US OPEN + JAMES MURPHY
We asked Tool of North America and James Murphy (of LCD Soundsystem fame) if they’d like to help us turn real time tennis data from the US Open into streaming music and animated visuals. They said yes.
Together we built a algorithm that translated events like scores and stats into pitch and tempo as the matches played out. The algorithm generated both music and visuals. So when you heard a change in the music, you saw what caused it. All tournament long.
That’s right. 187 different pieces of music wrote themselves. Synced perfectly with gameplay. Streamed to your phone. And to the ceiling speaker things you can see in this shot.
James Murphy remixed his favorite matches and tracks and put them on a new album. It’s data you can dance to.
We’re pretty sure this is IBM’s first review in Rolling Stone.
This is the kind of thing you can cover from a lot of angles.
A trailer for LCD Soundsystem fans.
This film explains the relationship between the algorithm and the artist.
But what does all this stuff mean for your business? This very smart IBMer explains it all.
Recognition:
One Show Silver: Interactive and Sound Design
One Show Bronze: Interactive - Motion Graphics
D&AD Graphite: Digital Brand Extension
D&AD Graphite: Digital Design
FWA Site of the Day
FWA Cutting Edge Project of the Week
Google Creative Sandbox Feature
SXSW:
The Cognitive Kitchen
Turns out all the cool kids at SXSW will come to learn about your new cognitive computing system if you team it up with a Top Chef, cook up first-of-a-kind dishes, and serve it all up for free out of a food truck.
This project was one of our biggest earned-media successes. They came for the Austrian chocolate burrito with apricot, cinnamon, and edamame. And stayed for the cloud computing.
Daily Content covering each dish and the people who devoured it.
Wanna know how this insane technology will help the food issues we care about? Ask a vegetarian.
If you can understand a burrito, then you can understand big data.
You can get a lot of press to show up if you promise free BBQ sauce.
Yep. We used AI to create BBQ sauce. It’s really weird. And really good. (Mike didn’t like it.)
Recognition:
Effies: Gold & Silver (x2)
Cannes Lions: Shortlist
Echo: Silver
IBM’s Centennial:
They Were There
A Film by Errol Morris
The 100th birthday of IBM afforded us an incredibly unique opportunity. We had unlimited access to their archives and to the IBMers who helped shape the world we live in today.
It’s half an hour long. The first minute sets it up pretty well.
IBM’s Centennial:
100X100
We spoke to 100 people, ages 1-100, to find out what IBM did in the year they were born. Turns out they did quite a lot.
Both films were sealed in a time capsule and buried under the lobby of the Thomas J. Watson Research Center in Yorktown Heights, NY.
We also helped craft concepts and scripts for the interactive THINK exhibit held near Lincoln Center. Inside the exhibit space, visitors stepped into a media field composed of 40 seven-foot screens. As the screens came to life, visitors discovered a 12-minute immersive film, exploring patterns of human progress and how we can make the world work better together.
Made with IBM
The Masters Tournament allows only three advertisers to sully their precious broadcast. So golf fans end up seeing the same few commercials over and over and over.
We created a series called “made with IBM”. It’s a 30-minute film designed to be shown 30 seconds at a time – once during each commercial break. All tournament long. No reruns.
70some short bits. All written, shot, and edited in under 7 weeks.
We do not recommend doing this ever again.
This program created social content for an entire year. Deeper versions of the case studies were also produced for salespeople, events, and targeted marketing.
