Datalandia, a small town where people come for the weather but stay for the big data. GE has rolled out a series of tongue-in-cheek mini-blockbusters set in "the little town saved by big data", featuring characters like reporter Guy Savage, power company boss Percival Thistlewaite, jet pilot Buck Armbruster and police chief Elliot Adolphus.
The short films mimic summer blockbusters to demonstrate how GE's 'industrial internet' works – like using advanced analytics to cross-reference night-time energy usage data with werewolf chatrooms to pinpoint the locations of sexy vampire covens. It's genius.
Paul Marcum, director of global digital marketing and programming for GE, said: "We decided to shoot these mini-summer blockbusters because data is the new hero. We decided to shoot [at Miniatur Wunderland] in Hamburg because the industrial internet is larger than life, and what better form that than a world made in miniature to get that point across?"
Katrina Craigwell, digital marketing manager for GE, said: "We needed a way to describe and storytell around the industrial internet that would be relatable and fun. Datalandia brings GE's unique take on the industrial internet to life by showing the marriage between machinery and data."
The campaign was created by Mekanism, OMD, Vayner Media and Fullscreen. Three instalments have rolled out so far with a fourth on the way. Linda Boff, executive director, global brand marketing at GE, told AdAge it was not a B2B campaign – it aims to reach "tech-savvy" consumers to educate investors about its innovations and also to woo tech talent.
Watch the videos:
Datalandia: Trailer
Datalandia: De-Vamping Datalandia
Datalandia: Invasion of the Cattle Snatchers
Datalandia: Stormageddon
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