Recipes
Adelaide Road
Curzon Memories
Escape from the Tower
Fortnight
Gorillaz: Escape To Plastic Beach
Heads
If Only
Our Broken Voice
Sculpting With Scent
Surreptitious Soundplay
Theatre JukeBOX
Tweeture

Gorillaz: Escape to Plastic Beach

 
An Augmented Reality iPhone app for the band Gorillaz that allowed users to access the virtual world of the Gorillaz Plastic Beach; using image recognition users could see exclusive animation footage mapped onto their location as well as access back stage exclusive material. The application was used at big venues like the O2 arena to map the virtual brand world onto the performance location. Users accessed the Plastic Beach world by pointing their smartphones at the Gorillaz Passport made available to fans as an ad in the music press. The storyworld of Plastic Beach then unfolded for users in Augmented Reality ‘chapters’ dependent on users’ location. The app also pointed fans at ticket and download opportunities. Mobile firm O2 sponsored the campaign and made ‘helpers’ available at the big concerts to help users explore the app..

COOKING TIME: 3 weeks

Related Recipes

Curzon Memories
Gorillaz: Plastic Beach

Ingredients

A very well known band
A graphic artist
App developers
A marketer experienced in mobile content
A big brand
A story line that sustains interest
A viral advertising campaign budget
Bluetooth networks in the O2 arena and O2 academies
Compass AR
3D Model AR
A generous pinch of Pervasive Media Studio connections

Cooks Tip

The gap between the sale, the budget and the reality of what’s delivered in it later on…. The creative bit of me always wants more.

Raising Agent

Complete funding from O2.

 

Method

To start, brainstorm with Pervasive Media Studio residents for ideas to promote Gorillaz’ new album and tour. Take those initial ideas and consult people in the US and UK to work out what is currently feasible.
 
Commission Mobile Pie, award winning games developer from the Pervasive Media Studio network, to build the app.
 
The app should be built from scratch and live on the app store in three and a half weeks to fit the schedule
 
Meanwhile prepare and distribute a viral ad campaign. The O2 TV advert for their Priority Ticketing is the Priority Walk, showing the band walking from backstage on to the stage.
 
Screen this at the same time as the album is being released and four months later commence the live shows.
 
To create a campaign that sustains interest throughout, carefully assemble augmented reality chapters to run for the course of six months between the launch of the album and the concert at the O2.
 
Create a storyline; users unlock chapters of the app using an augmented reality symbol, printed in NME and The Sun.
 
Tie this storyline into an initial promotion.
 
Design a passport to look as though it has travelled around the world a bit, got battered, with printed fake coffee-stains etc. Inside, include the augmented reality symbol.
 
Link this symbol to online content so that the symbol unlocks augmented reality chapters dependent on the user’s location and on which symbol they have found: the user sees a stamp, takes a picture of it and gets a reward of some sort. The more stamps that the user collects, the more they are rewarded. They can then share that on Facebook and Twitter with one press.
 
Print 120 thousand high quality physical passports for citizens of Plastic Beach and distribute through the music press on the Monday of launch week.
 
Whilst creating this innovative piece of AR, stir in “all the good things that a normal App does”; such as tour tickets, images, live feeds.
 
Include a tracker to follow Murdoc around the globe, with phrases such as “oh, he’s in the ocean hunting pirates.” or “Noodle’s just been captured over here”, alongside a map and a GPS tracker.
 
To finish, stage a large live event: the Gorillaz gig at the O2.
 
Finally, ensure there are people to show audience how to use the app.

Diners Comments

You can easily access the latest Twitter updates, news feed, photos, videos, Doncamatic info, links, the official website and more! Amazing! I check it about 5 times a day, no kidding! So fun. Please get this app if you love Gorillaz.

I got this app cause I absolutely adore the Gorillaz. I love this app, it shows Murdoc’s latest tweets, pictures, and the story behind plastic beach. And I’m only naming a few if u love them, get it. Don’t be upset if you can’t listen to their music, because if you were a real fan, you would already have it all on your iPod. Great app ☺

 

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