When Tom BedeCarré reflects on the success of AKQA today, he looks back six years, when the agency was formed from the merger of Citron Haligman BedeCarréa San Francisco shop that was doing work for Palm and other high tech companies–and AKQA, the interactive agency in London. “We thought, wouldn’t it be amazing to have an ad agency that understands video and an agency that understands the web come together?” BedeCarré, AKQA’s CEO, said. “With the web’s ability to accommodate moving images and film, we knew it would be a good thing to bring to the party.”
Merge CHB’s background in film with AKQA’s on the web and you get an agency that concentrates on broadband video advertising. “Clients find what we do very compelling, we’re hitting our stride,” BedeCarré said. “There’s an appreciation for video on the web, whether it’s a website experience or rich media ad units or mobile. With the increased broadband penetration, most people are watching broadband video comfortably. The vision we had in 2001 is really only catching up with us now.”
Today, the vision is shared by many other interactive agencies, but AKQA’s work continues to stand out, and the work it’s done this year is taking broadband video advertising in a new direction. Fly Through, the film for the Microsoft Xbox Halo 3 game, which plays at www.halo3.com/believe, provides a panoramic view of the game action, based on shots of a 1,200-square- foot diorama that shows a futuristic fight between the main characters. McCann Erickson, Halo 3’s offline agency, used shots of the diorama in its TV commercials (including “Believe,” directed by Rupert Sanders of bicoastal/international MJZ, which earned SHOOT “Top Spot of the Week” distinction on October 12), but they were broad shots that didn’t concentrate on the minutia. AKQA used motion control camera rigs with snorkle lenses for close-up shots of tanks, rocks, fiery explosions and more than 800 soldier figurines, then stitched together 1,666 frames to form a continuous loop, according to global creative director Rei Inamoto.
Viewers may gape at the actual film, but they also have the opportunity to interact with it to alter their experience. “You can use your arrow key and press left to go forward or right to go back, or use your cursor to drag the scene forward or back,” Inamoto said.
“It’s one of the most unique examples of interactive film. Most videos are very linear and you watch them from beginning to middle and end. But this is a loop of the diorama, and you can fly through it, move forward or rewind, which makes it very interactive.”
AKQA enabled all of these viewing options by “integrating the footage into the shell of the site,” Inamoto said. “It had to be loaded in a certain way to make it interactive and it happens seamlessly in the background.”
My Game
Inamoto said My Game, a series of videos AKQA made for Nike that run at www.nikebasketball.com, is also notable. The mini documentaries focus on LeBron James for a regional campaign in Asia.
“We went to his hometown and showed the environment, including the courts he played on,” Inamoto said. A total of 20 two-minute films, focusing on four periods of his life–childhood, high school, the NBA and his all-star experience–rotate on the site over a six-week period. The campaign began on Nov. 19.
The Nike films provide an interactive experience that is similar to the Halo movie. As the documentaries play, they offer points that can be clicked to get additional content, such as shots of Akron, Ohio, James’ hometown.
“The additional content helps the viewer see Lebron as a person, player and cultural icon,” he said.
A new formula
The interactive elements of these films are changing the medium from a production standpoint as well as a viewing standpoint, Inamoto said.
“We can create a story with a beginning, middle and end, but the challenge with Internet video is you can’t really do that, because they can stop and move around whenever they like. So you can’t rely on the old formula.”
The reason for making films this way is to satisfy consumers’ desire to control their experience.
“The challenge with the Internet medium is it puts viewers in control, unlike television,” he said. “These films let viewers define the way they watch the content.”
With its roots in San Francisco and London, AKQA was an international agency from the start, but it expanded its global presence this year by opening offices in Amsterdam and Shanghai.
“We became the first agency to open as an independent in China,” BedeCarré said.
“Previously you had to have a joint venture partnership with a Chinese company, but we wanted our own organic start up, so we applied to get a WFOE (wholly formed owned enterprise). We designed and built an office in Shanghai in a creative area called Red Town, with sculpture gardens and art galleries. Our first client is Coca-Cola and we helped them with web-related marketing and special events, including a gaming tournament. Not everyone in China has access to a PC, so our gaming tournament ran in Internet cafes and as a cinema piece as well. It introduced the tournament and spoke to kids playing video games in their language.”
Operating in China gives AKQA a leg up, “because it’s an important growing market,” BedeCarré affirmed. The agency is servicing American companies that operate there, including Coca-Cola and McDonalds.
AKQA also made a number of executive appointments this year, including Tina Unterlaender, management supervisor for AKQA Mobile. BedeCarré sees mobile as the agency’s next big platform. “It’s the next exciting venture as networks catch up with the capabilities,” he said.
“The day is coming when there will be an ubiquitous experience on your mobile and that’s something we’re investing in.”
AKQA has already initiated a series of mobile campaigns, including one in England for Coca-Cola. He looks forward to running campaigns in the United States when carriers allow them and he also says AKQA will produce exclusive mobile content, so its clients won’t have to replay web or TV ads.
“We are already producing exclusive mobile video ads,” he said. “The situation is like the early websites that slapped TV spots on the web. What was missing was the interactivity.
“Now, just putting websites up on mobile is missing the specialty mobile offers. It’s still in its infancy, but the people who get it right will develop content that is specific for mobile. It’s no easy feat because there are thousands of different hand sets and carriers, but it’s the kind of challenge we’re up for and excited by.”
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