Interactive video campaign

I enjoyed this project immensely. Not just because I teased colleagues by playing Usher's music on repeat in the office. But because the purpose of the experience was to campaign for social change.

The brief was to use the launch of Usher's single 'Chains' to raise awareness of victims of social injustice. The AKQA Sao Paulo office had concepted the experience but needed support from the London office to craft it. The concept was to to force people to face up to the victims of social injustice by stopping the music video if the user looked away from the screen.

Our colleagues in Sao Paulo briefed the London team of UX and creative web developers to bring the concept to life and nail the experience. I was tasked with mapping out the campaign over two phases. I approached the challenge by first understanding the background to Usher's social initiatives. In 1999, the singer had founded a youth mentoring foundation. This led to Usher's involvment in campaigns to end poverty and injustice, which were also happening at the same time as the launch of the experience. From this point it became clear to me that the song was part of a bigger mission. I sketched out various ways to integrate content and deliver a connected experience.