The adventure continues for Sony and Intel–the first took California Academy of Mathematics and Science students into the wild blue yonder as they paired with a rocket scientist to design, build and launch a high-powered rocket. Now the destination is the deep blue underwater frontier of Lake Huron’s Shipwreck Alley in Thunder Bay.
The former, dubbed “The Rocket Project,” earned a One Show Entertainment Silver Pencil earlier this year and teamed agency 180LA, Santa Monica, with @radical.media. The initiative included a web short and a 22-minute documentary (which aired on the Science Channel) directed by Andrew Fried of @radical.
Now 180LA and @radical are collaborating again, floating the idea of a nautical adventure with a web film, Shipwreck Alley–directed by Paul Bozymowski of @radical–debuting this week. The Project Shiphunt campaign puts the Sony VAIO laptop to the ultimate test as a Shiphunt team–consisting of five students from Arthur Hill High School in Saginaw, Mich.–goes on a mission to hunt for a sunken ship in Shipwreck Alley, investigate its identity and document it for future generations. Dr. James Delgado, nautical archaeologist for the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), leads the team.
Director Bozymowski is capturing the entire journey for a pair of web films as well as an hour long documentary. The campaign was launched with a news conference last month with the five students and officials from NOAA, Thunder Bay National Marine Sanctuary, Great Lakes Environmental Research laboratory, Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, the U.S. Office of Coast Survey, Intel and Sony. Campaign components include:
o Film updates: To chart the progress of the team, two web films are being produced and released during the campaign (June 20 and July 13). The first film, “Shipwreck Alley,” profiles the team and provides an overview of the challenge, while the second video will report on their eventual findings. Both will be made available through widespread online distribution.
o A documentary special: Using footage captured throughout the initiative and incorporating several key interviews, a one-hour made-for-TV documentary is being produced with plans to air in late summer. Currently in production, rights discussions are underway with several national networks.
o Oceans of Treasure: Aligned with the actual Lake Huron hunt, Sony also introduced Oceans of Treasure, one of the first ever games created in Google Earth. The game, which is live now on https://apps.facebook.com/projectshiphunt/, gives players the chance to win real prizes without leaving their laptop–including a $1 million grand prize.
o Advertising/PR: Throughout the initiative, a national advertising campaign will support the various facets as they roll out and Shiphunt discovery information becomes available. Paid media is focused in the digital space with print, radio and retail support. As well, PR and social media will bolster the campaign through national media relations.
o A website–www.sony.com/shiphunt–from Hello Design.
Empowerment
“We wanted to create a campaign that goes beyond traditional messaging and, instead, surrounds itself with meaningful content that has a tangible impact on people’s lives,” said William Gelner, executive creative director, 180LA. “Ultimately, this is about empowerment and opportunity. The project inspires the students with a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to make discoveries in the famed Shipwreck Alley using the incredible processing power of the Sony VAIO with Intel.”
Director Bozymowski related, “It’s extremely rare to be part of something that affects real change. Over the course of just a few weeks, I saw a profound transformation in the students who participated in this project. I think this is not only a testament to the environment that was created for the students, but also a testament to engaging with technology through immersive project based learning.”
The 180LA team on the initial web film, which runs a little over a minute and a half, included Gelner, creative director Gavin Lester, copywriter Ben Barney, art director Ryan “Pocket” Fluet, head of production/managing partner Peter Cline, sr. producer David Emery and editor Dave Groseclose.
Jon Kamen, Robert Friedman and Justin Wilkes exec produced for @radical with Samantha Storr serving as producer, Nicole Pusateri as post producer, and Kathryn O’Kane and Ari Palitz as story producers. Scott Sans was DP.
Editors were Cy Christiansen, Katie Flaxman and Brett Mason of Outpost Digital.
VFX directors were Will Johnson and William Campbell of effects house Gentleman Scholar.
Music house was Q Department, New York.
Here’s the campaign’s first web film, Shipwreck Alley:
