Verizon Gets 11,000+ Users To Create Their Own Action Hero

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Client: Verizon
Creative Agency: R/GA

R/GA was asked by Verizon to help them build awareness of their brand as a broadband entertainment company. Our approach has always been that if you want people to think of you one way, you can't just talk about it; you have to embody it. We wanted a concept that could play into people's passion for movies in a way that was much more powerful than what they'd experience on sites where viewers can mix and match clips. On top of that, we wanted to explore interactive storytelling, letting people choose plot elements and develop their character somewhat so they would feel a real sense of ownership over the movie. In the end, our creative and technical teams came up with the idea of an interactive online tool that allows people to direct their own action movie and cast themselves as the hero.

This was probably one of the most complex online branding project we've worked on from a design, copy, and technical perspective. Interactive storytelling is complicated because for every choice you give the user (even just letting them choose to be male or female), you exponentially expand the number of scenes that need to be created. Our in-house CG team had to create more than 1,000 scenes to support the choices we offered the users. Creatively, we wanted the end result to feel like a little film rather than a video-game snippet, so getting the scripts and the shots right was a huge challenge. And on the technical side, R/GA had to invent a process that takes an uploaded photo, generates a 3-D model of the person's head, composites it onto an action-hero body, and then renders finished movies within 24 hours. 

We couldn't be happier with how it came out. It would be great if the movies could be rendered faster, but being able to do it in 24 hours is an incredible breakthrough that defines the state of the art for this kind of technology. It really is an amazing feeling to see yourself in 3-D fighting giant bugs and parachuting out of windows.
--Douglas Dauzier and Jay Zasa, creative directors, R/GA

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Verizon knows what audiences like, themselves. By allowing visitors to embed their faces into a slick summer blockbuster-style CGI action sequence, Verizon is tapping into the new promise: 15 minutes of fame. "I gotta see this!" was my reaction. I imagine that sort of curiosity and (let's admit it) vanity were part of what motivated the apparent 11,000+ visitors to create and post movies on this site.

With the Action Hero site, Verizon addresses a factor often neglected when creating good user generated content platforms. Users expect something back. The process of creating my character and determining my action sequence seemed a fair exchange for soon seeing myself in the scene. The process was clear and nicely designed. The "How did they do that?" factor plays big as you watch a reasonably accurate CGI replica of yourself strut around the crisply-cut scenes. Like most popcorn computer animated flicks, the movie itself is fun, snarky and a bit unsettling to look at. Browsing the gallery is an oddly addictive experiment in digital people watching.

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I expect this site will succeed at making Verizon's point. Including a "Why we did it" link is a refreshingly direct approach to tying the entertainment experience in with the product benefits. The technology behind it feels like digital magic and will certainly position the brand as one that knows its stuff. I shared it with friends. I downloaded it. As I watched the 100MB file creep onto my desktop, it occurred to me that if I did not already have broadband, I would certainly need it then. Well played, Verizon.
--Chad Currie, creative director, T3    

Broadband has been around for years, we all know this. And since Time Warner doesn't seem to want to show up at my apartment to hook up my digital cable, I have relied much more on the internet as a source of entertainment. My girlfriend especially relies on the internet to watch "Grey's Anatomy," which she streams online for free through ABC's site with my AT&T DSL (go online video!). The speed of my connection has allowed her to park herself in front of the computer and watch the show straight through without pauses for buffering or loading of any kind. So why is it that when I try to watch the video starring myself on the Verizon Broadband site at work -- on our business class T-1 connection -- it still needs to stop and load every thirty seconds or so?


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Once the video finally loaded, it was kind of cool to watch. The site was easy to navigate and straightforward in its approach. From a marketing perspective, however, I don't see how this provides much benefit to Verizon. To watch the video, one needs to have previously acquired a broadband internet connection. And if a given user is at work while watching the video, which most people probably are, that person will know how fast and reliable their connection is. Most everybody will likely come to the conclusion that it is the site's inability to load videos correctly, not their inadequate broadband. The resulting frustration could inevitably hinder Verizon's brand image rather than help it.

The only benefit I can see for the communications giant is simply getting their name out in more viral way. But unless my connection at home starts frustrating me more than waiting for my Action Hero video to load did, I'll just stick with what I've got, thanks.
--Adam Shahbaz, assistant editor, iMedia Communications