We are a creative agency, with our home base in Atlanta, GA. Our offices can be found around the world, at a music festival, in an airplane, or on the sidelines of a marathon. We go where our work takes us, and we wouldn't have it any other way. We can tell you what we've done, we can tell you our capabilities, but to discover what we can do — you and us together, let's talk.
Have a project in mind? Drop us a line and let's connect and discuss the endless possibilities!
+Supergroup
Working with WebMD is pure joy because what other client would say, "I think we should make these videos more graphic."
+Supergroup presented a new session at the Cannes Lions Festival for the 4th time since 2013, speaking this year on the Forum Stage during the Creative Process Power Hour. Here’s our session’s synopsis from the festival program:
When faced with the unknown, most of us look only for off-the-shelf products. We don’t think to identify the individual elements needed to make an idea possible. And if we can’t find a ready-made solution, we conclude that the idea can’t be executed.
This kind of thinking severely limits creativity. When an artist draws a figure, they begin by breaking the scene into its most basic shapes. Artists sees the world as elements, and ANYTHING (even the "impossible") can be made from elements.
We have a client (who will remain nameless) that uses industrial artificial intelligence to help people and machines work better, smarter and faster. What they do with their AI is mind blowing, but mind blowing can be hard to put into words. Sometimes you just want to show what it can do... and that’s where the table comes in.
By placing a physical totem directly onto the touchscreen interface, users are taken through a one-of-a-kind, mixed media experience that shows them what our client can do for their industry. The totems themselves animate with light and motion, and interact with the 3D rendered scenes on screen.
The animated scenes were designed in an anamorphic style so that the items on screen have the appearance of 3D. This also makes the physical totems look like an organic part of the animated scenes when you stand in front.
Hold your mobile device in front of anything that you want to learn how to use, and Voilà, your personal trainer appears.
It's as simple as that!
In celebration of the Qantas Dreamliner’s direct flights from Australia to London, Qantas wanted to reunite loved ones across the globe. So to that end, Qantas connected loved ones in Sydney and London through giant Qantas Dreamliner windows. +Supergroup worked with Qantas’ amazing agency in Sydney, The Monkeys, to produce and support the Qantas Dream Windows.
Red Bull always makes an impression at concerts and festivals. So in that spirit, they commissioned +Supergroup to produce two 9 foot tall, full-motion, 360 degree video Red Bull cans that could be placed in the middle of the action. Bigger is always better.
+Supergroup conducted two workshops at this year’s Cannes Lions festival. Below is the description of our sessions from the festival program:
Chances are you’ve heard the term 'Arduino' or 'micro-controller' thrown around in tech-savvy groups for the last few years. But what is an Arduino and why should you care? For starters, this ultra-affordable micro-controller can bring real life physical interaction to your ideas. Imagine triggering your digital signage to interact when people walk near it. How about turning wine glasses into musical instruments?
Now more than ever, seeing is believing and prototyping is key to sharing your creative vision. In this interactive workshop, we’ll utilize the Arduino and other accessible consumer electronics to rapid-prototype real creative projects. Physical is the new digital!
+Supergroup worked as a partner with McKinney, Norwegian's new agency partner, to engineer and build a custom biometric feedback experience, the Norwegian Aura Reader. The Aura Reader determined a person's aura using biometric data like pulse, temperature, and event facial mapping to determine emotional makeup. The machine matched the resulting aura to one of five suggested vacation locations, London, Olso, Copenhagen, Paris or Stockholm. And a few participants where lucky enough to win a ticket to their destination!
Rapid 7 came to us with a unique challenge: how to deliver exciting, memorable reports to their clients in a way that reflects the value of the security audit software they provide. Through an in-person ideation session, and several remote meetings, TSG and Rapid 7 arrived at the concept of a “magic box”.
The box was handcrafted to embrace a timeless, classic aesthetic, drawing inspiration from 1960’s era super computer interfaces, James Bond films, and hardware in the film 2001: A Space Odyssey.
When the recipient opens the box and powers it on, a built in speaker rings, accompanied with a blinking incoming call light, prompting the individual to lift the telephone handset. A reel-to-reel tape deck spins up and blinking lights illuminate with a customizable audio recording walking the listener through the printed materials enclosed in a drawer.
Through the mixed multi-media delivery, and the multi-sensory experience, the information in the report is associated with a unique and memorable experience.
Check out our tubular Behind the Scenes video below!
+Supergroup was approached by Ogilvy to work with Geometry to help bring their 'Pancake Selfie Express' Idea to life. In order to make this happen, we were tasked with developing a process to print a person's portrait onto a pancake. This is the first time this technology was used in conjunction with a brand or widely available to the public.
The technology works thanks to an elegant communication between the specially designed software and a highly customized laser hardware adjusted to a level that prevents destruction of the pancake but still leaves behind a clear selfie image.
Images are taken using a cell phone camera linked to a laptop computer, which then translates the image for the laser hardware. Once the software has finished its translation, the laser transposes the selfie image onto the surface of a pancake. Housed within the mobile Pancake Selfie Express, the selfie-to-pancake process takes less than five minutes from start to finish – from batter to work of selfie art.
After an image is taken on the mobile phone, it is able to be manipulated and adjusted within the software to make the final selfie pancake as clear as possible. After several tests it was discovered that the consistency and chemical makeup of Holiday Inn Express brand pancakes creates the best selfie results. The laser does not leave any harmful residue on the pancake, nor does it affect the taste.
The promotion was a success and winner of a Bronze Event Marketer Award, earning over 175 million PR impressions, 1.5 million social media impressions, and 283,000 activation exposures in the first tour. It was such a successful promotion, that IHG came back for a second tour, and +Supergroup yet again delivered, only this time with improved exciting new technology: faster lasers capable of doing full greyscale images, and a custom animated GIF camera so people could forever see their face being printed on a pancake!
The second tour of the Pancake Selfie Express was featured nationally on Fox News, had a full page feature in Sports Illustrated (due to this years SEC Football sponsorship), Woman's World, and dozens of other media outlets.
We invented the Octopi® for a series of creative technology workshops held throughout Taiwan. The Octopi® allows users to rapid prototype creative tech ideas without needing electronics or engineering skills. The pro version of the Octopi® was debuted at the Cannes Innovation Lions.
72 and Sunny came to +Supergroup with a unique way to promote the new Starbucks, handcrafted soda called Fizzio. They wanted to set up a vending machine at the Santa Monica pier, that actually contained a real barista inside, making the soda that curious onlookers selected from a normal vending button.
+Supergroup designed and developed a custom vending machine with privacy film that went transparent when a button was pushed, revealing the person inside. A small screen on the inside indicated to the barista which flavor the person selected, and they were then handed their beverage of choice through a small door on the side. The hidden cameras captured some priceless reactions as people were surprised by the reveal of a real person inside the machine.
The Starbucks Fizzio machine is the recipient of two Gold ADDY Awards.
The Budweiser Made in America music festival, originally held only in Philadelphia, added LA as a second location to it’s summer event. The festival’s curator, Jay-Z's company, Roc Nation, called upon +Supergroup to create a series of what Jay-Z called "Magic Window Walls" to virtually connect participants in Los Angeles to Philadelphia.
+Supergroup designed, built, and operated these larger than life video portals, which withstood the intense direct sunlight of LA, and survived a major thunderstorm in Philadelphia. Event-goers immediately understood what they were looking at, and shared a lot of laughs, dances, and occasionally a virtual toast. +Supergroup has installed and supported the Window Walls every year since.
Ballistic needed a way to reach an already extremely tech-savvy audience at the 2014 Consumer Electronics Show– and convince them to trade their existing mobile device case for a new Ballistic case.
TSG had been experimenting with the developer's version of the Rift prior to brainstorming innovative enhancements for Ballistic's booth, and it seemed like the perfect way to use the technology to show booth visitors just exactly what a mobile device endures on a daily basis.
Utilizing 360º video, TSG created a first-person simulation of a mobile device fitted with a Ballistic case getting dropped, run over by a jeep, and even going for a swim.
Not only where TSG's ideas original, they were incredibly effective. The Oculus experience, was one of the main reasons why our booth stayed busy throughout the whole show.
75% of the participants traded their existing case in for a Ballistic one, and attendees lined up each day of the show to catch a glimpse of the Ballistic Rift experience. The booth caused such a stir that Oculus representatives were even telling CES attendees to go by the Ballistic booth to check out the magic.
Leo Burnett came to +Supergroup with an incredibly daunting challenge... help Coca-Cola unite India and Pakistan. The plan seemed simple enough – create two video-enhanced, interactive, touch screen Coke machines that would allow users separated by hundreds of miles (and decades of warfare) to share a meaningful, eye to eye experience in real time. While many agencies would have settled for a glorified, Skype-like video conference, the TSG/Leo Burnett team aspired to create a never seen before, eye-to-eye interaction that would produce the kind of emotion one can only experience in a face to face moment.
When hands touched, Cokes were dispensed to the users on each side, who would in many instances “toast” their newfound friend as if they were standing just a few inches away. The two users viewed a full size video stream of each other and were prompted with different interactive activities. These activities include both users touching hands and tracing the shape of a peace sign together. At one point, a group of a hundred people in India spontaneously began dancing in front of their machine, which prompted the group in Pakistan to follow right along.
The machines that +Supergroup developed weren’t just interactive, they were interpersonal. In the end, the experience proved to be so realistic that people focused more on the person “standing” right in front of them than on the huge technical lift that went into making the experience possible. The technology faded into the background and empowered two cultures to realize that more things in life unite them than divide them.
Arguably the most significant piece of work Coca-Cola will execute this year... this is brave and important work from brave and important marketers. This work will simply be the very best campaign of my career to date. The 'HillTop' of our time. And I don't say that lightly.
Wow!! Such an incredibly simple but powerful idea. Thank you for driving cultural leadership.
+Supergroup was asked to create an attention grabbing interactive activity for Mellow Mushroom's annual conference, so we delivered a fresh, mind watering experience we call the "Mellow Mushroom Mind Slice". Presented on a large, HD display, the user sits down to see an empty, dimly lit stage, set for a rock band. The user then places a NeuroSky Mindwave on their head, and within a few short seconds, their mind begins to control the rock show – both musically and visually.
The sensor can measure levels of attention and focus as independent values. Since these values can change rapidly overtime, we calibrated our app to gauge averages in short intervals, and modify the output of the screen and speakers accordingly. If the participant is relaxed, but not very focused, they won't hear the intricate fingerpicking guitar riff, and the lights will remain somewhat dim... however, occasional puffs of magical pizza baking steam will appear and briefly form the shape of one of Mellow Mushroom's iconic characters. Additionally, the Mind Meter will reflect the relaxed state by filling up with more lava.
As the participant focuses (a good technique is to try to hum or imagine the guitar riff louder), the guitar riff is brought out louder, the meter glows a more reddish hue, and the stage lights up. Zen is achieved when the participant is able to maintain high levels of focus and relaxation, and they get the full experience. A lights show, active lava lamp display, and a full musical experience.
Tassimo, a producer of one-cup serving consumer-based hot beverage systems, launched the new BrewBot system in 2011. With objectives of driving product awareness, trial and sales, Tassimo contracted Pierce Promotions to create a pop-up cafe experience in SOHO, NYC. Pierce again called on +Supergroup to create an innovative experience that would engage users and interactively enhance the BrewBot event.
Excited to take on this experiential challenge, +Supergroup created a highly-innovative gesture-based two-minute barista game whereby users were tasked with brewing a variety of BrewBot coffee blends for demanding guests at a house party. The end result was a zero-downtime game that Tassimo customers loved.
The BrewBot game worked seamlessly from promo launch to promo end. As a matter of fact, this complex game build reflected a stability usually associated with much lower-tech activations. And since actresses Eva Longoria and Elizabeth Mitchell (aka Juliette from Lost) were on hand at the cafe's opening ceremony, the Brewbot game enjoyed some great celebrity interaction, as well!
The US Department of State (DOS) has many divisions that help them achieve their worldwide mission. One of these divisions is the ESL (English as a Second Language), whose program, "Access English," helps teach the English language to over half a million non-American students across the globe.
In order to better reach today's younger crowd, DOS partnered with +Supergroup to develop a new game-based learning program called, "Trace Effects." DOS wanted to create something groundbreaking that would combine gaming and immersive language learning techniques to help the Access English program "change the game" with a long-term, first-to-market product.
Our vision was to create a multi-channel program utilizing web, mobile, desktop applications and print. Students would interact with the language learning through a 3D adventure game available online (or offline as an executable), single and multi-player language challenge games and exercises, and even graphic novels!
Trace Effects was piloted in Saudi Arabia, Turkey, Brazil, Russia, Korea and South Africa. The feedback from the students was unanimous: "This is how we like to learn English. We want more Trace Effects!"
7-Eleven® needed a clever way to promote a piping hot line of new specialty coffees. They teamed up with Ketchum and +Supergroup and ended up with the highest coupon redemption rate in the company's history. Promising the opportunity to wake up next to a 'Hot Brazilian,' The 711 Club let 'players' practice their cheesiest of pickup lines on streaming HD videos of the type of Brazilian beauties that are normally too self-absorbed to be approached in real life.
Each character had a different personality — from a self-loathing vampire to a Casanova patterned after Antonio Banderas. Visitors could expect a different response to each of their questions from each person, admiring their beauty all along. Part of the fun was seeing if these chance encounters would lead to a slap on the face or the threat of being blogged about.
Those who made it through — and site visitors stayed a minimum of 7 minutes — got a coupon for a free cup of 7 Eleven's Brazilian Bold. The caffeinated buzz generated by the 711 club won the site a Favorite Website Award as well as being named a Webby honoree.
Arris, a $1.4 billion a year global communications technology leader, had a problem with their conference presence. Their massive conference / convention display, termed "The Great Wall," was becoming way too expensive to operate and maintain. Arris had been using The Great Wall for years to showcase their portfolio of hardware offerings, and it required a 53-foot-wide event footprint and a sizable number of personnel to manage. Frustrated with the expense, Arris turned to +Supergroup for help.
Working closely with the Arris team, TSG created a 3D game-like digital experience that allowed conference attendees to explore and interact with Arris's vast product and service offerings in a virtual environment. Potential customers were able to immerse themselves in the Arris world, interacting virtually with each product. As users found products that fit their needs, they could instantly input a request for more information about that exact product using an on-screen keyboard.
This visceral experience allowed sales people to interact more casually with the customer without needing to drag them from one end of the room to another, and saved the company over $180,000 per show in shipping, travel, signage, printing, and personnel.
For their 15th anniversary re-launch, weather.com wanted to show its most loyal advertisers all the cool things the new weather.com could do. But they didn't want to hand out the same old run of the mill corporate tchotchkes that typically fill any given ad buyer's desk.
In our initial brainstorming sessions, we began to consider how people from the "pre-weather.com era" would imagine people of the future (meaning now) getting the kind of personalized forecast available at weather.com today. Our conversations kept coming back to those beloved, awkward gadgets from Dick Tracy comic strips.
So to deliver on that feeling, we scooped up some awesome wristwatch radios from the 80s—complete with full size retractable antennas—and packaged them as if they were the next iPhone killer. A fake, full color user's manual touted all the unbelievable things the watch was supposed to be able to do. After reading through a few of watch's features the joke was revealed, along with the clever twist that all the fake features on the watch were the actual features of the new weather.com.
Each package included a promo code and a link to a mini-site where ad buyers could register for a chance to win a top of the line Tag Heuer watch. Over 40% of WeatherWatch recipients registered for the Tag Heuer giveaway.
