Sony Vaio: THE ROCKET PROJECT

Credits & Description:

Category: Best Use of Branded Content

Advertiser: SONY ELECTRONICS

Product/Service: VAIO

Agency: 180LA

Date of First Appearance: Oct 9 2010

Entrant Company: 180LA, Santa Monica, USA

Executive Creative Director: William Gelner (180LA)

Copywriter: Ben Barney (180LA)

Art Director: Ryan "Pocket" Fluet (180LA)

Head of Production/Managing Partner: Peter Cline (180LA)

Agency Producer: David Emery (180LA)

Creative Director: Amir Farhang (180LA)

Creative Director: Ari Weiss (180LA)

Creative Director: Gavin Lester (180LA)

Designer: Kevin Will Chen (180LA)

Interactive Producer: Christopher Neff (180LA)

Director/Producer: Andrew Fried (@radical.media)

Executive Producer: Frank Scherma (@radical.media)

Executive Producer: Justin Wilkes (@radical.media)

Story Producer: Amy Korngiebel (@radical.media)

Executive Producer: Jon Kamen (@radical.media)

Director Of Photography: Bill Winters (@radical.media)

Editor: Ting Poo (Outpost Digital)

Art Director: Jungshih Wang (180LA)

Group Account Director: Kelli Stam (180LA)

Account Manager: Lauren Keeton (180LA)

Media placement: TV Documentary - Discovery Channel - 9 October 2010



Insights, Strategy & the Idea

OBJECTIVE:

Create an idea that sells the incredible processing power of Sony laptops in a way that emotionally connects with a young target. The only problem? Our audience didn’t care much about gigabytes or processing power.



How do we bring to life the benefits of cold, hard laptop technology in a way that entertains and emotionally engages our target?



INSIGHT:

The first rocket to the moon had less computing power than today’s Sony VAIO laptop. Which raised the question: could a Sony laptop launch a rocket?



So we paired eight brilliant students with a mentor and followed the team as they embarked on a six-month crash course in rocket science.



To the client, this was the ultimate product demonstration that showed the capabilities of the Sony VAIO laptop. But to consumers, this was the ultimate human-interest story. These students weren’t just launching a rocket - they were launching their futures.



Creative Execution

The story of eight brilliant students attempting the impossible and launching a rocket was sure to get the attention of our target. But we knew a site, rich media banners and student-generated content wouldn’t be enough.



If we wanted to emotionally invest our target with the Sony brand, we had to tell the complete story of The Rocket Project, from beginning to end. We needed to show the students demonstrating the same grit and determination that had led them to succeed thus far in life. So we created a 30-minute documentary that told the entire story behind their improbable six-month journey. The Rocket Project premiered on Discovery’s Science Channel in prime time on October 9th, 2010.



Results and Effectiveness

At the beginning of the campaign, we set out to tell a story about eight brilliant students empowered by Sony to achieve the impossible. The branded content TV show played a crucial role – it told the entire, inspiring story from beginning to end.



In the end, the Rocket Project reached a quarter of a billion people worldwide, attracted an additional 61,000 fans to Sony’s Facebook page, and received coverage on over 100 news outlets nationwide, including NPR, USA Today, Yahoo!, CNN Español, and Gizmodo. But the best result was how it inspired educators everywhere. The program is now being replicated in 28 schools internationally.