The Magical Manchester Piano is a unique and playful interactive experience with broad appeal: anyone can tap the keys on a piano, yet no one has seen one like this. Play the keys and it emits not just sound, but also colourful bespoke animations featuring Mancunian history and facts using Google tools and technology like Street View, Earth, Search, and Doodles.

The antique baby grand piano draws people into the new space and acts as an engaging icebreaker with the in-store staff. Visitors can chat about playing the technologically-advanced piano and flow it into a conversation about digital skills, now feeling a little closer to something that seemed intimidating before. The piano is impossible to get wrong — in fact, failure and experimentation create a sense of joy. The Magical Piano builds confidence and rewards people for trying something new, all while creating positive associations with technology and the brand.

Combining the world of analog and digital wasn’t easy. In order to turn an antique piano from 1870 into a modern, interactive visual instrument, the team worked with 48GB of uncompressed data, including 29,397 images, as well as bespoke assets from numerous Google products like Street View, Earth, Search Trends and Google Doodles. The experience was built using openFrameworks, which wrapped together the wide variety of assets and libraries to create a one-off interactive experience unique to Manchester, a city well known for its love of music, musicians and artists. The Magical Manchester Piano was concepted, created and installed in just 7 weeks and is still being used in the Digital Garage to this day.

The piano had an immediate positive impact on foot traffic, social media mentions of #DigitalGarage, and most importantly, on sign-ups. 50% of people who came into the Digital Garage played the Magical Piano and and nearly 30% of those who played the piano signed up for a digital training session. The Magical Manchester Piano has been featured on the BBC News, in local newspapers, and it has helped those people who’ve walked past the Digital Garage before take that all-important first step inside.