(ETC Note: This story relates to S3D z-space capture and mapping.)
“3D projection mapping has recently emerged as one of the coolest forms of advertising, and is fast becoming something of an obsession for the advertising world,” reveals Megan O’Neill of SocialTimes. But how and where did this concept first originate?
According to TrendHunter, marketers have begun to set their sights on large-scale, low-cost mediums to get their messages across. “Billboards and print ads are stepping out of the spotlight, as large-scale projections on buildings in pedestrian-heavy areas begin to become the focal point within the marketing sphere.”
The online magazine adds that, “Battersea Power Station took off with a large projection of Super Mario Galaxy 2 for the game’s release, created by AdTrace. This venture marked the next generation for building projection technology. The emergence, then, of video mapping technology by AdTrace, has now had an impact on advertising, in that big brands are now keen to put their marketing spend into outdoor projection.”
Wikipedia describes 3D projection mapping as, “any method of mapping 3D points to a 2D plane.” O’Neill states that “using this technique, video artists are able to match video to buildings that they are projecting on and create cool 3D effects, making it look as though buildings are crumbling; changing their structure; and so much more.” This form of low-cost advertising is catching on fast, with world-renowned brands, such as BMW; Nokia; Sony; Lancome; and Louis Vuitton, among others, jumping onto the bandwagon, and experiencing first-hand the positive feedback of working with this viral medium, dubbed ‘projected publicity’.
For example, ‘In-Your-Face projection ads’ or ‘Billbored’ projection ads, allow one to project their opinions onto buildings in and around busy cities, from a projector set up on top of a car. The ads are short statements that don’t beat around the bush, such as ‘Our campaign is bigger than yours’ or ‘Vote, every little helps’ says TrendHunter. BMW has also made use of projected publicity. The BMW Joy 3D billboard, created by Publicis Asia, displayed a gamer-centric projection campaign in the middle of downtown Suntec City in Singapore, using two commercial buildings as its canvas to showcase the campaign – personally, I think that this campaign is nothing less than stunning, and I can see why it was described as a ‘traffic-stopping’ experience. The campaign idea behind this 3D billboard was ‘joy of driving’, and one can achieve this with BMW – the campaign truly defined this with its ocular magic. “Creative and definitely fun to watch, this commercial attracted a large audience that took pictures and stood awe-struck throughout the ad’s duration. In presenting the idea that there should always be joy in whatever you are doing, the BMW Joy 3D ad will definitely bring some good times,” says TrendHunter.
The London launch of Nokia Ovi Maps (free navigation on Nokia’s new navigation optimised smartphones) together with Seeper, combined a real-time projection installation that was able to track your face, and mirror all your real-time movements, and then project these movements onto a building. The project gave spotlight to an interactive campaign all around central London and Covent Garden, and to add to its ‘impressiveness’, was produced in one week. Following the success of the Nokia Ovi Maps projection campaign, Seeper was asked to create a 3D projection campaign for Sony to promote the new ACDC Iron Man 2 soundtrack at Rochester Castle.
source: www.totallymad.co.za – Lindsey Kin