In 2014, Argonaut approached Psyop to help develop a cast of quirky animated characters for Cricket Wireless to be the brand’s spokespeople. In the years that followed, this cast of characters grew, as did Cricket’s unaided brand awareness (which rose by 12 points). With fan bases of their own – our CG characters were mini-celebrities in their own rights.
The Ask
For their Holiday 2018 campaign, Cricket challenged us to think of a way to take our now familiar characters and use them to engage audiences in new and surprising way.
Our Approach
Psyop collaborated closely with Argonaut, Shareability and Cricket to bring the beloved characters out of the animated world and into the real one via a multi-faceted approach:
1. A Hollywood-glam, 3-min film and content blurring the lines of commercial and entertainment co-directed by Psyop founder Marco Spier and Psyop’s rising star Jack Anderson.
2. Magical activations that blurred fantasy and reality helmed by Jack.
Using our real-time animation system utilizing Intera/Mocap suits and face tracking technology, we hosted a Facebook Live and Twitter press junket featuring CG characters Dusty and Rose alongside celebrity Mario Lopez making it the first time an animated character appeared alongside a live person in real-time.
We also used this system again in a responsive OOH billboard activation where holiday shoppers could talk, direct and interact with Rosie, making a traditionally passive medium – the billboard – larger than life.
