Cannes Lions
BURROWS, Essex / ASTON MARTIN / 2016
Overview
Entries
Credits
Description
Aston Martin's brand mantra is Power, Beauty and Soul. Our goal with the configurator was to reflect these pillars.
Power defined the configurators speed and the systems behind it. Beauty, the photorealistic CGI imagery created of all of the variations and options of the car and Soul was represented through our User Interface, and the journey taken through configuration.
We wanted the solution to be as intuitive as possible, but also feel alive. As though a user was being taken around the car in a real dealership. Being shown the areas of the car that were relevant to the choices they were making at that time. Every option is just as important as the next to someone who is designing their dream car, and this understanding defined our experience.
Execution
This was a globally launched web application, accessible and responsive across all modern platforms. It went live on the 1st of March after six months of design and development perfectly coinciding with the launch date of the DB11 itself.
In order to make the car's beauty truly shine, we wanted a relatively neutral environment and a simple, elegant user interface. On an early visit to the AM headquarters we were taken through their Atrium. It was a beautiful space and by putting there car there users would be designing there cars where Aston Martin design their cars. And the photorealism we were able to achieve through CGI made the views of the car unquestionably real.
The number exterior options was vast but inside the car the number of variations became immense. Before starting, we expected the number of possible combinations to be in the billions, it was over a trillion. However for first-time and often one-time users, the interface had to remain as intuitive, and consistent as possible. This would also be one of the first configurators launched to be viewed by more people on a smartphone on launch date than any other device. We needed an experience that seamlessly catered for every platform while maintaining interface consistencies.
The view of the car switches automatically, so what you see is always relevant to what you’re changing as you move through the application. The categories are designed to get the best out of touch devices, making complex selections, simple.
Within the first 24 hours of being live over a million DB11 configurations were made and we were making headlines in automotive blogs all over the world.
Outcome
Aston Martin cars are built by data. To be able to present this in a manner that can be used by a dealer or the enthusiast sitting at home, that data had to be visually attractive, something that excites the consumer and shown in a way that keeps it simple too.
We provided a means of presenting this data using a sophisticated engine, this has the ability to present the virtually limitless number of options to build a car. Working alongside state of the art CGI imagery, the end result presented the user with the feeling of luxury and simplicity at the same time.
For Aston Martin, they now had a means to present their latest car across various platforms with the knowledge that the completed journey resulted by sending a list of build data to their manufacturing systems, thus they now have a seamlessly end to end system all built on data.
Within the first 24 hours of being live over a million DB11 configurations were made and we were making headlines in automotive blogs all over the world.
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