Auto enthusiasts and music lovers were provided with a unique experience during the South by Southwest Music Festival thanks to an effort from global design and technology firm Vectorform and Fiat’s brand agency, Impatto. The brand experience, which took place at the FADER Fort by Fiat, allowed users to create their own mosaic of Fiat brand images blended with photos submitted by concert-goers and clips of FADER artists, all coming together on a giant video wall. After sending the Fiat brand image kaleidoscopes, created on a touch screen, to the video wall, users could interact with the wall, which was powered by Windows 7 with Kinect technology, through motion.
How The Fiat 500 Brand Experience Works
Several factors were at play here. On a touch screen, users were given Fiat brand images and the ability to combine them in any way they chose in order to create a Fiat brand kaleidoscope.
- Fiat Brand Experience
- Choosing Assets in the Fiat 500 Brand Experience
Once the user was finished combining assets from the Fiat 500, they could “Start the Kaleidoscope” to view their images in motion. If they were satisfied with the end result, they could then send their creations to the giant video wall.
- The Fiat 500 Brand Experience Kaleidoscope
But the experience didn’t end with sending the kaleidoscope images to the video wall. From there, users could go on to interact hands-free with all wall content in what is, according to a Vectorform blog post, “…one of the world’s largest vision-based Natural User Interfaces.”
The Content On The Wall
Wall content consisted not only of the Fiat 500 brand image kaleidoscopes, but also of clips and videos of FADER artists, as well as pictures submitted by concert attendees. The Fiat 500 Brand Experience did not run with the concerts happening at FADER — that is, it did not utilize the live music — but it ran simultaneously in the FADER Fort by Fiat. Those who were present at the FADER concerts were able to send mobile content to the wall in near-real time (after it was checked for appropriateness).
The wall itself was powered by Kinect and Windows 7, so users could interact with all content hands-free through motion. Vectorform used this same technology recently at the North American International Auto Show when they gave auto show attendees the opportunity to interact with Fiat 500 brand images through motion. This video (from the NAIAS) demonstrates the use of motion to interact with brand images on the video wall and is quite similar to what SXSW participants were able to do with the Fiat 500 Brand Experience.
Image Source: Alison Weber of Vectorform
