The Media Merchants

VIDEO: NHL ALL-STAR WEEKEND PROJECTIONS

2012-02-06T10:34:00.000-08:00

Check out highlights from our US operating partner TMMSB's recent NHL All-Star Weekend night projection campaign with NBC Sports Network.

NBC SPORTS NETWORK LAUNCHES HUGE NIGHT PROJECTION CAMPAIGN WITH TMMSB

2012-02-01T08:40:00.000-08:00

NBC's NHL All-Star Weekend took to the streets with a larger than life night projection campaign in 5 US markets last week. The latest work from our US operating partner TMMSB saw the best players in the league projected at sizes up to 150ft in downtown Chicago, Philadelphia, Boston, Dallas and Washington.

Passersby saw heavy hitters Daniel Alfredsson, Zdeno Chara, Daniel Sedin, Patrick Kane and Henrik Lundqvist make all the stops, hits and shots in NBC's latest outdoor promotion. The large format projections took over each location with huge action clips of the players, followed by the broadcast times for the NHL Skills Competition and All-Star Game on the NBC Sports Network.

With such a great scope and size, the NHL on NBC projections allowed for a high impact campaign unattainable by traditional forms of OOH media. Check out the photos below!

INDUSTRY & INTEREST INTERVIEW WITH TMM PRESIDENT/COO BRODIE GUNNING

2012-01-27T09:16:00.000-08:00

TMM President and COO Brodie Gunning was recently interviewed on Vaunt Visual's Industry & Interest blog, showcasing industry leading design. You can check out the interview at the link below covering the launch of TMM, the story behind The Lamborghini Project and what projects are in store for the future.

Industry & Interest Interview: Brodie Gunning

THE MEDIA MERCHANTS ANNOUNCE NEW CREATIVE PARTNERSHIP WITH CRUSH INC.

2012-01-16T12:56:00.001-08:00

The Media Merchants joined forces in an exclusive creative partnership with Toronto based production studio Crush Inc. The new partnership will allow The Media Merchants to provide clients access to a full service offering from creative development to media execution.

Crush Inc. boasts over 14 years of award winning work in design, visual effects and post production. The studio was recently featured in Marketing Magazine's 2011 list of top production partners for their exceptional work with Sleeman Breweries, United Way and Leo Burnett.

"With this partnership we're bringing Crush's creative expertise in design, animation and visual effects together with our projection based media services," said Brodie Gunning, co-founder of The Media Merchants. "Working alongside Crush allows us to offer our clients in house creative development that can be applied to Night Projections, 3D Projection Mapping and all interactive campaigns."

The companies will continue to operate independently, with collaboration on upcoming campaigns merging Crush Inc.'s leading creative with The Media Merchants innovative media services.

HAPPY HOLIDAYS!

2011-12-23T13:31:00.000-08:00

2011's been a great year for us here at The Media Merchants, with many exciting campaigns our team's had the pleasure of working on. We brought in the holidays last night with family at our Gastown office for a potluc and of course, couldn't help ourselves from a small projection mapping installation on santa. We'd like to thank you for reading our blog, sharing our work and interacting with us over the year. Happy holidays!

RED BULL THRE3STYLE PROJECTIONS

2011-12-19T15:00:00.000-08:00

This past weekend, 18 of the world's best DJs went head to head behind the turntables for Red Bull's Thre3style contest. The event took place over 5 nights at 5 clubs throughout Vancouver, celebrating innovation in the international DJ community. We teamed up with Red Bull to build up excitement for the world finals at the Commodore Ballroom on Dec. 17th with night projections in the heart of downtown.

We projected just steps away from the Granville SkyTrain station, with Red Bull street teams playing music, handing out samples and local artists doing live installations on the 3 branded cars. The night projections featured branded Thre3style animations and live footage from the regional competitions in a 45 second loop. The energy and hype was in full effect leading up to the finals and got even crazier after Canada's DJ Hedspin took the championship belt. Check out the photos below from the event!

SHARE THE HOLIDAY SPIRIT WITH JACK DANIELS

2011-12-13T14:06:00.000-08:00

This winter season Jack Daniels is spreading the holiday spirit with the launch of our latest interactive night projection campaign across America. The projections are powered by people's holiday messages that are texted in through a short code using holiday themed keywords or by visiting JacksTree.com.

After texting to the projected short code, people's holiday wishes wrap around the christmas tree in real time, triggering an animation of a Jack Daniels barrel that rolls up the tree while illuminating it with a warm glow. The creative also features an animated sequence with a snowflake falling down beside the Jack Daniels Distillery where barrels roll down a snowy road up to the holiday tree.

The projections are handled by our US operating team TMMSB throughout downtown Portland, Seattle, Los Angeles, San Diego, San Francisco, Boston, Atlanta, St. Louis and Nashville. The campaign will be running until Dec. 18th and has received 7,000+ interactions to date getting everyone into the holiday season.

THE LAMBORGHINI PROJECT x HYPEBEAST

2011-12-08T12:24:00.000-08:00

Our recent projection mapping 'The Lamborghini Project' has continued to receive great reviews shortly after our video launch. HYPEBEAST describes the projection mapping as a "visual trip without moving, as the viewer witnesses the car transform before their very eyes." Check out the article here.

THE LAMBORGHINI PROJECT

2011-12-05T15:02:00.000-08:00

What do you get when you combine one of the world's most elite cars with projection mapping? The Lamborghini Project. In November, we held a projection mapping event featuring SR Auto Group's exclusive Lamborghini Reventon.

Creative Technical Director Anthony Diehl worked with Stuart Langfield to create a series of animations throughout the opening, followed by a live VJ set with real time visuals being mapped onto the Reventon. Check out the video above from the evening.

BLANKET BC NIGHT PROJECTIONS

2011-11-28T15:12:00.001-08:00

Last week our team took to the streets for our latest charitable initiative with Blanket BC, a local non profit supporting those in need of warmth during the cold winter season. Since 2006, Blanket BC has been holding annual blanket drives with 50,000+ blankets raised up to date.

For the past 3 years we've been a proud sponsor, donating night projections to raise awareness to homelessness throughout the community. This year we encouraged Vancouverites to drop off their warm garments along the Canada Line by projecting in Downtown Vancouver, Mount Pleasant and West Broadway. A big thanks to everyone who came out and donated over the weekend! For more information you can visit the Blanket BC site here.

TMM ON GETCONNECTED TV

2011-11-22T09:50:00.000-08:00

We were recently profiled on GetConnected TV, Canada's #1 technology TV show. The episode took a look at a selection of our 3D Projection Mapping campaigns including the Vancouver Whitecaps MLS Launch and Tourism Quebec FEEL campaign we worked on with Cossette. You'll also find a preview of our Lamborghini Project with behind the scenes footage from the projection mapping event. Stay tuned for the full length video coming soon.

BRING THE HOLIDAYS TO LIFE WITH STARBUCKS

2011-11-17T14:51:00.000-08:00

Starbucks is bringing the holidays to life this winter with our new holiday themed interactive displays in Vancouver and Toronto. Building on the popular Touch The Stars and Augmented Reality campaigns, Starbucks continues to push the envelope in retail and brand engagement. The new displays allow people to interact by touching or swiping characters in three action packed sledding, ice skating and nutcracker scenes.

The interactive displays have been getting everyone in the holiday spirit by creating buzz and drawing crowds around the four downtown locations. With momentum from the previous Touch The Stars and Tazo Teas campaigns, our technical team has brought the new holiday interactivity to market, working closely with Starbucks agencies Blast Radius and BBDO. If you're in Vancouver or Toronto, throw on a scarf and grab a coffee at one of the four locations below!

Vancouver: 802 W Hastings St. & 498 Robson St.

Toronto: 4 King St. W & 765 Yonge St.

GREAT WEEK AT THE ADCC & LOTUS AWARDS

2011-11-10T16:29:00.000-08:00

Starting in 1949, the ADCC awards were Canada's first advertising and design awards show. Last week we headed to the awards show and celebrated the most brilliant creative work in the industry. We're happy to say that our MINI Vending Machine and ISO3D projection mapping campaigns picked up 2 Merits and a Gold in the Interactive Media and Advertising OOH categories.

The week of award shows came to an end on Thursday night with the Lotus Awards, showcasing creative excellence in the advertising community here in BC. Our interactive 'Sensor Boards' campaign with DDB won Best Outdoor Single and Best OOH Single. Check out the campaign below or on the Lotus Awards annual that can be viewed here.

OUTDOOR: BEST OUTDOOR SINGLE

Title: Sensor Boards

Agency: DDB Canada/Vancouver

Client: BC Hydro

Media Company: The Media Merchants

Production Company: The Media Merchants

OUTDOOR: BEST OOH SINGLE

Title: Let's Be Smart With Our Power

Agency: DDB Canada/Vancouver

Client: BC Hydro

Media Agency: OMD

Execution & Interactivity: The Media Merchants

GMA AWARDS PROJECTION MAPPING VIDEO

2011-11-08T13:18:00.000-08:00

On October 28th, the 2011 Covenant Awards celebrated Canadian music with a night of rock, pop, gospel and aboriginal music at Calgary's Foothills Alliance Church. In its 33rd year, the Covenant Awards were looking to put a fresh spin on the show's banquet and musical performances.

Our technical director Anthony Diehl worked closely with the team to create a fluid visual environment, projection mapping visuals in real time onto 3 cubes on stage. Earlier this week, we posted photos from the projection mapping installation that you can view here.

Check out the video above for a behind the scenes time lapse that gives a closer look into the design, installation, projection mapping and great performances throughout the night.

WINTER REEL 2011

2011-11-07T09:16:00.000-08:00

Check out our new Winter Reel, showcasing a selection of campaigns our team has recently worked on. We have a lot of exciting projects underway at the moment, so stay tuned for more innovative tech and creative.

GREAT NIGHT AT THE DIGITAL MARKETING AWARDS

2011-11-04T09:53:00.000-07:00

The 2011 Digital Marketing Awards feature Canada's best in new media and innovative marketing that combine technology and creativity. We're pleased to say that both our MINI Vending Machine and BC Hydro Interactive Storefront won gold in the Offline Digital Category. Check out the campaigns below and congratulations to everyone involved!

GOLD OFFLINE DIGITAL

MINI Vending Machine

"The Mini Vending Machine was an interactive night projection in downtown Toronto. The projections showcased colourful Minis in a gigantic vending machine. Different colour configurations were shown and passersby were invited to interact with them by texting to a short code to select the Mini of their choice. The one they chose then drove around, making its way down to the bottom of the virtual vending machine in trademark cheeky Mini style."

GOLD OFFLINE DIGITAL

BC Hydro Sensor Boards

"To get British Columbians to be more aware of their electricity usage, avoid waste and use only what power they need, BC Hydro created a series of motion-activated backlit boards that only use power when people thinking about using energy more efficiently as opposed to using less energy, so the stunt brought to life the idea of only using the power you need. Over the course of the 38-day campaign, there were 142,880 interactions with the Power Smart boards, an average of 3,760 each day."

GMA AWARDS PROJECTION MAPPING

2011-10-31T11:45:00.000-07:00

This past weekend our technical director Anthony Diehl was in Calgary setting the scene at the Gospel Music Association's Covenant Awards with projection mapping and live visuals throughout the event. It was an intimate evening with a banquet followed by the awards show and a great line up of bands.

The stage design followed a minimalist theme with 3 cubes as the surface for the creative that was mapped throughout the night. Taking cues from projection mapping's roots in the VJ scene, custom visuals were mapped on the cubes from song to song, based on different palettes that fit within each band's set. Aside from the projection mapping during the performances, branded 3D content was projected during the awards and speeches that added to the unique set design.

Projection Mapping has allowed us to create visual environments that flow and react with artists on stage for a more exciting atmosphere at events and concerts. Having the ability to accent musician's moments at the awards in real time made for a fluid visual experience that went hand in hand with the performances. Stay tuned for more footage from the show!

OUR CULTURE AT TMM

2011-10-27T12:46:00.000-07:00

It's been an exciting few months here at The Media Merchants with many amazing campaigns and projects, from a projection mapping event featuring the one and only Lamborghini Reventon up to the launch of our new Starbucks interactive storefronts this month. From night projections, interactive and projection mapping campaigns, all our work is a clear reflection of the diverse team here at The Media Merchants. This post will explore the culture inside TMM and is the first part in a series introducing our team!

Our Vancouver and Toronto offices are both designed to promote an open environment, celebrating fresh ideas, entrepreneurship and innovation. Aside from all the coffee, laughs and Friday drinks, asking ourselves questions that lead to creative solutions with new technologies is what really makes us click. From brainstorms with our quirky tech team to operations, marketing and sales, we're all encouraged to be bold and never shy away from presenting new concepts and strategies to our clients.

Having the freedom to explore and research new technologies has led us to spend a significant amount of time on side projects, revealing new interactive applications we wouldn't have discovered otherwise. It's always interesting taking a look back at programs that our tech team developed 2 years ago as they are just being introduced and accepted in the industry now. On the flip side, we definitely have a good chuckle at times thinking of the long list of ideas that didn't make the cut.

With our head office in Vancouver, our campaigns have taken our team across the world, allowing us to apply our creative technologies at the 2010 South Africa World Cup, the 2010 Winter Olympic Games, Montreal's F1 Grand Prix and the 2011 NBA All Star Game in Los Angeles. There's never a dull moment here working with creatives, developers, artists, agencies and brands all driven to push the industry forward.

TOUCH THE STARS WITH STARBUCKS

2011-10-21T10:18:00.000-07:00

Our new Starbucks interactive storefronts have launched in four locations throughout Vancouver and Toronto and we're happy to give you a taste of the experience with the release of our campaign video. The clip will give you a glimpse into the process behind the interactive storefronts, from interface development to in store installation and execution. From touch based interactivity to gesture, motion or mobile interactivity, our interactive storefronts put a fresh spin on consumer engagement in the retail setting. Now grab a fresh cup of coffee and check out the video above!

TMM WINS AT THE ATOMIC AWARDS

2011-10-19T09:41:00.000-07:00

The 2011 AToMiC Awards showcased the best examples of different, forward thinking ideas in advertising, media creativity, technology and content. Presented by Strategy, the awards focused on campaigns that "defy convention and lead change in Canada's mediascape", which is what we're all about here at The Media Merchants.

We're pleased to say that two of our recent campaigns received awards at this year's event. Our MINI Vending Machine won a Silver Experiential Engagement award and our BC Hydro Interactive Storefront won a Bronze Print Engagement award at this year's event. Congrats to everyone involved in making these amazing projects happen!

ATOMIC SILVER EXPERIENTIAL ENGAGEMENT

MINI Virtual Vending Machine

ATOMIC BRONZE PRINT ENGAGEMENT

BC Hydro's Sensory Experience

STARBUCKS INTERACTIVE STOREFRONTS

2011-10-17T10:32:00.000-07:00

We've teamed up with Starbucks and Blast Radius to launch four new interactive storefronts in Toronto and Vancouver. The storefronts use touch interactivity, allowing users to reveal benefits from the My Starbucks Rewards program by playing with gold and white stars in an animated interface throughout the display.

Last year, our Starbucks Tazo tea interactive storefronts gained international buzz while being dubbed "the future of storefront advertising" by The Creators Project, putting a smile on our creative tech team's faces! The storefronts are located in downtown Toronto and Vancouver, engaging passersby and creating excitement around the four Starbucks locations. If you're in Vancouver or Toronto, be sure to stop by and check them out in Toronto at 4 King St. W and 765 Yonge St. or at 802 W Hastings and 498 Robson St. in Vancouver.

THE LAMBORGHINI PROJECT

2011-10-03T15:27:00.000-07:00

Day in and day out, our team explores fresh ways to bring brands to life by merging new technologies and creativity. I'm a firm believer that technology is driving design in new directions from mobile compatibility all the way up to large scale projection mapping events. The days of technology living independently of creativity and design are long gone. Brands now have a wide range of mediums to engage with their audiences and designers have new canvases to showcase stunning creative.

We recently hosted a projection mapping event in Vancouver on the first and only modified Lamborghini Reventon in the world thanks to SR Auto Group. With the Reventon as our canvas, The Lamborghini Project combined 3D animations in real time with projection mapping technologies, allowing the digital content to shine. The raw angular design along with the eccentric lines and shapes played into a theme of contrast throughout the projection mapping event.

Projection mapping, augmented reality and interactive applications are just a few mediums that have allowed brands to breathe new life into campaigns with great value from their viral life online. Stay tuned for the full length release from The Lamborghini Project and in the meantime check out the teaser above!

SOCIAL MEDIA WEEK

2011-09-26T14:11:00.000-07:00

Social Media Week was in full swing last week, bringing together the marketing community for a conversation on emerging social and mobile media trends. Being the first Social Media Week in Vancouver, we checked out a few workshops, socials and agency mash ups with great speakers, ideas and of course, beer. The event couldn't have come at a better time as we've been including social elements into more of our experiential and interactive campaigns.

Social media has allowed us to bring our client's campaigns full circle by creating two way conversations between brands and their audiences. Integrating social media into our night projections, interactive storefronts and out-of-home campaigns has furthered our campaigns reach by creating fresh ways for audiences to interact. Our Maxwell House and GM Winter Olympics campaigns are great examples of bringing social to the forefront and taking engaging conversations to the streets.

Our Brew Some Good campaign with Maxwell House was all about spreading optimism throughout Canada. Canadians were posed with the question 'How are you feeling? Cup half empty or cup half full?' and tweeted in their responses which were then projected throughout Toronto and Montreal. The votes and tweets were compiled in a custom aggregator that streamed the conversation to our projection units. During the Winter Olympics we worked with GM to connect Olympic athletes and fans. Fans from around the world tweeted in their support to the athletes which were then projected throughout the city.

With everyone from traditional to digital agencies side by side at the event, Vancouver's first Social Media Week was a great success. We're looking forward to the next event and creating exciting campaigns with brands realizing the true value of integrating social media into all platforms.

BELL VINYL STOREFRONT

2011-05-26T14:00:00.001-07:00

Today we wrapped up our Bell Storefront at 330 Queen West in Toronto. The Bell storefront was a vinyl installation, taking over the high traffic Queen West location while providing a high impact campaign. Check out the photos below!

WE MIGHT NEED BIGGER CUP HOLDERS.

2011-05-25T11:38:00.000-07:00

Granville St. went wild last night as the Vancouver Canucks beat the San Jose Sharks to move on to the Stanley Cup Finals. After watching the game, we joined in on the fun with GM by using our Night Projections service to pump up all the fans at our Granville & Robson St. location. The projection read 'We Might Need Bigger Cup Holders', directly above the celebrations that ensued. Check out the photos below!

NUIT BLANCHE NYC

2011-05-19T09:14:00.000-07:00

This year we were thrilled to be the technical sponsor of the Flash:Light event at Nuit Blanche NYC. We worked closely with a roster of 30+ artists to project their pieces on various venues and spaces along Mulberry Street, NY. While each installation was a sight to be seen, two of the highlights were the 3D Projection Mapping at Patrick's Cathedral and the New Museum, allowing the festival goers to re-imagine public space in the neighborhood. Check out the video below for a taste of the action along with stunning photos by Konstantin Sergeyev.

HALF EMPTY OR HALF FULL?

2011-05-09T09:32:00.001-07:00

The goal of our recent campaign with Maxwell House was to spread optimism across Canada by engaging Canadians with optimistic quotes and questions via our award winning Night Projection service. This was the biggest Night Projection campaign executed at Media Merchants with 14 projectors throughout Toronto and Montreal! We were thrilled to have the opportunity to inspire and spread positive messages throughout both cities.

The projections were filled with engaging, optimistic quotes that directed pedestrians to brewsomegood.ca, a site that provides you with your daily dose of optimism. Canadians were posed with the question 'How are you feeling? Cup half empty or cup half full?' and tweeted in their responses that were projected throughout the cities. Check out a few shots from the interactive campaign below and take a minute out of your day to visit brewsomegood.ca!

BC HYDRO INTERACTIVE STOREFRONT

2011-05-08T21:04:00.000-07:00

We recently teamed up with BC Hydro and DDB to encourage Vancouverites to be smart with their power usage. It's no secret that energy consumption can be reduced in many aspects of our daily routines and we took this concept to heart in developing an innovative, eco friendly interactive storefront.

The BC Hydro storefront is made up of 7 panels reading 'Let's Be Smart With Our Power', using energy efficient LED lights. The panels work on a custom trigger system that senses pedestrians proximity to the storefront, turning the lights on and off as people pass by. We're proud to say that by the end of the campaign, the 7 panels have used the same amount of power as 1 panel being lit up for the whole duration of the project!

Our interactive storefront was right on the back lane at Hornby & Nelson St. Check it out below!

JEANS DAY BBQ

2011-05-05T14:25:00.000-07:00

Last Thursday we headed over to the Vancouver Art Gallery for the Jeans Day BBQ benefiting Children's Hospital. It was a beautiful sunny day and the energy was turned way up with Fin from the Canucks dancing to the band! If you missed out on the event, you can donate to the BC Children's Hospital Foundation HERE.

GOLD OBIE WINNER!

2011-04-15T14:42:00.000-07:00

We are pleased to announce that our MINI Vending Machine Night Projection won Gold in the 2011 OBIE Awards. We worked with TAXI 2 and Media Experts to create the largest fully-interactive Night Projection in Canada, allowing people to interact with our projection by texting to select a MINI of their choice. This then triggered the selected MINI to drive around, making its way down to the bottom of the vending machine. The drive was filled with animations, including a pinball machine, doughnuts and MINIs breaking through the vending machine!

Gold OBIE Winner:

http://www.oaaa.org/awards/international11.aspx

APRIL IS THE MONTH TO FIGHT BACK

2011-04-14T14:11:00.000-07:00

This April, the Canadian Cancer Society is leading the fight against cancer with the annual Daffodil Month campaign, encouraging Canadians to wear a daffodil pin to show support and fight back. We've worked with the Canadian Cancer Society to promote Daffodil Month on our digital display boards and vinyl dominations at our exclusive Granville & Robson St. location, in the heart of Vancouver.

This April 27th is Daffodil Day, where communities across Canada can receive a daffodil pin by making donations to support people living with cancer and cancer research. At The Media Merchants, we are proud to help spread the word about such an important fight.

For more information on Daffodil Month, visit fightback.ca. We'd also like to encourage you to donate, and add a Daffodil twibbon on your twitter profile picture. You can do this by visiting twibbon.com/join/daffodil-month.

WHITECAPS PROJECTION MAPPING

2011-04-14T10:46:00.000-07:00

There couldn't be a better time to be in Vancouver for sports fans with the Whitecaps electrifying presence at Empire Field and the Canucks entering the playoffs strong as ever. 7 days before the MLS launch we showcased a Whitecaps FC 3D Projection Mapping for the '30 Days 'til Kickof Campaign'.

We worked closely with Slingshot Communications and Jump Studios on the 3D Projection Mapping and used a 15K projector with sound flooding the streets at Granville and Robson. The entire Whitecaps team was present for the launch with street teams, fans and projection mapping enthusiasts gathered around, creating momentum that we've carried on into the season. Go Whitecaps!