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Mind-controlled cars, AI symphonies and worldwide press coverage

How our technical whiz-kiddery drives press coverage for brands

We’ve always said we love a challenge and over the past few years, communications agencies such as Red, BCW and Frank have presented us with some beauties. In search of press coverage, viral content and social reach, we’ve helped them create world-firsts and epic product demonstrations.

While we can’t build you a time machine or a teleporter, there are very few other ideas we can’t bring to life. As you’d expect though, the main considerations are time and budget. That’s why, if you have a big idea you want to present to your client, we’d suggest contacting us for a quick chat first. That way you know the dream you sell them is one they can afford and you can deliver.

An epic demonstration of your brand proposition

We’ve worked on two MoneySuperMarket projects with Splendid, both tasked with creating epic demonstrations of the brand’s key messaging. The first was centred around “crushing car insurance quotes” and resulted in us connecting a giant, car-crushing, robot hand to MoneySuperMarket’s website. The campaign delivered 430m OTS, 10.4m impressions and moved MoneySuperMarket back to number 1 on Google for car insurance search results, all of which contributed to it winning the MAA Effectiveness Award for Consumer Service in 2016.

Where do you go from there? Well, how about demonstrating the need for smarter driving with a mind-controlled car?

Read the case study

B2B comms you can raise a glass to

Barclaycard were the innovators of contactless payment in the UK, introducing it in 2007. In the run-up to the 10th anniversary, their communications agency, BCW, asked us for help demonstrating Barclaycard’s continued drive for innovation. Their idea was a contactless, automated beer pump. Our solution involved 3D printing, Arduino electronics, an embedded touchscreen and a lot of pouring pints. The result was #Pay@Pump, the winner of the PR Week Award 2017 for Financial Services. It earned 190 pieces of press coverage with a combined reach of 1.4bn. Most importantly though, it drove a 300% increase in inbound enquiries from SMEs for Barclaycard.

Read the case study

Product showcases reinvented

We’d already helped Huawei drive a Porsche and solve a 4m high Rubik’s Cube with their phone’s AI when Red Consultancy set us our biggest challenge yet – completing Schubert’s Unfinished Symphony. With help from Goldsmiths University and music technologists Bronze, we built an AI app that generated new parts for the symphony. These parts were then arranged by Emmy-award winning composer Lucas Cantor and performed by the English Session Orchestra. 4.5m views of video content, 1,340 pieces of media coverage and three PRCA Awards – International Campaign, Consumer Technology and Campaign of the Year – proved the power of everyone’s work and the Mate 20 Pro’s performance.

Watch the phone-driven Porsche

Watch the AI Rubik’s Cube

Watch AI finish the Unfinished Symphony

If you need help with a PR stunt, we'd love to chat.