Samsung: s8 Launch times square takeover

For the release of the Samsung Galaxy S8, we tackled two giant Times Square takeovers featuring fully 3D whales and divers across 40+ panels. The first takeover featured a graphic outline to tease the phone’s release, and the second ran the night of the release and featured an image of the phone itself showing off the almost non-existent edges that allow you to feel the limitless potential of the device and the vastness of the screen. That meant we had to deliver all these screens not just once but twice! That aside, creating 3D renders at 6K was a challenge in and of itself, but having to sync custom character animation across dozens of screens that span city blocks was the challenge-cherry-on-top. We R&D-ed with a to-scale 3D model of Times Square that allowed us to properly pre-viz what we were doing and to ensure everything was realistic and seamless. And because different vendors own different boards, we had to run multiple in-person countdown tests to guarantee we could nail synchronization the nights of. And it was a success! Both times.

Samsung had actually flown in Execs from Korea to view it in person, and they loved it so much they wanted the whale everywhere. From there, we executed whale and diver renderings for 30+ additional boards that were featured in various placements across America - one of which was the stunning World Trade Center Oculus Center that spanned 19 individual boards, the largest of which was 20,000 pixels wide and 70 feet long in person! We also created a TVC version for broadcast, which ran nationally and wasn’t an original deliverable. It was all the whale love that also got it on TV!

The achievement, fun, and learnings from this project were incredible, but the best part was that we won a Cannes Lion! The sizzle below sums up the awe-inspiring experience.

R/GA 2017.