Project Overview

Have a holiday without even leaving your desk...

Experience for yourself an innovative Australian first with the application of digital facial recognition being used on moving footage to allow you to 'see' your online destination like never before.

Organisation

August

Team

Creative Director - Zoe Warne
Technical Director - Matt Agar
Art Director - Natalie Cheng
Copywriter - Natasha Wood
Digital Producer - Celia Karl, Helen Sallnow
Digital Designers - Natalie Cheng, Daniel Banik
Animators - Ben Kanizay, Natalie Cheng
Programmers - Matt Agar, Ben Kanizay, Yohan Setiawan, Charith Welikala

Project Brief

Created to showcase August's technical prowess, the execution was to double as a client communication and leave lasting impressions.

The solution came from marrying an understanding of August’s clients with a creative use of new technology. 'Have A Holiday On Us' was born.

Our time poor clients were treated to a virtual holiday where they were fully immersed in the experience – without leaving their desks.

Project Innovation / Need

An innovative Australian first was the application of digital facial recognition being used on moving footage to control users viewpoints. This way they could explore the holiday scene of their choosing in a way never seen before.

With thousands of visits and over 600 holidays taken so far and counting (yes, “Tropical Paradise” is most popular!), August made their mark as innovators, but more importantly created an emotional connection that put smiles on faces and saw the site featured in social media and websites from Sydney to South Korea.

Design Challenge

Understanding that our clients (and friends) have screensavers of beautiful tropical paradises on their computers at work. Why? Because that's where they'd rather be.

Our design challenge was to come up with a simple, fun site layout and immersive experience online that allowed us to achieve this.

Small touches like the postcards you can send to friends of your holiday and share via Twitter and Facebook, the Lost & Found Department (users can submit items they lose and have them mailed to them in the post... yes really... sunglasses, camera's you name it...) and even a complimentary August Airlines website completed the campaign picture...

Sustainability

Having a holiday without leaving your desk? We reckon the sustainability of the project speaks for itself - a virtual holiday = a rather reduced carbon footprint than that of a real-world holiday. Big time.

Other great side effects included increased morale and happier people! That was our aim and we achieved it.

We also used a local freelancer who worked remotely with no need to travel into the office, and the August office practices recycling and has a strict environmental policy to help aide our green credentials.