Sandvik, a 161-year-old global manufacturing company was making a huge shift into digital manufacturing, but their heritage was working against them. They were still being considered a traditional engineering company, while their digital-tech forward competition thrived.

Our brief was to make Sandvik’s digital manufacturing expertise world famous and to showcase it in a way that was engaging, relatable and respected by engineers the world over.

Our goal with the campaign was primary to create fame for Sandvik and its digital manufacturing transformation. To do this, we needed to spark conversation about Sandvik across industries. We also wanted the activation to draw attention to Sandvik as a company that uses technology in ways that push the limits of human advancement. This aided them with their final goal, to attract the next generation of digital talent.

Communicating heavy machinery and digital solutions doesn’t make any impact. We needed to be distinct and surprising and tell a story powerful enough to break into mass culture.

We targeted an already sacred arena, the classical art world.

Using several generative AI, we analysed thousands of sculptures and created a model that resurrected five master sculptors who span three continents and 500 years. We then used AI to design their collaborative vision into one sculpture: Michelangelo’s dynamism, Rodin’s musculature, Käthe Kollwitz’s expressionism, Kotaro Takamura’s focus on momentum and Augusta Savage’s defiance, all in one impossible statue. Brought to life by Sandvik’s engineering skills.

We then used Sandvik’s digital manufacturing tools, to bring the statue to life. The final model was a 500 kg statue crafted from stainless steel. The statue was unveiled to the world as a permanent exhibit at the National Museum of Science and Technology in Stockholm.

Insight: To engage engineering talent and clients in a sea of digital technology news, we needed a fresh perspective to stand out. So, we built on the social tension of Generative AI influencing technology and popular culture.

Key message: "Can AI rival humanity's best artists in creating art?". With a strategic aim to generate brand fame, we embarked on a digital manufacturing project that was so challenging, it practically defied belief.

Target audience: "The Engineer," embodies those fascinated by innovation, technological progress, and sustainability. Our TG was anyone passionate about these facets.

Assets and distribution: We created brand level assets for the broad audience to engage with and the technical assets for the industry specific audience to dive deeper into. We then targeted global news agencies like Reuters and AFP, ensuring global coverage and filled up all the audience gaps through tech and news hubs, such as Mashable and IFL.

From idea to execution the project took over a year. First, we used multiple AI programmes to study the unique styles of each artist and generated a design that incorporated all their styles. We then used human pose estimators, videogame algorithms, specialized AI and depth estimators to turn the 2D image into a 3D model. Finally, Using Sandvik’s cutting edge tools, the Impossible statue was carved into reality from 2 tonnes of stainless steel. The final statue was carved from over 16 million surface polygons and differed in accuracy only by 0.03% from the digital version.

Weighing over 500kg, ‘The Impossible Statue’ was launched at the National Museum of Science and Technology in Stockholm during the city’s museum week. It was accompanied with films teasing the project and showing the in-depth making of the statue to drive consideration. All content was hosted at a purpose-built site on Sandvik.com.

Our three primary goals were to create fame for the Sandvik brand, consideration for its digital manufacturing technology and to increase job applications from the next generation of digital engineering talent. So, did our activation succeed?

With a modest budget, our campaign reached media outlets in over 66 countries. It generated more than 700 published articles with a combined potential reach of 1.8 billion impressions.

But we didn’t just create attention. We also drove consideration for Sandvik's technologies. As new visitors on the global Sandvik site increased by 43% and time spent on the site increased by 48%.

Finally, we also increased the number of clicks on job postings by 35%, making

the Sandvik brand stand out as an attractive workplace for top digital talent.

As to the debate about if AI can create art, we will leave that for the jury room to decide.