The makers of the newly-launched pop culture app ZIG have tapped the creative and production talents at The Napoleon Group (www.napny.com) to design and produce a video illustrating the app’s key features. Employing new digital technology, ZIG collects and delivers entertainment content directly to mobile devices, delivering real-time, customized pop culture news directly to its users.
The video can be found on the ZIG web site at www.zig.com. It mixes celebrity photos and logos from well-known media brands such as Entertainment Tonight, InStyle, US Weekly, People, Popcrush and others, tied together with a colorful graphic matrix that acts as a visual metaphor for how the technology scours the web for subjects, artists and content you’re interested in and serves it up to your smartphone or tablet.
To view the teaser, go here: https://vimeo.com/183062422/adf0575a42.
The video opens on a universe of icons, each bearing a celebrity’s picture or a media brand, all connected by a series of streams. As the video progresses, the streams in intertwine and overlap. They all converge into a single ZIG stream which connects with a smartphone and activates the app. Original logo animation and a simple tagline – “Everything you want in one place” – finish the piece, with music and sound design giving the it added depth.
Napoleon produced the project from start to finish, including writing, design, sourcing of licensed images, animation and audio post. “We started with ZIG’s design motif, and from there we developed this dynamic mapping approach that highlights the brand’s offering,” explains Napoleon Chief Creative Officer Marty Napoleon.
What makes ZIG unique is in how it scans what its users engage with across social media and the web, then creates a personalized algorithm that aggregates all their pop culture news in one place and in real time. ZIG users will be able to view news about their favorite actors, recording artist, TV shows, movies, you name it, as it’s published.
“Working with Napoleon was a fantastic experience,” says Joshua James, CEO of ZIG. “They’re masters of the technical aspects of production, but more importantly they’re incredibly creative problem solvers and visual storytellers. They were able to explain the complexity of how we gather and personalize data and illustrate it in an entertaining, contemporary and easy to understand way.”
The ZIG video is one of a growing number of digital assignments Napoleon has tackled over the past year, often providing not just production and post but creative direction as well. Most recently, Napoleon contributed video elements for the launch of the private cocktail and bar-going app Hooch (https://www.hooch.co/), which provides users with lists of cocktail lounges and bars in their area and offers specials on selected cocktails and spirits brands.
"The challenge in this category is to create storytelling about the functionality of an app in a concise and efficient manner,” says Napoleon Executive Producer Perry Morton. “As the lead agency working directly with these brands, we’re able to offer them a turnkey solution that combines creative as well as video and VFX production in one place. This allows us to work in a cost-effective and nimble fashion, which is particularly important when working with brands in the tech and digital media fields. We’re all excited about helping give ZIG the launch it truly deserves.”
ZIG Credits:
Creative Agency/Production Studio: The Napoleon Group
Chief Creative Officer: Marty Napoleon
Creative Director: Matt Gendron
Executive Producer: Perry Morton
Production Management and Licensing: Annabel Salmon
Project Manager: Michelle David
3D Artists: Ryan Robinson, Mark Yagos
VFX/Editorial: Ken Kresge
