Coffee Cupid adds Shine to Gravity Coffee

The next coffee date you have could well be thanks to Auckland creative agency Shine, with their innovative new campaign for Gravity Coffee.

As the loudest, most extroverted, most contemporary coffee out there, Shine wanted to do something for Gravity that no other coffee would do.  

So they created a digital wingman, Coffee Cupid, to bring Gravity’s irreverent attitude to life and get people talking about – and drinking – Gravity coffee. This online experience launches today at www.thecoffeecupid.com.

Supply Coffee Cupid with some details and he’ll pay a virtual visit tothe person you fancy.  They then have an opportunity to guess who youare, and if they guess it right you both get a voucher for a freeGravity Coffee.

Interactive video; yes, but not as you’ve seen it before. Morethan 250 clips make up the unique video combinations, with over abillion variables to make the experience as personal as possible.

“Froma small truth in people wanting to meet over a cup of coffee, came thisexplosive idea in which we made Gravity the vehicle,” says Lucien Law,Creative Director at Shine.

By going viral, Law says they havecreated something which is a union of marketing and entertainment,rather than being just another uninvited guest shoving advertising inyour face.

“The Coffee Cupid takes on a life of its ownvirally, as opposed to being something that disappears the minute themedia budget runs out.”

Shine worked with visual effects and digital media specialists Oktobor to create the Coffee Cupid website.

“Itwas a real partnership from the beginning,” says Oktobor’s CreativeTechnologist Mark Zeman. “There was an enormous amount of logistics tocope with to make the creative work properly and all the while keepingtrue to Shine’s original concept. To keep things tight we did theentire live action shoot at our in-house studio and then our motiondesign team set about editing and compositing over 25 minutes of HDfootage. It was a mammoth task.”

With all the possiblevariables, Coffee Cupid has no qualms about telling you that your jobis boring or that you need to get a haircut. But unlike mostinteractive videos, Law says, the Coffee Cupid isn’t trying to foolpeople into believing the computer knows all about you.

“Wehave been transparent in letting the recipient know that a secretadmirer is making contact. And providing all these options lets peoplehave a little fun, whether they’re hoping for a date, or just a laugh.”

Lawcollaborated with renowned Creative Oliver Green to write the CoffeeCupid’s script, and inadvertently ended up starring in the campaign.

“We realised that there was only one person who could pull off Coffee Cupid, and that was Ollie.”

After40 pages of revised script and four full days of filming, Law says thefinished product is better than they could have hoped for.

“It’sa great example of a convergence project, pulling together live action,design and digital techniques to deliver a custom personalisedexperience.

Oktobor Digital Design Director on the project MattVon Trott agreed, “It is a project that’s tailor-made for each user.You can tell how much work and how many different disciplines areinvolved when you try it for yourself. In order to make the experienceflow properly we cut it like a TVC and for each variation of outcome,edited another option. We then keyed all the footage, put all thebackgrounds in and imported each scene into After Effects to add thefinishing touches and detail. The result is high quality video thatfills your screen and that’s quick to download – something that hasn’tbeen seen before.”

But beyond that, Law says the new campaign is also about having some fun.

“Coffee Cupid is a bit of a rogue but he is also a guy that does his job, which is to put people together.

“Thedifference is, he knows exactly what happens when two consenting adultsget together and it has bugger all to do with heart shaped boxes ofchocolate.”

See the Coffee Cupid trailer here