Google: Through The Dark [presentation image]

Credits & Description:

Title: Through The Dark
Agency: R/Ga Sydney
Brand: Google
Country: Australia
Entrant Company: R/Ga Sydney
Advertising Agency: R/Ga Sydney
Media Agency: Essence Digital, Sydney
Pr Agency: Poem Group, Sydney
Production Company: Xyz Studios, Melbourne / Exit Films, Sydney
Executive Creative Director: Hamish Stewart, Gavin Mcleod (R/Ga)
Creative Director: Michael Armstrong (R/Ga)
Associate Technology Director: Blake Kus (R/Ga)
Senior Designer: Jess Bateman (R/Ga)
Senior Experience Designer: Shruti Rai (R/Ga)
Software Engineer: Aaron George (R/Ga)
Copywriter: Kate Allan (R/Ga)
Social Strategist: Justine Cusack (R/Ga)
Marketing Science Manager: Corey Nicely (R/Ga)
Production: Margo Lowry, Julia Rush, Gertjan Leppers (R/Ga)
Senior Account Director: Natalie Brend (R/Ga)
Senior Technology Director: Jeff Donios (R/Ga)
Director: Mike Daly (Exit Films)
Executive Producer: Kim Wildenburg (Exit Films)
Animation Design: Eran Hilleli, Marco Palmieri (Xyz Studios)
Senior Technology Director: Richard Osellame (Xyz Studios)
Cg Lead: Stevie Watkins (Xyz Studios)
Executive Producer: Garett Mayow (Xyz Studios)
Pr: Poem (Poem)
Media: Essence Digital (Essence Digital)
URL: https://throughthedark.withgoo...
Campaign Description:
We started with one of Australia's best-known and most loved acts: Hilltop Hoods. Their track, Through The Dark, is a deeply personal song written by band member Dan Smith (MC Pressure) about his son Liam’s battle with leukemia. Raw and real, the song connected deeply with audiences. The idea was to bring that to life, translating its conflicting emotions into something that would give a sense of a father’s world turned upside down and a journey through fear towards hope.The ambition was to create an immersive digital experience where users navigate through two simultaneous 3D worlds, The Dark and The Light.
Synopsis:
Google Play Music needed to stand out in Australia’s crowded streaming landscape, where similar song catalogues and comparable pricing means there’s little differentiating one service from another in the eyes of users.Our objective was to set Google Play Music apart, increase brand awareness and position it as an innovator in the music space and a contributor to the local industry.
Outcome:
Through the Dark transformed the Hilltop Hoods’ song into an immersive digital experience, meticulously rendering the two complete worlds so that users could move between them with unprecedented interactivity.Digital technologies were pushed to their limit, positioning Google Play Music as an innovator in the crowded, streaming landscape. With over 400,000 unique user interactions, social share of voice for Google Play Music doubled to 24%. And best of all, the thousands raised for CanTeen helped launch Side of Stage: an initiative conceived by the band to help young Australians living with cancer access live music and meet their favourite artists.
Execution:
The lyrics were our narrative guide: powerful words that convey a tangible sense of a father’s world turned upside down by his son’s illness.To bring them to life, we crafted two complete worlds existing in parallel, the Light and the Dark, to represent the emotional highs and lows of caring for someone who’s battling cancer. The result is a seamlessly flowing interactive video where users navigate their own path through fear towards hope.Driven entirely by code, the film is rendered in real-time in the browser. To allow users to move between the two worlds, the cameras were mapped to mouse movements on desktop and the accelerometer on mobile devices.
Strategy:
The strategy was to position Google Play Music as an innovator and active supporter of the Australian music industry by collaborating with local artists and creating exclusive content fans would love. The insight: it had to go beyond sight and sound, giving fans a completely new experience, and use technology in a way only Google could, while remaining true to the artist’s vision.Our technical ambition was to create an interactive video experience that was not only beautiful and original, but groundbreaking.We also wanted to leave a legacy, giving youths living with cancer ongoing access to live music. So each click-through from Through the Dark to the album on Google Play Music generated a $1 donation to CanTeen to kickstart the initiative.