Year

2020

Awards

Campaign Experience Awards:

- Gold The Game Changer

- Gold Creative Event of the Year

- Silver Outstanding Creative Idea

- Silver Best Brand Experience

Design Week Awards: Digital Installation

Location

London, UK

Agency

Edelman Deportivo

Production Company

UNIT9

Animation Partner

23rdC

My Role

Creative Director

About

The Xbox Series X is the world’s most powerful console, and Microsoft wanted to announce it to the world with an event that matched its incredible capabilities. So we hosted an epic virtual event that let fans be part of the launch and experience its power.

We built a 3.6-meter-high monolithic structure, inspired by the console itself, on a rooftop in central London. The structure was front and centre during a six-hour broadcast counting down to the console’s release on Microsoft’s YouTube show XBOX ON.

During the livestream, the monolith came to life with incredible 3D animation, optical illusions, real-time holograms, and an immersive 3D soundtrack. We created pre-rendered, optically correct projection-mapped animation for multiple camera angles. And in addition, we projected content into the air to create volumetric light beams that were virtually mapped in real-time with the same content overlaid.

The structure also served as a platform for social interaction. People could influence the monolith in real-time on Twitch, adding comments, answering questions, reacting with Twitch emotes, and more for chances to win a Series X and see their name in holographic glory.

We felt extra pressure to deliver excellent work and carefully considered each detail because we knew discerning Xbox fans would scrutinise every single frame of the experience. My team worked tirelessly to pull off an audio/visual show like no other for an audience of millions and in six weeks from start to finish. We also won the audience over with plenty of Xbox Easter eggs, nostalgia, and hidden 5×5 codes that they could use to redeem exclusive game content in the Xbox store.