Talent Days / Cross-school Challenge
Year : 2015
Project type : Concept, Art direction
From the same principles of a hackathon comes the Talent Day, a cross-school challenge for designers and creators of different trades, such as graphic designer, illustrator, animator, sound designer, compositor,
game designer...
In 24 hours, we are tasked in a four to six people team to find a concept and realize it, given a theme and a target of audience, to present it after in front of a jury of professionnals.
Our team won this challenge, with a 360° project that interacted with its audience and created a viral connection to 6 cities in France.
We first chose ourselves a client to define what kind of project we wanted to make, for our target was young adults, and our task was to create a better synergy and parity between man and woman in the veryday life.
Not just denounce a lack of equity, but really find means to create a better balance between those two.
Given those parameters, we chose to go big, and since we wanted to go with a slightly humoristic way to create this balance, we chose to work as if IKEA had tasked us to create their new campaign.
This campaign was in 3 parts:
first, the teasing.
We created a first wave of surprising communication, with a installation of six containers, totally wrapped in black with no inscriptions, in six major cities in France, to create the need to know more into the people
walking those crowded places. We also created a first wave of motion design teaser, which are visible on the huge flat screens available at the entry and exit of those cities, garanty of visibility around the cities.
A website is created, with only a timer and the sentence of our project "Imbriquez-vous" (meaning "interlock yourselves", with a slightly perverted double meaning, like the kind IKEA would be willing to use.)
Secondly, the escape game.
The second part comes 1 week after the teasing, to keep it fresh in the mind of the curious, and we reveal the real containers under the black wrappings: the iconic blue and yellow of IKEA.
The next motion teaser is also released to really connect and inform people of the campaign, which is actually a kind of game, with a prize for the players.
The website is updated to show a streaming service available to see and interact with the escape game that are the containers.
The escape game starts !
In pairs, a man and a woman (which can be husband and spouse, co-workers, friends, random people...), you can enter the escape game to try and realize the best time ever to be chosen for the finals, and maybe win a fully
paid vacation in Sweden !
The game begin by giving your info to the stewardess in front of the entrance, to be able ot find you if you're chosen after. When you get into the container, the light is turned off, with only a timer glowing visibly
on a wall, and a spot lightening the fridge, with a note on it:
"Your taxi is coming in 15 minutes to get you to the airport. Your appartment is a mess, and you really need to clean it before leaving for Sweden."
You get the minimum info about what you're trying to accomplish before it starts, and then the timer start, as well as the lights going up.
You know can see that you are in a fully reconstructed appartment (courtesy of IKEA), and you have some info on the ground and the walls to follow to get to the first trial: DO THE DISHES !
One of the two participants have to be in front of the sink with a little dirty dishes into, and the other one has to be behind him, in front of a shelf full of direty dishes. They need to work in pair to
get the dishes dirty clean and store them on the shelf afterwards.
Once that is done, you get to go to the second trial !
This trial is in the living room, where you have to get the books lying around on the correct shelf, thanks to the numbers visible on the side of the book and on the shelf.
Once its done, the door unlock and you get to a chamber, where you have clothes lying around. Your third trial ? getting all the clothes off the floor and sorting them for the washing-machine !
Once its done, you only have one trial left.
The next room is the laundry room, with on the wall a chart of programs and the corresponding type of clothes.
Given the chart and the clothes you picked up in the previous room, you need to figure out what program is the correct one, which will open the washing-machine, and the door to exit this game !
While you had clues and visual aid on the other challenges of the escape game, there is none on the last part, to show that people are capable of working together once they have been shown a way, and found their rhythm.
If the players can't figure it out before the end of the timer, the door will unlock, but the contestants will be warned that they have passed the allowed time.
Once the players are out, a stewardess will reward each participant one bag of pieces of a half a tangram, one yellow and the other blue, reminder of IKEA, and a flyer explaining the stunt and campaign.
The tangram can only be completed with the two sets of pieces, a physical manifestation of equality between man and woman, and a proof of their work together. This means to show that, without falling into stereotypes
like "womem should work into the house and take care of it", you can work faster and attain goals you didn't think possible. After all, you cleaned up your appartment in less than 15 minutes !
Third part is the finals, which is more based on work that is usually assigned for men, such as manual labor.
Filmed live at Paris and streamed on internet, six pairs of contestants have been chosen for their time in the second trial. They are each the fastest couple of their city, and need to show it once again !
This time, they are all on the starting line besides each other, and need to run to the first of three trials. Assembling an IKEA furniture !
The three trials are the same, you need to complete your furniture without leaving any piece behind, and be the first to attain the finish line. The view of other contestant add to the pressure, while
working together will allow you to reach the end faster.
The first couple to cross the finish line will win the fully paid vacation in Sweden, while the other participants get a coupon for refurnishing their houses with IKEA.
This whole campaign was to show people that, instead of saying "women should be in the kitchen" and "men work with their hands", working together is far more efficient. As the tangram, which will be complete only when the two parts are present, people who work together will also be more complete, and be able to do things they wouldn't be alone.
