Los Angeles-based Alive & Well’s roster integrated creative house Fake Love throws an interactive holiday bash for Bacardi in the customizable new campaign “Unwrap the Night” out of Blast Radius, Global. The campaign is part of a holiday promotion and creates a personalized interactive experience by pulling information from the user’s Facebook profile. The campaign simulates the first-person experience of attending a loft holiday party. Users can order drinks off a menu that features cocktails named after their friends or play DJ and mix the party tracks. Fake Love Designers/Directors Layne Braunstein and Josh Horowitz collaborated with Blast Radius and their own tech development crew, from the early concepting phase to deliver their exciting custom fabricated technological vision.

The duo used a specifically calibrated 360º camera rig to creative an immersive viewer environment. The project required an intensive research and development period, with the directors pouring over new media concepts in order to make this unique experience as compelling and immersive as possible. Notes Horowitz, “This was the first time a 360° camera was used for dynamic video content. Our challenge was not as much in creating the concept, but developing a streamlined production and post production methodology in order to execute this technology.” Viewers are also able to pan around the room with the 360° image as the experience plays out for them, personalizing the interactive party not only in terms of content, but also in terms of independent viewpoint control.

The site opens with the viewer’s POV, as they are invited into the party by a friendly greeter. Viewer’s Facebook information is used to personalize the experience, customizing the content with text messages from one of their closest friends on Facebook, tweaking the cocktail titles to include their friends’ names and even embellishing the gift of a sweater with the viewer’s first name. Viewers can also choose to interact with other guests at the party and end the virtual soiree on the balcony for a fireworks display overlooking a city skyline.

Adds Braunstein, “There are a lot of unseen moving parts to accomplish this end result that will forever remain unseen—and that’s just the point. Getting a seamless end result is what makes this rewarding. No one wants to experience technology in and of itself. We aim to use creative tools at our disposal to enhance life experiences, at least a little bit.”

About Alive & Well

Alive & Well is a commercials and new media production company boasting top notch talent in the traditional and digital realms. With a legacy of launching some of the industry’s best-known talents, Stephen Dickstein and Phillip Detchmendy are dedicated to supporting both their fine group of directors and creative technologist as well as their clients, in the service and artistry of visual communications.

Credits:

Client: Bacardi
Client Partner: Helga Sasdi
Agency: Blast Radius, Global
Project Manager: Talli Pinhasi
Creative Director: Marc Lucas
Art Director: Chuck Gibson
Copywriter: Ron Lam
Designer: Shawn Mahabair
Interaction Designer: Raymond Lo
Flash Developer: Spencer Campbell
Agency Producer: Holly Butler
Agency Production Service: Bullet
Production Company: Fake Love
Creative Director: Layne Braunstein
Director: Josh Horowitz
Post Producer: Peter Stanik
Sound Designer: Steven Milton
Technical Experience Director: Mark Handy
Technical Architect: Richard Kim
Senior Developer: Andrew Magalhaes
Interface Developer: Cherie Humphrey
BSA Director: Elaine Coopersmith
Project Coordinator: Jaeyoung Kim
Developer: Jarek Piorkowski
Senior Analytics Specialist: Jason Dong
Application Engineer: Jason Goodwin
QA Analyst: Josef Liu
Senior Interface Developer: Josue Salazar
Senior QA Analyst: Julien Escueta
Interface Developer: Machiko Murakami
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