Tidal: Dont Look Away [image]

Credits & Description:

Agency: Akqa
Brand: Usher
Country: Brazil
Advertising Agency: Akqa, São Paulo
Entrant Company: Akqa, São Paulo
Media Agency: Akqa, São Paulo
Pr Agency: Akqa, São Paulo
Production Company: Akqa, São Paulo
Additional Company: Akqa, São Paulo
Director Of Web Development: Andrew Smith (Akqa)
Digital Strategy Lead: Ana Julia Agostinho (Akqa)
Associate Programme Director: Joe Holland (Akqa)
Motion Designer: Rafaella Pioto (Akqa)
Senior Devops Engineer: Daniel Mitchell (Akqa)
Creative Director: Diego Machado (Akqa)
Producer: Leticia Hernandez (Akqa)
Senior Web Developer: Mihnea Belcin (Akqa)
Associate Creative Director: Renato Zandoná (Akqa)
Account Lead: Ricardo Honnegger (Akqa)
Head Of Emerging Technologies: Andy Hood (Akqa)
Creative Developers: Emile Swain, Paddy Keane, Kathryn Webb (Akqa)
Associate User Experience Architect: Ruth Baughan (Akqa)
Creative Director: Hugo Veiga (Akqa)
Copywriter: Raphael Valenti (Akqa)
Quality Assurance Team: Zeeshan Naseer, Terry Nweze (Akqa)
Digital Media Lead: Agnieszka Porada (Akqa)
Art Director: Augusto Antunes (Akqa)
Project Manager: Daniele Wieczorek (Akqa)
Senior User Experience Architect: Joanne Alden (Akqa)
Website URL: http://chains.tidal.com
Campaign Description:
Stories of racial profiling and violence against unarmed civilians make headlines with regularity. And while these cases are hot topics for a news cycle, the media and the public quickly move on to the next sensational story without truly acknowledging the lives lost, or making any real progress towards change. The truth is: While racial injustice keeps killing, society keeps looking away.To make everyone look back, we created the first music video to demand your attention.Visitors to Chains.tidal.com are compelled to look into victims of brutality and confront the shocking facts of each person’s story. Facial recognition software, activated through a webcam, stops the music if the viewer looks away.This way, we gave each person full control over the medium. If they engage with it and look into this issue which is so hard to look at, they hear the full song without any pauses.
Strategy:
Chains was launched exclusively at Chains.tidal.com, meaning that for four days, everyone had to look in the eyes and story of victims in order to hear the song. Usher’s influence and the emotional impact of this interactive video sparked a positive response among world acclaimed influencers from the sports, movie and music industries.First, we activated Usher’s close friends like Jay Z and Beyoncé. Spontaneously, others followed the example, sharing the microsite on social media and helping make this serious issue part of the world’s pop culture conversation. Don’t Look Away became the digital spotlight to promote concerts (like TIDAL x 1020, with proceeds benefitting groups that promote social impact and change); demonstrations, social and art events (like Miami’s Art Basel). An educational hub, talks at universities and conferences (like 92Y) fueled the social media debate, focused on revealing and breaking the chains of social injustice.
Outcome:
Facing the facts was the first step towards people and media engagement. In only four days, the video received 500k views and was featured on CBS, NBC, Fast Company, The Guardian, Forbes and other news outlets from more than 100 countries, contributing to more than 500 million earned impressions and positive headlines:Billboard - “No words could do the video justice.”The Huffington Post - “Confronts racial injustice like you’ve never seen”SPIN - “Powerful”Rolling Stone - “Devastating”Akon, Ava DuVernay, Cara Delevingne, Common, D-Nice, Hugh Evans, Jamal Bryant, Janelle Monae, Jay Glazer, Kelendria Rowland, Kenny Hamilton, Keri Hilson, Kevin Durant, Kevin Prince, King Leaf, Leonardo DiCaprio, Lukas Podolski, Michael Moore, NAS, Nasir Jones, Ne-Yo, Omarion, Pharrell Williams, Ryan Good, Shad Moss, Steve Harvey, Tinie Tempah, T-Pain, xoNecole and big social media celebrities like Summerella were some of the celebrities that promoted this content in their social networks.
Synopsis:
“As artists we have to use our platform to spread awareness and inspire action.” Usher In the past, artists like Bob Dylan, Marvin Gaye and Nina Simone have used music to echo the reality of racial injustice. Following their steps, musician and social activist Usher, produced the song Chains: an anthem to advocate for unarmed victims of violence. He then challenged us to launch it using today’s modern tools and activate society in any way possible.
Execution:
The website took two months to be developed and was enabled by facial recognition software, specially developed for the project, that was activated through user’s webcam.Don’t Look Away went live on October 15th, exclusively at Chains.Tidal.com. Although focused in the US territory, Tidal’s media platform and celebrities social reach gave it global relevance and visibility.