Dentsu Aegis Network turns its ‘Neuromance’ party into a social experiment at Spikes Asia

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CrowdandScreen.jpgVisitors to the Neuromance party by Dentsu Aegis Network, in cooperation with Massive Music at Spikes Asia, were part of a unique social experiment.

Partygoers were greeted by a huge screen displaying a retro digital city. On arrival, new guests were announced, and a tower was created onscreen to represent them. As they interacted with each other through various social networks, adding each other as friends, tagging one another in photos, and talking about the party, those particular towers grew. By the end of the night, it evolved into a huge, interconnected digital metropolis.

CrowdandScreen2.jpgSays Dick van Motman, CEO, Dentsu Aegis Network Southeast Asia: “Use innovation to capture the convergence that is happening around us – in the industry as well as in everyday life. That’s the puzzle I gave my teams to solve. We wanted to capture the fact that digital is now at the heart of life – an omnipotent reality that is both virtual and real, with actual consequences, at the same time. To see this zeitgeist come alive CrowdandScreen3.jpgduring this event in a meaningful way is the sort of innovation that we stand for at Dentsu Aegis.”

Says Kristy Castleton, founder & CEO, Rebel & Soul: “Building on last year’s party where we synced Xyloband wearable technology with the music to connect consumers to the live experience, we wanted to take it up a level this year and give our partygoers a really engaging reason to make social DentsuPeople.jpgconnections. Creating an interactive piece to visualise social from scratch in a few weeks is the type of challenge we thrive on. We knew we had achieved what we had set out to do when our audience interactions hit their social caps and ‘my Tower’s bigger than your Tower’ was heard throughout the night.”

When approached by Janene Fitzgerald, Adrian Bosich, FinalCity.jpgco-founder of AIRBAG, saw a challenge full of opportunity.

Says Bosich: “Do something cool that drives people at the party to connect’ was a fantastic brief, and one that we were very happy to respond to. Steven Nicholson’s insight was to hook into behaviour that people already exhibit at a party. Our technology HappyPeople.jpgquietly monitors social media chatter as people at the event make new friends, share posts, take selfies, tag fellow party goers, and talk about the party. It then brings it to life through a fun Retro-Future aesthetic; a sprawling digital cityscape representing the social interactions of the night.”

Says Dan Neary, vice president of Asia Pacific at Facebook: LargeTower.jpg“Awesome event. Really loved the social overlay that was coordinated at the event.”

The event was a sellout, and was packed to capacity until the wee hours, when it was forced to shut down – leaving the crowd wanting more.

Project Title: Neuromance, Spikes SmallTower.jpgAsia 2015

Event: Dentsu Aegis Network Party in cooperation with Massive Music, Singapore

Dentsu Project Lead: Thijs Plug, Regional Director Marketing and Communications Dentsu Aegis Network Southeast Asia

Dentsu Creative Lead: Fred Englund, Creative Director Dentsu Aegis Network Southeast Asia

Brand Experience & Activation Agency: Rebel & Soul

Rebel & Soul Creative Producer: Janene Fitzgerald

Rebel & Soul Founder & CEO: Kristy Castleton

Production Co: AIRBAG

AIRBAG Cofounder: Adrian Bosich

AIRBAG Creative Technologist: Steven Nicholson

AIRBAG Social Interface Developer: Daniel Martin