AdAge IDEA Conference: Sell with Magic
What is gutter tech? According to Nathan Martin and Eamae Mirkin of Deeplocal, it’s the “bridging of real and digital in unconventional ways.” It is the Internet of Things being harnessed for storytelling. For advertisers, it’s what comes after digital or “post-digital.” While those of us in the industry struggle to define this emerging practice, we should remind ourselves that for those experiencing it, it’s simply magic.
Pittsburgh-based Deeplocal makes magic look easy. For the World Cup, they helped Nike rig Johannesburg’s fourth tallest building, transforming it into a canvas for global participation.
Detroit [Re]Design describes it well:
Made up of 207,520 LEDS spanning a linear distance of 1.5 miles, this giant LED installation displayed up to 100 messages from football fans around the world each night for the duration of the campaign.
Every day fans could submit their 57-character personal message to over 50 of Nike’s sponsored athletes from around the world via Facebook, Twiter, Mixit (South Africa) and QQ (China). Messages were displayed on the Life Center wrap between 6pm and 6am daily.
By doing this, Nike and its agencies successfully tapped into the deep human desire to connect and to be heard. They fed the ideas of hope and global progress felt around the World Cup. Not only did the stunt earn press, it enabled people around the world to participate in a way that wouldn’t otherwise be possible.
This theme continues across the rest of Deeplocal's portfolio. Nike's Chalkbot and EA Sports' Balls to the Brits both let people connect in interesting ways. To provide conference-goers with the first-hand "gutter tech" experience, the duo constructed the setup seen above. A user's voice would control the elevation of a floating orange ball; keeping its visual representation within the on-screen cross-hair results in a high score.
Other companies are emerging to creatively bridge the digital and physical worlds. Tinker London makes magic for brands like the BBC, Nokia, and Sony Ericsson. Founder Alex Deschamps-Sonsino told us how Arduino, an open-source electronics platform, lets anyone get involved. Breakfast is a similar company that has programmed toys that tweet. They are responsible for the "Conan Auto-Foursquare-ing Blimp."
