There’s famous, and then there’s cereal-box-portrait famous.

Gaming influencers sample a taste of the latter in a retro campaign touting the latest Elite wireless controllers for Microsoft’s Xbox. Trailer Park’s Mutiny crafted the :45 below, which spoofs breakfast ads of the ’80s and ’90s (fairly accurately) and boasts a silly earworm jingle.

Gamers Myth, Loserfruit and Chica appear, while an anthropomorphic Elite Series 2 controller—portrayed as a prize inside one of the boxes—struts around working magic.

Loserfruit. She even sounds like a cereal.

It’s notable that even in the esports era, pre-internet nods to celebrity—such as athlete pics on packaging—retain a certain gravitas. The same dynamic drove Hulu’s ads with LaMelo Ball last year.

“This campaign gets to the core of what the Elite Series 2 product family represents exceptional performance, customization, and durability to play like a pro,” says Courtney Luk, integrated marketing manager at Xbox “There’s an Elite controller for every passionate gamer. No matter what games you like to play, the controller provides you with the best experience for your gaming style.”

To that end, Xbox says casual players—those who enjoy Minecraft on weekends or dabbled in Diablo IV demos—make up the target audience, along with hardcore gamers.

Mutiny also created customized controllers and cereal boxes for key content creators, and the campaign will play heavily across social media.

“It was an incredibly fun challenge to bring the unique personality of each of the controllers to life through our visual design and campaign,” says Mutiny associate creative director Claire Zimmerman. “We wanted to capture the essence of what makes each controller unique, while still maintaining a cohesive brand identity, which aligned perfectly with the metaphor of cereal flavors.”

Tania Verduzco and Adrián Pérez—Barcelona-based partners in life, known professionally as the directing duo Los Pérez—have a way of turning every commercial they make into an epic surging with cinematic energy.

Their latest spot, “Going All the Way” for Tinder via Mischief @ No Fixed Address, opens on a couple sharing a first kiss. It’s so intense, they both float out of their shoes and into the air, embarking on a relationship with their feet rarely touching the ground.

“The Getaway Driver,” a slick trailer for the Xbox game Forza Horizon 5 from 215 McCann, features actor and former professional soccer player Cristo Fernández (who plays Dani Rojas on the Apple+ series Ted Lasso). In the ad, he portrays both the driver and passenger on a wild, high-speed adventure, culminating in a street race with Colombian singer Karol G.

Spots and branded content for Paramount+, Coca-Cola, Diet Coke, Taco Bell and others similarly blend bold narratives with colorful art direction and visual flair. 

Not surprisingly, these imaginative directors, who have collaborated for a decade, are planners who enjoy working out the intricacies of scenes and crafting detailed storyboards before their cameras roll.  

“For directors, shooting is almost like a drug because it’s intense,” Adrián says. “You’re basically coming from zero, from being in your house, from your ordinary life—and then jumping into the craziness of pre-production and production. And that kind of rush is very addictive.”

Below, the pair (represented by Biscuit Filmworks in the United States, Grayskull in Spain, The Lift in Mexico, Caviar in the U.K. and Solab in France) talk about creating worlds where almost anything is possible. They touch on the benefits of co-directing and the fateful meeting that led to their relationship and the formation of Los Pérez.

MUSE: Let’s talk about your latest work, the Tinder campaign, which includes “Going All the Way.” What was the brief like?

Tania: It was a little too straightforward because it was about a couple making out in different spots of the house. That was the main brief. And then, of course, you discovered that they went on their honeymoon. So, the concept was, after the swipe, it’s not only a one-night stand. You can have more commitment, or find that person.

But, you know, for us, because we’re also a couple, we were talking about, “How can we start a couple make out?” We thought, everything starts with the first kiss, right? The first kiss is when you know if that person is the one or not.

So, we said, okay, we have to find that first kiss. And then everything was based on poetry, or a metaphor for how when you are making out, you don’t hear a noise, you don’t care if it’s raining outside, you don’t know where the staircase is, where the kitchen is, because you are just with that person, concentrating. So, it was that journey.

We thought, yeah, we can elevate that passion in a more surreal way, through magical realism.

Did you work with a choreographer on the Tinder spot?

Tania: We did not have a choreographer. We had to work with the actors, kind of see the choreography with them. 

Adrián: We wanted to have two or three highlights in terms of performance. It was like a story map in a way. It was: We want to start here, we want to have this moment here, and that moment there. That was one of the tricky parts of the job. We wanted to have the continuity of the story, of the movement. So, we had very technical shots. It was a bit challenging connecting everything in a way that felt continuous, kind of natural.

There’s lots of movement in the things you make. I love how the guy takes a sip of a Coke in “Open That Coca-Cola” [a Wieden+Kennedy London spot featuring the music of Tyler the Creator] and breaks into a jerky dance. Is he really dancing that way, or did you speed up his moves?

Tania: We worked a lot for that. We started developing choreography, and the idea was to feel possessed by the Coke. Just take that sip and suddenly [experience] something that you cannot control. But we wanted to do it in camera with actors. We worked with great choreographers [Zoyi Lindy and Supple Nam] in South Africa.

So, you cast dancers for the spot?

Tania: That was a must. Except for the vendor at the very end, who was an actor.

Adrián: That was the only trick that we did impose in terms of the dancing because we [filmed] somebody else dancing, and we put [the actor’s head] on top of that [dancer]. It was the only way, because we really liked the actor’s face, his performance. It was a compromise.

How much of your work is shot practically vs. computer-generated? Do you have a preference, or do you go with whatever works best?

Adrián: We shoot a lot in camera. Obviously, these days, post production is an incredible ally for accomplishing crazy shots. But we try to accomplish as much as we can in camera basically because we always feel, as directors, that if you didn’t shoot it, it doesn’t count.

Tania: Or it’s not yours.

Adrián: It’s like you [can] rely too much on post.

Tania: Or we at least shoot a lot of plates, a lot of stuff, so we can build in post, but based always on reality, because we care about the textures, about the lighting. [Plates are individual shots composited by VFX artists to create scenes.]

There are wow moments in everything you make—like the green, S-shaped staircase in A$AP Rocky’s fictional NYC home in the Klarna spot. I assume people come to you looking for lots of creative visual ideas and wow moments.

Tania: Yes, pretty much. A$AP Rocky’s symbol is the dollar [sign]. So, we thought, yeah, of course, if this is his house, the staircase should represent that.

Did you build that beautiful, green-carpeted staircase for real?

Adrián: We couldn’t build it completely. We built half the staircase and mirrored half and created it [in post]. It was a tricky process. We shot it in plates, and we managed to do it in post with the help of [VFX studio] No.8.

Tania: We knew exactly what we needed to build because of the perspective and because of the shape. 

It seems like you never take an easy job. Everything you do requires intense planning and effort.

Adrián: When you are lucky to work with clients that really want to push it, and they give you freedom, that’s when, for directors, the work is really stunning. When you have so many restrictions, the final result is losing something. It’s losing ambition, it’s losing…

Tania: Personality.

Adrián: Yeah. So, we always try really hard to make something special.

Can you tell me about your individual backgrounds, and why were you interested in filmmaking?

Tania: I was born in Mexico City, and I studied communications, but always was really involved in theater and dance. I did a lot of theater. And then at some point I shot a short film, and that film was recognized, and I said, ‘Oh my God, that’s what I want to do. I want to shoot movies.’ So, the only way to do it was to find a place [to study film]. Barcelona was the place. Also, I wanted to travel to Europe because I love European movies.

Adrián: I’m from Spain, and I was a terrible student. A really, really bad student. For me, school was jail. I was always fantasizing. I was drawing a lot of comic books when I was little. I had that need of telling stories. My motivation was watching Blade Runner. I remember the day when I first watched Blade Runner I was blown away by the ending speech by Rutger Hauer. I was like, “That’s the most beautiful thing I’ve ever seen in my life.” I want to do something like that. That’s why I decided to leave my hometown and move to Barcelona to study cinema.

Do you remember the first time you met, or became aware of each other?

Adrián: The first time we saw each other was in a club.

Tania: We didn’t know we were studying in the same program.

Adrián: Yeah, because she was going [to class] in the morning, and I was going in the afternoon. And she skipped a class one morning.

Tania: So I went to the afternoon class, and the teacher loved to put frames [on display] randomly, and you could guess which movie it was. I saw the frame of this kid with a snow sled, and I was like: Citizen Kane! 

Adrián: I was like, who was that nerd? And then I was like, oh, the girl from the club. But we didn’t talk. And one day my editor—we were doing this crappy short film—told me, “Hey, I’m also editing a short I like even more than yours.” And I was like, “Hold on one second—I need to watch it.” He played it, and it was actually cooler than my short film. And then Tania stepped in the room [it was her film], and I was like, “Oh, hello.”

Tania: And here we are.

Did you immediately work on projects together?

Tania: We didn’t start co-directing [at first]. We started with writing, or giving ideas to each other. And it worked. And then Adrián had a band, a really good band, and we started doing their music videos. 

Adrián: At some point we said, “Hey, we really enjoy working together. Why don’t we just direct together?” And we did, little by little mastering co-direction because it’s not an easy thing to do, especially when you are young, and you think you are right all the time, and you don’t really see the vision of the other director. So, it’s a process. Finally, I think we understood how to work together. And now, it’s our life.

How do you collaborate on something like Tinder? Do you start creating together and then divvy up duties? Or are you always working on every element together? I assume how you work also depends on the project.

Adrián: Yeah, it depends on the project for sure. On set, I enjoy being with the DP and working on the lighting and the shots, and Tania is with the actors and their direction. But we really enjoy working on the whole thing. It’s not like we split completely and say, “Hey, you focus on this, and I focus on that.” We’ve merged all the ideas.

Tania: We split the duties just to have a smooth and fast shoot. We are both perfectionists. 

Adrián: It’s about trust.

Tania: Absolutely. And then it’s just like, “Hey, Adrián, let’s change the lens because I don’t feel that this is the right lens. Let’s do that. Perfect.” Or, “Something’s not working with the actor,” and he steps in. It’s about how can we make it better, how can we improve the other one’s work.

Adrián: Having her perspective on every single job makes me a better director. And, hopefully, I can help her, too.

Tania: The good thing about co-directing is we learn from each other. Always.

A talking plush Series S gaming console in an Xbox commercial? It better be sassy!

Of course it is, as comedian Jimmy O. Yang discovers in a two-minute film from 215 McCann that’s all about “Nowstalgia.” Directed in surreal sitcom style by Ryan Staake, the spot seeks to evoke fun memories for Gen Z and lure new gamers to Xbox for Fall Guys, Rocket League, Fortnite and so forth.

Yang’s superlative sissy-scream around the :10 mark is worth the price of admission. And his “stunt double,” who skulks around aimlessly, nearly steals the show.

They work the ad-within-an-ad format for all its worth, with ample jokes and clever touches to please loyal fans and the uninitiated alike. (Those gilded grapes are pure gold!)

This kind of self-aware stuff could’ve easily gone off the rails—or straight-up sucked from the jump. But it doesn’t. In fact, it’s pretty great! Yang, of Silicon Valley and Space Force fame, nails the bemused everydude role, generating sublime, silly chemistry with his chatty pliable pal. 

Xbox created limited-edition versions of the cushiony console, complete with Series S audio hype messages. They’re earmarked for influencers, because celebrity has its privileges.

Elsewhere, the brand doubles down on “Nowstalgia,” sans Jimmy or Plushie, in social videos designed to emulate old-school toy commercials:

And photographer Jax Navarro, aka @PlaticAction, crafted content with toys and tiny props that capture the essence of classic games:

 

 

 

 

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@plasticaction ? BTS from my latest Rocket League piece for @xbox! #XboxSeriesS #SimplyNextGen #RocketLeague Huge thanks to @urthlings ♬ original sound – Jax Navarro

 

 

 

 

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@plasticaction ? BTS from my Fall Guys piece in collaboration with @Xbox ! My living room was in chaos for a few weeks but it was well worth it! ? #XboxSeriesS #SimplyNextGen #FallGuys ♬ original sound – Jax Navarro

CREDITS

Title: Xbox Series S Nowstalgia Campaign (Game With Me Series S, Fall Guys, Overwatch)
Product: Platform
Brand: Microsoft Xbox

Client: Microsoft
Director, Xbox Integrated Marketing: Josh Munsee
Integrated Marketing Manager, Xbox: Courtney Luk
Senior Global Product Marketing Manager, Xbox Platform Marketing: Bree Adams
Director, Xbox Brand and Marketing: Craig McNary
Senior Director Product Marketing, Xbox: Cindy Walker

Agency: 215 McCann
Chief Creative Officer: Scott Duchon
Creative Director: Brad Meyers
ACD/Art Director: Kyle Johnson
ACD/Copywriter: Zack Johnson
BTS Social Creative Director (Super Digital): Spencer Kupish
Copywriter: Ian Forsyth
Copywriter: Amy Char
Art Director: Maddy Thompson
Director of Integrated Production: Whitney Ferris
Senior Producer: Nina Ulbrich
Director of Business Affairs: Mary Beth Barney
Business Director: Peter Goldstein
Account Director: Sunni York
Assistant Account Executive: Akshaya Sridharan
Executive Strategy Director: Sam Chotiner
Strategy Director: Ryan Riley
Senior Strategist: Caitlin O’Malley

Production Company: Pomp & Clout
Director: Ryan Staake
Director of Photography: Kristian Zuniga
Production Designer: Daria Savic
P&C Executive Producer: Ryen Bartlett
P&C EP & Head of Production: Kevin Staake
P&C Line Producer: Doug Smith
P&C Production Manager: Brian Sabowski
Common Good EP: Stefani Kouverianos, Dwight Phipps
Common Good Coordinator: Syd Beaumont
Producer: Jeff So
Production Manager: Meika Wagner
Production Coordinator: Mason George
Talent Coordinator: Wendy Vuu
1st Assistant Director: Billy Shand
2nd Assistant Director: Bree Ahmed
Aspiring Director: Tziara Reyes Herrera
Aspiring DP: Kimberley Brown
1st AC: Eric Scweiger
2nd AC: David Shin
3rd AC/Camera Trainee: Alex Acton Jones
VTR/DIT: Michael Flax
Photographer: Tyler Hayward
Gaffer: Ed Kopp
BBE: Tyson Erb
Electric: Andrea Hernandez, Andre Mike
Key Grip: Martin Kenji
BBG: Koadie Preston
Grip: Simon Stunt, Mike Dach
Wardrobe: Skye Kelton
Wardrobe: Assist Talia Godin
Manicurist: Natalia Dolzycki
Mua Tattoo: Viktor Peters
Animal Wrangler: Tamara Conway, Tracey Hill
Animal Handler: Suzana Vecchiarelli, Rob & Deb Mahon
Script Supervisor: Laura Herriott
Buyer: Nicole Zimmer
Assist Buyer: Hannah Hollatz
Art Coordinator: Ysabel Seclen
Props: Allen Pavela
Miniature Builders: Katie Redikopp, Vasylya Shudryk, Emily Dickinson
Set Dresser: Nathan Rideout
Carpenters: Max Castro, Andy Eliopoulos, Dave Sandink
Food Stylist: Kelly Jabbaz
Sustainability: Christopher Buckner
Medic: Isaac Soleiman
Covid Super: Sebastian Mellasastre
Covid Assist: Aquiles Serdan
Craft Front: Manuela Lima, Mo Kapasi
Craft Chef: Biju Kumar
Wardrobe Trailer Driver: Roy Vaughan
Key PA (Cube): Yianni Demiatriadis, Eric Tanguay
PA Driver (Runner): Emma Hesson
PA: Hannah Bergstein, Liam Parkins, Rynn Floors
Drivers: Marcel Syncs and Orland V

Post Production: Pomp & Clout
Editor (IP Films): Jay McConville
Editor (Game With Me): Zach Stone
Assistant Editor: Maddy Leshner
Producer: Misha Kozlov
Creative Director: Aaron Vinton
Cel Animation: Stephanie Simpson
Comp Lead: Jesse Newman
Compositor (GWM): Pete Puskas
Comp Production: Helen Newman
Color Producers: Heath Raymond, Evan Bauer @ Rare Medium
Colorists: Fergus Mccall and Ayumi Ashley

Plastic Action Stills
Photographer: Jax Navarro
Set Designer: Tracy Ealdama

Music:
Overwatch and Fall Guys: Squeak E Clean
Game With Me: Asche & Spencer, Artlist, Pond5, Premium Beat 

Sound Design and Mix: Barking Owl 
Sound Design and Mix: Elizabeth McClanahan
Audio Assistant: Mikayla Petersen
Executive Producer: Ashley Benton
Creative Director: Kelly Bayett

PlayStation ‘Play Has No Limits feat. Kenshi Yonezu’

The Sony PlayStation tagline “Play Has No Limits” was relatively unknown in Japan. To familiarize the market with it, the brand partnered with Kenshi Yonezu—with over 4 billion views and over 6 million subscribers on YouTube, more than any other Japanese musician—who shares an affinity with the PlayStation DNA.

PlayStation launched a branded film and Yonezu’s music video, featuring his song “Pop Song” written for PlayStation and an original character designed and portrayed by Kenshi Yonezu himself. The film follows the character who pushes the boundaries by wielding a playful mind rather than weapons, acting out the spirit of “Play Has No Limits.”

Free Fire ‘The Real Air Drop’

In the mobile game Free Fire, planes fly by and drop items. This campaign replicated that in real life, using real flight data as well as users’ geolocation in real-time. When a real plane flew by their house, a user could point their phone to the sky and collect an airdrop that would go straight to their in-game wallet.

Xbox ‘Therapeutic Play’

The charity Gamers Outreach partnered with Xbox to create “Therapeutic Play,” a reinvention of gaming as a tool to aid recovery for children in hospitals by helping to lower anxiety and stress levels. Xbox, working with McCann London, created The Kart—part console, part hospital equipment, with medical-grade materials for sanitation, ergonomic trays for hospital devices, lift/swivel screen mechanism to help those with impaired mobility and a shape that works with other hospital furniture.

With all the talk about robots taking human jobs, Pringles created a contest where the tables are turned.

With help from Grey London, Pringles is offering gamers a chance to work in a video game as an NPC (non-player character), refilling Pringles vending machines. Think Free Guy, but add £20,000 (close to $25,000) to your bank account.

The winner will appear in Train Sim World, a train simulation game available via Xbox Game Pass.

Applicants have until July 6 to post a selfie or video and 50 words or less on Instagram, Twitter or Facebook, using the hashtag #PringlesStayInTheGame and tagging @Pringles_UK, to plead their case as to why they would be the ideal Pringles vending machine stocker.

Fifty finalists will be selected, and the winning entry will have their likeness 3-D modeled and reproduced for their September role in Train Sim World.

The contest is running throughout Europe with a focus on the U.K., France, Germany, Italy and Spain.

A talking vending machine came to The Green in Boxpark Shoreditch to interview humans IRL. It’s only fair, right? More than 100 people applied for the NPC job. The vending machine was voiced by comedian Ian Smith.

In addition, a series of videos featured NPC players sounding off about being unable to apply for the Pringles gig. If they had emotion, or could move their body parts, they would be animated AND angry.

One NPC is mad because she sits on a train every day to make it look real, sans compensation. Another is grappling with the realization that his mother is actually a 22-year-old coder named Darren. “You may have given me life, Darren, but you have taken away my soul,” he moans. Decent burn for someone devoid of feeling.

We asked Christopher Lapham and Aaron McGurk, global group creative directors at Grey London, about the varying elements of the campaign.

How did you come up with the contest? 

We always want to do what hasn’t been done. Putting someone in a game has been done, but paying someone to work in one hadn’t. The overarching campaign is “Stay in the game” due to the snack being less messy to help gamers perform better. This NPC idea was a manifestation of that—stay in a game by working in one as an NPC.

The talking vending machine. Why was it important to include this element?

Having a machine interview the applicants felt like a funny idea that added to the narrative and felt like the natural thing to do. You’re applying for a job in a computer/machine world, so you should be interviewed by a machine and one that plays an integral part in the story.

Were there any challenges?

Heaps of them. Forming a partnership with the right game took a long time with a lot of back and forth going on between the game companies, the clients and the creatives. Also, most of our budget was spent on the game partnership so we had to be clever with what we had left to create more assets for the campaign. The NPC films were all created using existing game footage from Dovetail and an online A.I. voice app.

CREDITS

Client: Kellogg’s
Senior Director: Kelly Rafferty
European Marketing Director: Stephen Duggan
European Marketing Manager: Aisling O’Hara
Senior Brand Manager: David Juvany
Senior Digital Manager: Roisin Devine
Digital Marketing Manager: Stephen McSweeney
Senior Media Manager: Gavin McGuinness
Media Specialist: Louise Murphy
European Director – Content and Digital: Chris Wildish
Marketing Operations Manager, EMEA: Fergus Brady

Agency: Grey London
Worldwide Chief Creative Officer: Javier Campopiano
President & CCO: Laura Jordan Bambach
ECD: David Wigglesworth
Global Group CDs: Christopher Lapham & Aaron McGurk
Associate Creative Directors: Angela Harding & Terry O’Neill
CSO: Raquel Chicourel
Planning Partner: Lee Barber
Senior Planner: Gilliam Caldwell Dunn
Managing Partner: Agi Varanyi
Group Business Director: Tamsine Foggin
Account Director: James Kenrick
Account Manager: Danielle Webb
Executive Producer: Nazneen Read
Agency Producer: Jack Pethurst
Agency Producer: India Smith
Project Manager: Daniela De Lisi
Designer: Tyrone Zall
Editor: Ollie Flux
Artwork: Nigel Miller

Console Partner: Xbox
EMEA partnership lead: Gordon Donald 
MIAI brand partnerships Managing director: Claudine Harris 
MIAI brand partnerships Partnership manager: Kali Ketchen 

Game Partner: Dovetail Games
VP of Marketing: Keith Anderson
Head of Creative Services: Roxy Francis
Assistant Producer: Catriona Barber

Media Agency: Carat
Planning Partner: Greg Paterson
Client Director: James Morgan
Senior Creation Manager: Lauren Paterson

“Twenty years of Xbox is a massive occasion, and we wanted to give the anniversary the attention it deserves,” Active Theory strategist Eddie Benson tells Muse. “Given that the Xbox audience itself is familiar with 3-D environments and gamification, an interactive museum was a great fit. The venue—or ‘microverse,’ as we refer to it—is a connected space designed for the community. Users join together in the same space as they explore the museum, making it memorable for all.”

In terms of look, feel and functionality, “we didn’t fixate too much on museums or galleries,” so prevalent in the online space during Covid times, Benson says.

Instead, the team drew inspiration from its recent 3-D digital work on behalf of the Sundance Film Festival. “This included being mindful of having the camera view high enough to see content with other avatars in front, making the museum footprint massive to fill the frame, and varying the size of different content to represent a hierarchy of information,” Benson says.

“We started with moments and visuals that we felt would resonate and be nostalgic for Xbox fans,” he adds. “This involved looking at how the graphics and visuals of different generations of Xbox over the years, ranging from the evolving UI in the menu screens to iconic games themselves.”

Along with achievements, the museum features missteps and foibles, such as the infamous “Red Ring of Death” flashing power-button lights that indicate system errors requiring service.

“Honoring this moment is an honest and refreshing take on what’s otherwise an uplifting branded experience,” Benson says.

The Halo-themed section provides upbeat highlights, arriving amid a major reboot of the game, trumpeted in recent ads from agency 215 McCann:

In the gaming community, the museum’s personal wing has clearly struck a chord, with sundry fans and commentators chiming in. Isaiah Colbert’s take on Kotaku proves delightfully pithy and trenchant, as he writes:

Like I said—we are what we play. Thankfully, we mature and grow. (Most of us, anyway.) Over time, tastes change, and players yearn for fresh challenges and deeper connections. Which Xbox oh-so-addictively provides. When the red rings flip to green, gamers and games evolve together. 

CREDITS

MICROSOFT
Director of Digital Engagement, Xbox – Miriam Vargas
Senior Marketing Manager, Xbox – Henry Liu
Senior Marketing Manager, Xbox – Kevin Hooper
Director of Digital Engagement, Xbox – Ryan Klingler
Senior Franchise Manager, Halo – Corrinne Robinson
Principal Data Engineer, TCS – Swapnil Gosawi
Azure Architect, TCS – Hugh McGough
Systems Design Engineer, TCS – Jacob Stewart
Marctech Director, TCS – Nishant Mohan
Content Director, ten100 – Andrew Stephan
Senior Content Manager, Ten Gun Design – Jessica Rose Fabroa
Senior Content Manager, Ten Gun Design – Erin Treat

ACTIVE THEORY CREDITS

DESIGN
Creative Director – Andy Thelander
Design Director – Sean Hobman
Senior Dreamwave Designer – Aaron Kim
Senior Art Director & 3D/Motion Designer – Thieb Delaporte-Richard
Design Lead – Isaac Garcia
3D Artist – Mo Elkholti

DEVELOPMENT
Technical Director – Mike Chang
Interactive Director – Michael Anthony
Technical Artist – Michael Sungaila
Front End Developer – Luis Henrique Bizarro
Front End Developer – Jonatas Santos
Junior Front End Developer – Andrew Alva
Junior Back End Developer – Kazi Jawad

PRODUCTION
Senior Producer – Kate Blair
Senior Producer – Matt Murkidjanian
Strategist – Eddie Benson
Director of Client Services – Cassie Jackson

Loneliness among the elderly is on the rise, with one in three suffering from it. Age U.K. finds that a million older people go a month or more without speaking to anyone, and isolation has only gotten worse since Covid-19.

Microsoft’s Xbox is seeing what it can do to help. Along with McCann London, it’s launched “Beyond Generations,” which explores how gaming can improve real-world relationships, especially between family members who are divided not only by space but by time.

The objective is for young people to teach older people how to game. And in so doing, they get to know them over the meditative course of their shared virtual journey.

Meet Mary and Jason.

“I’m looking forward to learning how to play video games with him. Whether it would help me to get to know him better or not, I’m hoping. I’m really hoping,” Mary, the elderly family member, says at the video’s start.

Over the course of weeks, playing games like Minecraft, Sea of Thieves, and Forza, we see them chat openly about Mary’s life.

“Any sort of activity where you’re engaging with someone else, it instantly sparks a time opportunity just to talk,” Jason adds.

The video “Howard and Dhillon” explores those same dynamics with a guy even younger than Jason. It also addresses the challenge of Covid in a more direct way and tacitly addresses the difference between video calls, which tend to be surface-oriented and perfunctory, and the experience of gaming together, where you can really get to know one another over a deep, collaborative process.

“I think the best way to improve a relationship is to learn something together,” Dhillon says.

Despite stereotypes about how gaming increases isolation, much has been said this past year about how it actually creates safe community space, especially when people can’t otherwise congregate or interact normally.

“Isolation and loneliness are topics brought into sharp focus in present times, particularly for the elderly,” says Michael Flatt, director of global integrated marketing at Xbox. “It’s important that we shine a light on the problem, and we’re proud to bring this initiative into realization with the hope of making a step toward renewing family connections and democratizing gaming for everyone.” 

As a supplement to the campaign, Xbox is introducing a “ReBoxing” initiative, which subverts the trend of unboxing videos by getting gamers to re-box old consoles to share with elderly family members. An accompanying three-step guide walks them through the process, encouraging them to add gift messages and product tags that make it easier for recipients to understand what each item does and how it fits together.

Xbox also partnered with multiple charities dedicated to supporting the elderly right now, including Age U.K. and Age International.

“This initiative is close to our hearts because it shows the power gaming has to make a genuine difference in people’s lives,” says Sanjiv Mistry, executive creative director at McCann London. “And the more people who take up the call and start reboxing their old consoles and giving them to their grandparents, the more those siloes of loneliness start to break down. We’re honored to partner with Xbox to help nudge families a little bit closer together.” 

This isn’t the first time Xbox has explored the out-of-the-box potential of its own services. Early last year it created travel guides that blurred the real and virtual worlds … and in December, it explored the lucid dreams of influencers after their gaming experiences.

CREDITS

McCann London
Laurence Thomson – Chief Creative Officer McCann UK and Co-President, McCann London
Rob Doubal – Chief Creative Officer McCann UK and Co-President, McCann London
Jamie Mietz – Executive Creative Director
Sanjiv Mistry – Executive Creative Director
James Crosby – Senior Creative 
William Cottam – Senior Creative 
Lisa Carrana – Head of design
David Coates – Designer
Jonathan Bender – Senior Planner
Mike Phillips – Senior Planner
Jessica Tamsedge – Managing Director
Sailesh Jani – Managing Partner  
Oscar Flintoft – Business Director
Melanie Vickers – Account Director
May Sinlapa – Senior Account Manager 
Eloise Thompson – Account Associate
Clare Prager – Project Director
Georgia Wettenhall – Senior Project Manager

Production agency (Craft)
Chief Production Officer – Sergio Lopez
Head of Integrated Production – Sophie Chapman-Andrews
Executive Producer – Alec Christie
Senior Producer – Zara Balfour
Head of Post Production – Pedro Pinto 
Post Producer – Jamie Cooper
Producer – Sarah Hall
Senior Print Producer – Liam White
Print Producer – Steve Tester
Production Business Affairs – Val Boyce and Molly Strasser

Production Company Credits
Production Company – Craft 
Director – Chris Fowles
Producer – Zara Balfour
Director of Photography – Terrence Wilkins
Composer – Chris Davey
Editor – Alex Young @ Craft
Assistant Producer – Toby Burden  
Assistant Editor – Ashley Joiner @ Craft
Assistant Camera – Marti Guiver & Luke Makepeace
Sound Design & Mix – Mihai Meirosu @ Craft
Grade – Steffan Perry @ Framestore
Online Editor – Simon Hall @ Craft
Covid Supervisor – David Devine
Illustrator – Son of Alan

Actual audio recorded from the dream study features in the work, which is otherwise visually embellished by Waititi’s fine hand. For anyone with an ounce of exposure to dream logic, what MoonLiteWolf encounters and sees is appropriately alien yet relatable. We’re especially fond of the weird profundities that dreamfolk always tend to spout.

“Was I supposed to fly this whole time?” she wonders.

“You’re supposed to go wherever you go,” a glowing bunny tells her.

And of course, because she just played Halo a minute ago, Master Chief appears as a deejay with a cat head, spinning an EDM version of the Halo Monk Chant. Nice, Xbox!

Football player Odell Beckham Jr. gets the treatment next. He also gets a custom controller and some Air Force 1’s, customized to match his dreamscape and experiences. Lucky.

Last comes Steve Saylor, or BlindGamerSteve, who walks us through his dreams after playing Destiny 2: Beyond Light. In this case, 3-D spatial sound brings his basic descriptive recording to life: “Close your eyes,” Xbox tells us in its YouTube description, “and let the soundscapes of Steve’s dreams take you to Europa—and beyond.”

Each video approaches the same study in a different creative way, which is a cool touch; otherwise, listening to people’s dreams—in a scientific setting, to boot—can be a drag. Work like this also inspires a desire to explore our own liminal possibilities. It also helps if you can get a custom controller and some shoes out of the deal.

The video below loosely describes the science and procedures used, and summarizes the campaign nicely.

All this is designed to remind you that “the next generation of Xbox consoles is what dreams are made of—literally.” We’ll ignore that trite little PR pretext and focus instead on the overall coolness of this work: It provided creative collaborators with a unique experience, and was clearly fun for the agency and team to work on. Some effort was made to make this interesting for viewers. Lastly, exposing more people to lucid dreaming, especially in a time when so much already feels like a chaotic waking dream, is more of a social plus than a minus.

If you’re looking for a more coherent justification for its existence, we like OBJ’s observation: “Gaming to me is like being in a dream world. It takes you to a whole ‘nother place.” Having lost whole days and nights to No Man’s Sky, we know this to be true.

A few other creative efforts support these core videos. Artist Quentin Deronzier created a series of digital artworks inspired by Stallion83‘s dreams, themselves heavily influenced by Assassin’s Creed Valhalla. And digital creator Johanna Joskowska created AR social filters that enabled fans to load different game-themed experiences from Emericagirl24‘s dreams, which playfully explore aspects of Cyberpunk 2077. 

Both the Xbox Series X and Xbox Series S are available globally, just in time for the holidays.

CREDITS

Campaign title: Power Your Dreams
Brand: Xbox
Creative title: Made From Dreams (content series)
Client: Microsoft Xbox

Client: Microsoft / Xbox
Xbox, Director, Brands and Advertising: Craig McNary
Xbox, Sr. Integrated Marketing Manager: Josh Munsee

Agency: 215 McCann
Chief Creative Officer: Scott Duchon
Creative Director: Nichole Geddes
ACD/Art Director: Shawn Raissi
Senior Copywriter: John Friedman
Director of Integrated Production: Mandi Holdorf
Senior Producer: Gabby Gardner
Senior Digital Producer: Neile Weeks
Producer: Christina Chin
Associate Producer: Jessie Ybarra
Director of Business Affairs: Mary Beth Barney
Business Director: Peter Goldstein
Management Supervisor: Devina Hardatt
Account Supervisor: Harold McKeon
Account Supervisor: Chris Levy
Director of Strategy: Brian Wakabayashi
Strategy Director: Ryan Riley
Senior Strategist: Christian Stewart

Lucid Odyssey (short film)
Production Company: Hungry Man
Director: Taika Waititi
Managing Director/EP: Mino Jarjoura
Director of Sales/EP: Dan Duffy
Producer: Rick Jarjoura
Director of Photography: Matthew Libatique

Editorial: Cut & Run
Editor: Steve Gandolfi
Assistant Editor: Tim Sekiguchi
Executive Producer: Deanne Mehling 
Producer: Caylee Banz 

Music
Composer: Gareth Coker

Sound Design: Trinitite
Sound Designer: Brian Emrich

Final Mix: Lime Studios
Audio Mixer: Rohan Young
Audio Assistant: Jeremy Nichols
Executive Producer: Susie Boyajan

Color: Company 3
Senior Colorist: Sean Coleman
Senior Producer: Matt Moran
Executive Producer: Ashley McKim

Visual Effects: Parliament

Digital Dream Art (cinemagraphs)
Production + Animation: La Pac
Director: Quentin Deronzier
Producer: Anna Roudaut
Post Producer: Françoise Hernandez
Supervisor: Julien Missaire
Artist CGI / Compositing : Vitaliy Havrylyuk
Artist CGI / Compositing: Alexy Prefontaine
Artist CGI / Compositing: Peter Shkolniy
Music Composer / Sound Designer: Felower

AR Dream Filters
Production:
Digital Artist: Johanna Jaskowska @johwska
Agent: Aras Sehatkar

OBJ’s Dream Kit (custom AF1s)
Client:
Xbox, Lifestyle and Pop Culture Marketing: Kumar Manix

Editorial: Cut+Run SF
Editor: Sean Fazende
Assistant Editor: Kelly Henson
Assistant Editor: Stefan Manz
Producer: Caylee Banz
Assistant Producer: Laura Hardy
Executive Producer: Deanne Mehling

Production:
Odell Beckham Jr.’s Creative Director: Ajay Sangha
Camera Crew: ITN productions
Post-Production: Jogger SF
Lead Flame Artist: Brendan Crockett
Creative Director: Andy Brown
Producer: Caylee Banz
Executive Producer: Deanne Mehling

Walking in Steve’s Dreams (3D audio)
Sound Design: Big Orange – The Audio Agency
Audio Storyline / Audio Scenario / 3D Supervision: Vincent de Koning
Sound Design / Mixing / Mastering: Vincent de Koning & Jos Jansen
Production Manager: Jolien Neperus

Animation: King & Country
Executive Producer: Jerry Torgerson
CD: Rick Gledhill
Producer: Ryan Lowrie
Animators: Austin Hyde, Arturo Perez

Made from Dreams (behind-the-science video)
Editorial & Post-Production: Craft
Producer: Philip Ohler
Editor: Devin Altobello
Editor: Matt Flamm
Graphics: Mark Yagos
Audio Mixer: Nick MacDonald

Music
Composer: Gareth Coker
Dream Study (video capture)
Production: Craft
Head of Content: Adam Hirsch
Senior Producer: Shelley Claudon
Producer: Cheng Liu
Business Affairs Manager: Meredith Thornbill
DP: John Tanner

On Nov. 5, Sony announced that due to Covid-related customer safety concerns, there would be no launch-day sales of the new PlayStation 5 console at any retail stores. And with that, gone temporarily was the beloved tradition of lining up all night with your freezing cold, early-adopting brethren, credit card in hand, to be the first to hoist the prized new console over your head in victory. Happy memories, but safety comes first during these challenging times.

Stop and think for a moment about the news cycle that the PS5 and Xbox Series X are entering as they hit the market. Then consider that the launch of Xbox One and PS4 in November 2013 had to compete with the divorce of Ashton Kutcher and Demi Moore in our collective consciousness. Halcyon times.

Indeed, Covid and political unrest have made the launch of this generation’s high-octane consoles a different kind of cultural moment. But even if 2020 had been super normal, there are still several interesting reasons why this would have been a generational kickoff unlike any other that has preceded it—and that includes the Atari 2600 vs. Mattel Intellivision war that started it all.

A Tale of Two Platforms

With every console release, Sony and Microsoft find ways to approach their new systems a little differently. An exclusive title or new game IP here, a pair of VR goggles or motion control device there—at the end of the day, it’s always been about the games for both companies. There’s a sameness to the strategies. Not so in 2020. Sony has taken the traditional “wow them with the content” approach, adopting the mindset that filling launch day with top notch AAA exclusives (Spiderman Miles Morales, Demon’s Souls, a new Final Fantasy) will win in the short term and build an insurmountable lead over the Xbox Series X. 

Microsoft, on the other hand, has a grander long-term vision for the Xbox Series X and Series S consoles. In fact, what if we told you that these high-powered, high-priced systems were nothing more than a Trojan horse? That in fact they were just a means to get gamers invested in the real endgame—buying into a highly profitable subscription service that realizes a core dream of everyone who loves video games in this digital download era.

Microsoft’s Secret Weapon

Let’s get this out in the open: Xbox Game Pass simply rocks. For the cost of dinner for one from Chick-Fil-A ordered via Postmates, you get unlimited access to an ever-growing, carefully curated library of top games. You can play them as much as you want until they’re rotated out of the service and replaced with even more cool stuff. And to really get people hooked, Microsoft has launched several of its biggest titles on the service, including Flight Simulator, Sea of Thieves and the latest Gears of War.

In sum, while gamers dreamed romantically of there one day being a true “Netflix for games,” Microsoft went ahead and built the darn thing. Enter the Xbox Series X and S—the absolute best way to enjoy what Game Pass has to offer—and the most compelling reason yet to sign up for this highly profitable subscription service that’s to be a revenue driver long after these sharp new consoles have grown dull in the eyes of fans.

First Shot Fired. Beware the Fallout

But Microsoft wasn’t done there. On Sept. 21, the folks up in Redmond proved they were playing for keeps in the battle against Sony when they acquired ZeniMax Studios and its most famous property, Bethesda Softworks, for $7.5 billion. In a flash, the phrase “well that escalated quickly” popped into the collective minds of game business analysts everywhere. Bethesda is home to some of the biggest gaming franchises in industry history, including Doom, Elder Scrolls and Fallout. Microsoft’s plan for the Bethesda content is still unclear, but the move was incredibly aggressive and proved that this game was being played at a decidedly nuclear level. The potential consequences for Sony run the gamut, but each is a different kind of awful, including:

• Will Microsoft make these huge game franchises exclusive to Xbox—walking away from hundreds of millions of dollars in PS5 game revenue just to gain a big edge on their competitor?
• Will they happily tell PS5 fans not to worry and they will absolutely be getting the new Elder Scrolls for their favorite system … two years after it launches for the Xbox Series X? 
• Will Sony fanboys and fangirls ever stop calling on their company to go buy Rockstar Games or Konami … anything to stick it to Microsoft and show that they won’t lie down in the face of such aggression?

The answers are yet to be revealed. But one thing is certain, Xbox chief Phil Spencer has been wearing a Cheshire cat grin since the acquisition.

A Stalemate in the Battle of the Ads. Then One Pulls Ahead

New consoles mean new budgets and fresh ads, and out of the gate, glossy spots from both companies felt pretty even-steven. Both “Power Your Dreams” from 215 McCann for Xbox and “Play Has No Limits” from adam&eveDDB for the PS5 are solid. They look expensive but feel a bit too familiar at times. A slight edge goes to “Dreams” here with the compelling casting of Daniel Kaluuya, but watching the impressive visuals featured in both, you’d be forgiven for asking yourself, “Is that all there is?” 

That line of thinking comes to an abrupt end with “Unboxing Reimagined” a long-form mash up of stylish branded content orchestrated and energized by The Man Who Owned 2020, hip-hop star Travis Scott. Sony (like the entire world, it would seem) has partnered with Scott to create something that delivers excitement now and feels several steps ahead of everything else. The resulting content is revolutionary, yet highly relatable to its target audience. Even the effort’s more traditional tropes—rolling up on unsuspecting fans and giving each their own PS5—feels fresh and different in the neon-lit interior of Scott’s custom armored carrier vehicle.

This is what brands need their content to be—relevant, stylish and surprising.  Travis Scott nails all three. He’s still on a winning streak and that gives the edge to Sony right here.

Don’t Switch Just Yet 

Back in 2016, then-president of Nintendo of America Reggie Fils-Amie was asked how Nintendo and its upcoming NX Game Machine (which would soon be known as the Switch) fit into the console war brewing between Microsoft’s Xbox One and Sony’s PS4. Fils would famously reply, “That’s for them to fight out in that red ocean,” and that Nintendo would be taking a more mannered approach with the unique console/mobile hybrid device—focusing on beloved franchises and accessible games. 

At the time, the Switch was still an unknown quantity—not yet the surprise hit it would become, driven by the Covid-era popularity of Animal Crossing and other exclusive hits. Now it’s 2020, and the Switch has a growing legion of fans—snapping up the units as fast as they can be restocked around the globe. Could this make an impact on the market share of the next-gen consoles? Maybe, maybe not. But you know what could disrupt the process for Sony and Microsoft? The all-new Switch 2 that appears to be launching in 2021. If that system does all the things the original Switch did right, plus ups the processing power and resolution significantly, this could easily become a three-horse race by the end of next year.

Looks like someone may be diving into that red ocean after all. Underestimate Nintendo at your own risk.

Could This Be Our Endgame?

Just as adults say that each generation of teenagers spells the end of society as we know it, so too does each console generation restart conversations about this being the last time we ever see two expensive homebound systems dominate the market. Many factors have been predicted over the years to bring about the end of the set-top system: mobile gaming, the bursting of the gaming bubble, a societal rediscovery of bowling. Even VR, which is finally having its moment in 2020, does not look to replace other popular gaming experiences anytime soon.

If there was anything that spelled the end for the living-room game console, it would have to be the rise of cloud-based play—something Microsoft itself is helping to pioneer. Because if we can play Game Pass content anywhere, anytime, on any device—all in perfect fidelity with no lag—then maybe, just maybe the console itself will enter the realm of the dinosaurs. Intriguing but unproven. 

We know that this console war will be like none before it. But who will come out on top in this epic boss battle? Only time will tell. Sony, and its approach to games, games and more games right out of the gate, would appear to be the early front-runner. However, Microsoft is playing the long game, and the Game Pass is that rare product that is simultaneously a solid value for consumers and a license to print money for its owners. In the end, it might be up to game creators, because until the developers begin to really master these systems, you won’t truly be able to see what they have to offer.

For now, the only clear victor is you … the gamer.