Cannes Lions

Sound of Light

OGILVY GERMANY, Frankfurt / HUAWEI / 2019

Awards:

1 Shortlisted Cannes Lions
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Overview

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Credits

Overview

Background

Situation:

The global market is saturated: In summer 2018 for the first time ever, less smartphones were sold worldwide. Even worse: they do look and feel more or less the same these days.

So Huawei has to raise awareness for its future technologies in a highly competitive market with much cooler and sexier brands like Apple’s iPhone.

Brief:

To launch the world’s first smartphone with Dual AI in 22 markets, Huawei wanted people to experience with all their senses the artificial intelligence instead of just communicating the technical features of the Mate 20 Pro.

Idea

While all super-brains, from Stephen Hawking to Bill Gates, just talk about AI, we made the world listen to it – in a "World premiere next level" (Heute.at): 100% live, 100% entertaining, 0% boring.

Strategy

In 2018, you don’t reach people by just telling the technical features of a mobile in traditional and expensive TVCs. In a saturated market, numbers have zero wow effect – especially to the Modern Business Elite.

So to reach and impress our target audience, we had to launch the new Huawei smartphone on a new level. We created a stage – a real one in the famous Brahms Hall in Vienna – for the brand’s futuristic technology and let it demonstrate live what it can do: something no one has ever seen or heard before. An AI world premiere that stands out and creates PR buzz on its own, accompanied by teaser trailers and docu-styled video features about the whole story.

Execution

The Mate 20 Pro’s AI analyzed the Northern Lights (speed, shape, size & colour) and translated the natural phenomenon into its own symphony, which it composed after data models of the great Strauss, Smetana and Vivaldi that are known for their instrumental interpretations of nature (“The blue Danube”, “Moldau”, “Four Seasons”). “The Sound of Light” was a unique audio-visual live entertaining experience: performed by a large orchestra in the famous Brahms Hall (Vienna) where the greats played before, crowded with people and international reporters – and streamed live in all social media channels. An AI world premiere that stands out and raises a product launch to a new entertaining level, accompanied by teaser trailers and docu-styled video features about the whole story.

Outcome

“Huawei made the impossible possible” (ELLE): Our 1h brand experience turned a cold piece of technology into a special piece of music that touched people everywhere. 22 markets watched the live-stream event on Youtube & Facebook, the PR buzz made additionally 34 countries tuning in. During the live-stream, thousands of users commented and shared their thoughts and feelings about AI in a new, inspiring and open-minded way. The wow had such a big impact that even the non-tech press wrote about it, creating a media value of € 173 Mill.

The result: Everyone raved like never before about what a new smartphone can do – in a saturated market. We inspired and activated people to create something special by using Huawei’s AI in a completely new way.

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