As a brand, it is not any great unique feat to draft in a stunning model whose elan you can co-opt for your campaign. But should your model be made from 11,256 parts, including 1476 miniatures figurines, then you will happen to set yourself slightly apart.
This is what TBWA\Singapore has done for Airbnb, in building and filming a giant handmade 3D zoetrope for a TV spot titled 'A Different Paris'. The TVC aims to tell a simple anecdote about the Parisian capital, and how to see more of cities using an Airbnb host.
The fearfully detailed model - which features a flea market, a carousel, a jazz club and a cafe - measures 3.8 metres in diameter, 11.9 metres in circumference and reaches 1.5 metres high. The carousel itself has 111 components in each section, demonstrating the amount of detail that has gone into its construction.
Despite being available globally online, the spot was produced especially for Airbnb's Asian markets, where they see their brand awareness as not being quite as high as elsewhere.
"Traveling on Airbnb unlocks magical moments—our hosts and their homes create a sense of real belonging for travelers and this feeling is amplified when they discover the city through the eyes of their hosts," said Airbnb CMO Jonathan Mildenhall.
"This film is showing, in true Airbnb fashion, how the ordinary world can become an altogether different, more magical world."
A zoetrope is a pre-animation device that works on a similar principle to flip books. They can create the illusion of motion by showing photographs of progressive phases of that movement.
They consist of a cylinder with slits cut in for viewing, while the images are fixed to the inside of the cylinder. The user then spins the cylinder and looks through the slits, viewing the photographs in fast sequence which creates the illusion.
Credits
Client – Airbnb
Head of Marketing APAC – Matthias Schuecking
Agency – TBWA\Singapore
Creative Director – Gary Steele
Senior Copywriter – Elrid Carvalho
Senior Art Director – Uni Lee
Group Account Director – Mandy Wong
Account Director – Joyce Wong
Agency Producer – Haydn Evans / Six Toes
Airbnb Producer – Allison Gay
Production Company – Photoplay Films / Six Toes
Director – Norman Yeend
Live Action Director – Scott Otto-Anderson
Executive Producer – Oliver Lawrance & Haydn Evans
Producer – Emma Thompson
Director of Photography – Jonathan Rossiter
Production Designer – Annie Beauchamp
Model Makers – Simon Ingerson / Yippeekiyay
Post Production – Cutting Edge
Post Producer – James Rose
Editor – Simon Njoo
Media Agency – Starcom
