Despicable Me 2 interacts with innovative digital outdoor campaign

Universal Pictures has kicked off the first ever mobile controlled, personalised, geo-specific Digital Out of Home campaign to span 5 European territories, UK, France, Spain, Norway and Finland.

To promote the theatrical release of Despicable Me 2, an interactive campaign will run on Clear Channel’s network of digital screens in shopping malls inviting consumers to control and personalise the on-screen creative via their mobile phone. The interactive campaign was conceived by Clear Channel, planned and coordinated by TED@MediaCom and powered by an app designed and built by Grand Visual.

The creative technology solution links input from SMS or web app to prompt more than 30 animated sequences that make up the interactive experience. The execution features Gru’s mischievous Minions tapping their feet impatiently with the call to action to text a command to see them dance, wrestle, play, build or boogie. Users text any command along with their name to a shortcode and seconds later the Minions act out the instruction accordingly with an on-screen thanks to the named participant. OpenLoop, the Digital Out of Home campaign management dashboard powers the real time interaction and personalises the copy and playout in a mall specific geo targeted response.

In another media first, users are also rewarded with a text linking them to a copy of their personalised Minion film which they can share socially online.

The campaign runs on 259 digital screens in 51 shopping malls across the UK, France, Spain, Norway and Finland. The interactive experience is supported by additional static and digital formats in close proximity to participating malls.

The Outdoor campaign is fully integrated with Universal Pictures’ social and online channels and an online version of the game replicates the experience at http://www.commandtheminions.com/UK/.

Neil Wirasinha, vice president International Advertising, at Universal Pictures International said: “From the outset we wanted to challenge convention by taking a traditional medium and turning it into an engagement hotspot for kids, parents and the whole public to have fun with the Minions from this summer’s event Animation movie Despicable Me 2.

“To pull off a media and technological feat on this scale required a huge amount of collaboration from all the parties involved. Technology (OpenLoop) is at the heart of the campaign and has enabled us to reach and engage users across digital outdoor, mobile and online and we’re delighted to be taking the Minions mayhem to new places.”

Dan Dawson, creative & technology director at Grand Visual said: “Clever use of technology is at the heart of this bespoke Pan European campaign. The execution combines interactivity, personalisation, and fun whilst generating user-centric content for social media sharing. It’s a massively complex project but demonstrates truly ambitious use of the medium.”

Mariama Jelman, International associate director at TED@MediaCom, Universal’s international media agency, said: “Using engaging Digital Out of Home experiences is a great way to reach families and get them interacting with the films main characters. Working in close collaboration with Clear Channel and Grand Visual has a created a truly innovative campaign that will create a real buzz in the shopping malls reaching over 10 million shoppers with a clever memorable campaign that will be further amplified online.”

David Roddick, Clear Channel International’s sales director added: “This kind of creative execution shows the potential multimedia campaigns have when using out-of-home to engage, stimulate and interact with audiences via mobile devices.  It captures the personality of the minions and brings the movie’s character to life for cinema-goers of all ages, communicating a compelling message about how much fun the Despicable Me franchise is. We’re proud that Clear Channel was able to devise the concept and work alongside Grand Visual, Group M and NBC Universal to deliver for an international audience in five countries.”