In an increasingly digital, interactive world, advertisers are exploring new ways to engage with audiences, and the latest campaign for Philips CityScape memory foam headphones is by far one of the coolest we’ve seen.
Created by Philips in collaboration with youth culture music site You Need To Hear This, tech, music and videogame lovers are offered the chance to remix a music video of Mancunian five-piece dance-electro-pop band Swiss Lips’s new track Carolyn.
An interactive music video that's also a video game, the opening chip tune refrain and bright retro pixel aesthetics will seem familiar to any arcade loving child of the 80s as there’s a huge Out Run inspiration woven into the experience. Not only is the winding tarmac course through beach and city locations similar, players must again jump behind the wheel of a speeding red convertible, this time as the coiffured Carolyn is unceremoniously high-heeled into the back of a black van. The musical chase is on.
Whilst Out Run was the first videogame that allowed players to choose the background music by selecting from Hiroshi Kawaguchi’s laid back jazz fusion or Latin/Caribbean beats, Carolyn lets players affect the outcome of the music video by driving through or avoiding obstacles on the road. Playing the game remixes the song, so every decision made during gameplay counts. Some things like special unicorn harp badges or workmen drum barriers make the track sound amazing and some things don't, so being selective when playing mixes things up.
Taking eight months to complete, every sound in the game, including the sound of the weapons, were taken from recordings of the band playing; Nick the drummer hitting a snare drum was used as the machine gun whilst the in-game music icon power-ups are identical to their real-life instrument counterparts. When producing the song, Swiss Lips played around with making their guitars and synths replicate car engines and noises, yet it still retains it electro-pop vibe.
As well as the classic Miami beach and Blade Runner city route options through the video, more fanciful pathways are available through a whale’s stomach, along a rainbow road and across the bumpy surface of the moon. To see and hear all the options requires more than one run through yet be warned as this tune about two young lovers on a car adventure is pretty catchy and sticks in the ear long after the game is finished. When satisfied with a run, players can then save, upload and share their remixed vids to a leaderboard or check out others.
To remix Carolyn, visit the Philips - You Need To Hear This website.
Originally spotted by our friends at Electronic Theatre