Samsung's Curved UHD TV is so revolutionary that the company wanted to give potential customers a peek at its engaging experience before they actually buy the TV. Partnering with Great Works and Important Looking Pirates, we built a cross-screen experiment that transports users to the Coliseum and gives them a front-row seat at a gladiator match.
This campaign-site, made as an experiment, was pushing the limits on many different areas - in the same way as the new product from Samsung. We built a 3D-world in HTML5, that was moving around and heavily animated on your phone, pushing the experience and performance. Through working closely with the 3D-animators we could optimize the animations and contents of the screen, still making the most immersive experience.
After visiting the website on a desktop, users are prompted to the accompanying mobile site, where they enter a code and calibrate their devices. They can then use their smartphones to pan the Coliseum and extend the screen 180 degrees.
We used the device orientation sensors to translate the movements of the phone into a way of looking beyond the screen, by pointing your device in different directions. You could then explore what is outside the screen, in a 180-degrees arch around you, still seeing into the dynamic 3D-world, triggering custom animations on certain triggers around you.
Through a competition built into the experience you would be able to find certain triggers, and collect the different tokens around the Coliseum while exploring. With a websocket connection we could send instructions back and forth between your desktop and your smartphone at the speed of light - maybe also limited by your bandwidth, but a smart solution makes even this less limiting - recording your progress in the competition. One easteregg was an animation where one spectator in the Coliseum was waving a foam hand while cheering! Collecting all tokens meant that you were in the draw for a Curved UHD TV.
We love when we get to work with new techniques, and this project called for that on many levels! The most apparent one was that we used CSS 3D in a way that we hadn’t seen before. The whole scene, with all its animations and graphics, was laid out as an arch - creating the right curved feeling and giving the right perspective for the viewer.
The site became “Site of the day” on FWA, got nominated in Webby and New York Festivals, and mentioned on Googles own blog “Think with google” - and most importantly, we learned alot from it!
We work with a wide range of digital products and services, from intricate brand & company websites to hi-fi technical innovations, always executed to the highest of standards. Do you feel inspired? Drop us a line and lets get talking about how we can help you transform your ideas into reality.
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