played opening act to Busta Rhymes, the Guillemots, John Legend, Feeder and others. Overall, it was a pretty cool gig for us.

What BEL wanted to achieve, aside from creating a fun environment, was to see if the technology compelled people to play, which it did, said Castiglia. "So that was a real win on our part. And it was nice to see that even in such a large environment, the technology still resonated because the screen allowed everybody to feel like they were a part of the experience," she said.

Jodie Fisher, account director at M&C Saatchi, which worked on the project on behalf of Orange, emphasized the carrier's new brand vision launched earlier this year in several markets, "Together we can do more." The positioning was "born from the insight that people can achieve more working together than they can on their own," said Fisher.

The agency was challenged to make the brand live and breathe through sponsorship, to underscore to Orange customers what the brand represents. "Sponsorship is a good way to bring the brand vision to life, because it often involves experiences where people come together and can actually provide a real proof point for that vision. The human joystick exemplifies what 'Together we can do more' stands for," Fisher said.

Link: Orange Involves Concertgoers.

Some New AudienceGames Videos

There are two new video's about Audiencegames that we wanted to share. The first one is from our presentation during the SAWA session at Cannes (see MyDigitalCinema: Future of cinema advertising in Cannes for the full post) earlier this summer. Nothing like watching a group of jaded ad industry folks really having fun with AudienceGames!

The second is from my recent interview with Ad Age about the future of interactive cinema.

Volvo Wins Bronze Media Lion

We were pretty busy last week and I should've posted this then, but hey, better late then never! We're very excited that our work for Volvo won a bronze Lion at Cannes and continues to show the power of creating a cool, compelling experience. And given the competition for cool things at Cannes this year, we're very honored that the first project we had at Cannes actually won a medal! Congrats to the team at Nitro, Mindshare, Carlton Screenvision and, of course, Volvo for all of their work to make this program happen.

Innovative Media Strategy:
As well as experiential and social networking, cinema provides a live and exciting media creation of Volvo's Global strategy of togetherness. This first ever in-cinema game provides a fun and unique way to bring this to life and help consumers share a happy, positive experience together.

Creative Execution:
Using motion sensors cinema audiences became willing human joysticks where their movements controlled the action in a game on the screen. The more they worked together, the better they handled the Volvo in the Cinema Driving Game. Living proof of Volvo's Global positioning: Life is better lived together. 12 cinemas across the UK we're given the chance compete against each other. This live event made history being the first time cinemas had ever competed together anywhere in the world. The enjoyable event generated incredible PR, prompting Brand Week magazine to name it one of the top creative ideas of 2007.

Target Audience:
Please watch the case study to see how the media idea was received by the audiences taking part.

Effectiveness:
The event generated massive press interest. The event was featured in over 40 separate articles in press and online commending the world's first live interactive cinema gaming experience. This idea was showcased in the UK and is now being considered by Volvo's Global Markets.

Link: Cannes Lions 2008.

MyDigitalCinema: Future of cinema advertising in Cannes

Barry & Clilly went to Cannes this year (while I was in Denver, not sure I got the better end of that deal!) and presented AudienceGames during the Sawa - Screen Advertising World Association session on Monday afternoon in Cannes. As usual, it was a big hit and I understand that almost everyone in the audience played. This session generated a lot of discussion with cinema companies around the world and I hope that you'll see a global AudienceGames network in the future!

For the fourth year in a row I had the fun and pleasure of moderating the SAWA (Screen Advertising World Association) seminar at the Cannel Lions Festival on advertising, this year called 'Cinema - the Medium where all ideal look big.'

This year we looked at interactive advertising, courtesy of the interactive 'human joystick' game created by Brand Experience Lab. We also looked at 3D advertising in cinemas, including Red Bull from UK and Superbock and Vodafone from Portugal.

All-in-all 470 people attended the session and we had to turn away some 150 unhappy late comers. Once again it was the single most well attended event of the Cannes Lions.

Link: MyDigitalCinema: Future of cinema advertising in Cannes.

Marketing at the Movies - Advertising Age - Ad Age Events

I'll be presenting at the Ad Age Marketing at the Movies program this Tuesday in Chicago if anyone's going to be there. We'll be doing a demo of AudienceGames in addition to a presentation about the future of in-cinema as we see it. Holler if you're going to be there!

Link: Marketing at the Movies - Advertising Age - Ad Age Events.

Around the Web: Ad Age Digital Conference Coverage - Advertising Age - Digital

Yea, we had a lot of fun with the audience during our presentation! It's the cool thing about playing with cool toys is that we always have a lot of fun with the audience. Nothing like getting 300 or so jaded ad folks to hoot, holler and laugh to prove the point that we just need more fun in our lives! Unfortunately, in the rush to get set up, I forgot my camera and didn't get any pictures of the audience playing, but if I find any, I'll be sure to get them up online!

David Polinchock's audience games presentation, in which the conference attendees collectively played pong on the big screen, was a huge hit. So were his tweets from the event. Last summer his Brand Experience Lab launched these interactive audience games in theaters as entertainment before a movie starts. He announced yesterday that they were rolling out a pilot program with National CineMedia and, if successful, will bow audience games in the top 20 markets on about 750 screens. Good news for bored movie goers everywhere.

Link: Around the Web: Ad Age Digital Conference Coverage - Advertising Age - Digital.

NATIONAL CINEMEDIA TO TEST AUDIENCEGAMES™

Wahoo, we can finally make the official announcement! As you can see by the release below, we've entered into an exclusive partnership with National CineMedia and once we complete the test, we'll begin rolling it out to the top 20 markets on about 750 screens.

What's makes it so exciting to us is creating a new kind of social media, one that truly bring the power of the people into the experience. (See Experience Manifesto: Is AudienceGames a Social Media? to read some more thoughts on this.) Additionally, we'll be able to work with a number of partners to see what happens when you need to create content for a large group of people who only have a short time to play. It's actually a pretty difficult game design challenge!

We'll be writing a lot more about our progress, so keep checking back to see how we're doing. And look for AudienceGames to be in a theater near you later this year! Remember, you can go to Brand Experience Lab -- AudienceGames In-Cinema Experience for additional information or to see video from our first two programs. We'll have a dedicated AudienceGames web site up in the near future.

National CineMedia and Brand Experience Lab have entered into an exclusive partnership to bring AudienceGame™ interactive gaming to the big screen. The new relationship provides for a test program to ensure seamless integration of the Brand Experience Lab proprietary gaming technology into National CineMedia’s FirstLook digital entertainment and advertising pre-feature program. If the pilot program is successful, a broader rollout into select theatres in the top 20 DMAs will be completed.

Brand Experience Lab’s AudienceGame is a kind of “advergame” which is played by theatre audiences moving together to act as a “virtual joystick” to control the gaming elements on the big screen. Brand Experience Lab has designed and produced custom cinema AudienceGames for clients including MSNBC.com in the USA and for Volvo in UK, receiving international acclaim and generating up to 70% unaided recall with audiences.

Through FirstLook, the Lobby Entertainment Network (LEN) and other promotional products, National CineMedia provides advertisers with bundled offerings of on-screen and lobby marketing products that provide multiple ways to interact with theatre patrons. National CineMedia operates the largest digital in-theatre network in North America, the Digital Content Network (DCN)SM, which allows for the targeted distribution of advertising and content to specified auditoriums and lobby areas within its network of more than 1,200 AMC Entertainment Inc., Cinemark USA, Inc., Regal Entertainment Group and other network affiliate movie theatres, including over 13,200 digital screens nationally. Beginning later in 2008, Loews theatres will also become part of the NCM network bringing its reach to approximately 16,500 screens nationwide.

Is AudienceGames a Social Media?

We were having a conversation at the office today about whether or not we could call AudienceGames (you can click here if you're not sure what I'm talking about) a social media. I know it probably doesn't fit the current definition of social media, but I had some good reasons for thinking it should be included in the social media discussion.

For one thing, it is a media, right? It usually falls under the advergaming category, sometimes the OOH grouping, but it's always media. Right there up on the big screen.

And it's certainly social. Hell, the game doesn't really play if there's only one person in the theater. Well, technically it does, but it sure isn't fun. If you've played AudienceGames or seen some of the video, you know what I mean. A group of people, in a social setting (the movie theater) playing a game. And let me tell you, when the audience is really into playing the game, you can feel the social energy in the room. In fact, I played AudienceGames at a conference in Amsterdam and someone come up to me that night at dinner to tell me how much the room changed, with a new energy and socialness in the room after we played the game.

Look at how AgencySpy talked about it:

It incorporates so many of the trends we babble on about here at AS. Let's see, there's gaming. Check. There's community. Check. There's new technology. Check.

So, if I'm right, when we complete the initial AudienceGames installation of 750 screens later this summer, we will have one damn big, social media network. And here's the cool thing. That network will be in front of the 33 million people who buy tickets in those theaters.

And this is where it got interesting to me. Most social networks tell you how many people sign up, but not how many people drop out or just stop using it. There's no figure for "churn." I haven't really been to my Facebook or myspace page since I set it up, but I'm still a registered user. But I'm far from an engaged user. So, do I really have value to advertisers? I'd say no.

But, when people come into the movie theater and experience AudienceGames, they're an engaged audience. Actively engaged. In fact, during the two month msnbc.com test, over 90% of the people we surveyed played the game and we had a 71% unaided recall rate. That's engagement, not just membership. And as we expand, our active, engaged user base goes up a lot! I mean, if we end up on just 5,000 (out of NCM's 17,000+ total) screens, that would give us an estimated audience of over 200 million. Active users.

Now, I'm not suggesting that AudienceGames can have as deep of an experience as a Facebook, myspace or whatever's next might deliver, but it'll sure deliver happy, social, engaged people.

So, could this be the start of an entirely new, social media experience? And what else could happen in this social media space that would deliver for the audience? Lastly, how could we connect the location based social media experience with the online social media experience? That's where I'm really excited to play!

So, I'm sending this to my social network and asking for your input. Is this a new form of social media? What else can we bring to the experience? How do we bring the online & offline elements together into a seamless social experience?

Looking forward to your thoughts!

mediabistro.com: AgencySpy

Nice to receive some more love for our AudienceGames work! Particularly like how AudienceGames fit some of the key trends that AgencySpy thinks are important, gaming, community and new technology. Look for more AudienceGames and BEL continuing our work to bring trends together in 2008!

Let's take a closer look at that last one, yeah? Because, we too, would put this idea on our "best of" list if we had the gall to make one. We recall reading about this some time ago, but it slipped our minds. So...

Mindshare hired the New York-based Brand Experience Lab to create a live test drive for audience members in a theater. While waiting for their flick to begin, lucky viewers got "a driver's-seat view of a curving country road on the screen" and steered the virtual car by waving their arms to the left or right. Motion-sensor technology maneuvered the car by majority rule."

Oh we do love it! It incorporate some many of the trends and we babble on about here at AS. Let's see... there's gaming. Check. There's community. Check. There's new technology (gotta keep the audience alert and paying attention). Check. (Emphasis mine)

The campaign, called "Human Joysticks" was for Volvo Cars U.K. who was trying to lose that 80s stuffy image of theirs, while keeping the idea of "roomy" and "family sedan" attached to their brand. Hard to do, which is why the brand's new logo, "Life is Better Lived Together," makes sense and "Human Joysticks" was played at showings of Ratatouille, a film sure to draw many families.

We give a big shout out to Brand Experience for coming up with the technology and to MindShare for having a smart planner to implement it.

Link: mediabistro.com: AgencySpy.

New Volvo AudienceGames Video

Carlton Screen Advertising added a new video of the Volvo experience, including some clips of the intro video which was a hoot! As you might have seen in our previous post, our AudienceGames work for Volvo was selected as one of the best marketing ideas in the world by Brandweek magazine.