Created for Volkswagen.

Production pending.

Which is black, in case you were wondering.

Published in CMYK #41.

This site is part of Coca-Cola’s “Happiness Factory” campaign. You’ve probably seen the TV spots. It’s very similar to those. Except it’s a site, so you can interact with it.

Inside every Coke Machine is the Happiness Factory, the magical world where happiness and flavor are bottled and chilled before being delivered to the Outside. Coca-Cola wanted a site that encapsulated the Happiness Factory mythos while exploring the “physical uplift” found in every bottle of Coke: that burst of joy, refreshment, and energy you get with every sip.

The site revolves around the humble and indispensable Worker. These guys are the “grunts” of the Factory workforce. Now you can step into their shoes and experience the fantastical tasks they do every day in the course of delivering perfect refreshment to the Outside.

The concept of physical uplift is communicated through the game’s energy meter, which slowly drains as player attempts to complete tasks. To keep their energy up, players must grab Coke bottles while they work. In an pinch they can use one of their three emergency bottles. But once used, they’re gone. If a Worker runs out of Coke, they grow tired and have to try the task again. Completing a task allows players to advance to the next chore on the list.

As users play, they unlock downloadable content in the form of wallpapers, ringtones, iPhone applications, and more. There are also hidden items in each level that players can find to reveal additional rewards.

Completing all the Worker’s tasks earns the player a promotion. This increases the difficulty of the games and gives players a chance to collect even greater prizes.

For my part, I concepted with the rest of the team from pitch to completion, and wrote the words that show up on the site. The Happiness Factory launched in a multitude of countries and over a dozen languages. Copy-wise, this was a biggie. Please check it out for yourself, and lend the Workers a hand.

Some people would consider “assembly required” a negative. I say, if you’ve built your entire living room yourself using nothing more than an allen wrench, you’re a genius.

The Burn Alter Ego Facebook application was created to promote the European energy drink by the same name. The challenge was to represent the passion and energy of Burn through the web- an environment most people navigate while sitting on their ass.

The answer was to focus on the social aspect of staying up late. The “meet new people, share experiences, wake up the next morning with a good story” part. The first step was for users to upload their face to an avatar, choose their clothes, and decorate their flat.

After their avatar was created, users could choose to head out for a night on the town. They had the option of going out with a friend who also had the Burn application, or they could “make a friend at the bar”. The second option would randomly pair them with another Alter Ego.

This allowed people to meet and share a story (fictional though it may be) through Facebook. Rather than being a format through which they reconnect, Facebook became a place to meet new people.

After going out, a user’s Alter Ego would return and post an entry to their blog. A photo showing both avatars hanging out would accompany the post. These photos were collected not only within the application, but in a separate Facebook album as well. This way, users could share their photos even if their friends didn’t download Burn Alter Ego.

There were hundreds of stories for users to experience. Along with the photos, some nights out resulted in your Alter Ego returning with a souvenir, such as a costume chicken head, a keg, or a donkey. There’s a lot to experience in this application. Please click the conveniently placed link for more.

http://www.sapient.com/awards/burn/

Careful reading will reveal that all stories are written to be gender-neutral. This was a requirement due to Facebook’s it’s-creepy-to-ask-people-their-gender-so-don’t-do-it policy.

Mailers were vacuum sealed to remove all excess air before shipping.

Each contained a pamphlet introducing the tenets of Minimalism, and the manifesto of the Minimus brand:

The science of reduction
The art of simplicity
The pursuit of natural movement

To keep the finished product as minimal as possible, headlines contained only the most essential letters and were die-cut from the pamphlet itself. All the body copy was embossed- ink was deemed unnecessary.

Since the shoes weren’t out yet, we gave retailers a chance to experience the freedom of a minimal shoe by offering them a pair of socks designed to look like the shoes themselves.

ARG stands for Alternate Reality Game. It’s sort of like a scavenger hunt that takes place across multiple mediums. For the “Tipping Point” game, the commercial was released in 3 second segments. Players scoured the video for clues to microsites scattered throughout the web.

Each site had a puzzle that, when solved, revealed a code that unlocked one of eleven dominoes. Each domino unlocked revealed another segment of video, until the whole commercial was revealed.

Each of the eleven sites had a different puzzle that had to be solved. ARG fans across the globe gathered in forums to discuss possible solutions and share ideas. It even spawned its’ own wiki page.

Even for the people who created it, Guinness Tipping Point takes hours to solve. It’s not the sort of thing that can be accurately described in a few pages. Click the link below for more.

http://www.ichameleongroup.com/awards/guinnessTipping/

Using RDS and a partnership with ClearChannel radio, Sony Xplod can talk about the superior clarity or their sound systems right in the car. Sony would use the RDS signal on various stations to display commonly misheard song lyrics, pointing out that with Sony Xplod speakers, you would hear every word correctly.

RDS (Radio Data System) is a signal that allows a radio to display words and numbers. Since both music and data is sent simultaneously from the station, the message displayed can be specifically tailored to each song.

Other messages in the campaign:

Jimmy Hendrix, Purple Haze-
“If you’re singing ‘Scuse me, while I kiss this guy’ get help. -Sony Xplod.”
(Correct Lyrics- “Scuse me, while I kiss the sky”)

Elton John, Tiny Dancer-
“Don’t sing ‘Hold me close and tie me down sir’ at karaoke. -Sony Xplod.”
(Correct Lyrics- “Hold me closer tiny dancer”)

Generic messages would play during commercial breaks-
“Base shouldn’t blow your speakers. -Sony Xplod.”

Cannes Young Lions Finalist, 2006

Cannes Young Lions is a contest where each entry must be work that could not have been done five years ago, or work that uses a medium in a totally unique way. RDS has been available in car radios for over a decade, but nobody’s used it in this way before.