| Title | PETA "EYE TO EYE" |
| Brand | PETA DEUTSCHLAND E.V. |
| Product/Service | PETA |
| Category |
F03. Experience Design |
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Entrant
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KOLLE REBBE | ACCENTURE INTERACTIVE Hamburg, GERMANY
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Idea Creation
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KOLLE REBBE | ACCENTURE INTERACTIVE Hamburg, GERMANY
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Idea Creation 2
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DEMODERN Hamburg, GERMANY
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Production
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DEMODERN Hamburg, GERMANY
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Production 2
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MARKENFILM Hamburg, GERMANY
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Production 3
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GERMAN WAHNSINN Hamburg, GERMANY
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Credits
| Fabian Frese |
Kolle Rebbe GmbH |
Chief Creative Officer |
| Andreas Brunsch |
Kolle Rebbe GmbH |
Executive Creative Director |
| Nicole Holzenkamp |
Kolle Rebbe GmbH |
Creative Director |
| Christian Rentschler |
Kolle Rebbe GmbH |
Creative Director |
| Lorenz Ritter |
Kolle Rebbe GmbH |
Creative Director |
| Lea Zaydowicz |
Kolle Rebbe GmbH |
Account Manager |
| Martin Bergmann |
Kolle Rebbe GmbH |
Art Director |
| Max Wort |
Kolle Rebbe GmbH |
Copywriter |
| Rachel Hoffmann |
Kolle Rebbe GmbH |
Agency Producer |
| Ole Brand |
Kolle Rebbe GmbH |
Agency Producer |
| Falko Tilgner |
Kolle Rebbe GmbH |
Editor, Grading |
| Alexander Hildenberg |
Kolle Rebbe GmbH |
Cutter, Grading |
| Alexander El-Meligi |
Demodern GmbH |
Managing Director, Creative Director |
| Deborah Montag |
Demodern GmbH |
Project Manager, Digital Producer |
| Daniel Harrison |
Demodern GmbH |
3D Artist |
| Mirko Wiedmer |
Demodern GmbH |
3D Artist |
| Bastian Hantsch |
Demodern GmbH |
3D Artist |
| Robin Janitz |
Demodern GmbH |
Designer, Art Director |
| Michael Schmück |
Demodern GmbH |
UX Designer (mobile only) |
| Christopher Baumbach |
Demodern GmbH |
Lead Creative Engineer |
| Franziska Neu |
Demodern GmbH |
Creative Engineer |
| Sebastian Schuchmann |
Demodern GmbH |
Creative Engineer |
| Sam Bäumer |
Demodern GmbH |
Creative Engineer (mobile only) |
| Michael Sturm |
Demodern GmbH |
Web Developer (mobile only) |
| Juliane Geusendam |
Markenfilm GmbH & Co. KG |
Producer |
| Frank Schlotterbeck |
Markenfilm GmbH & Co. KG |
Director |
| Philipp Feit |
German Wahnsinn GmbH |
Audio Engineer |
Why is this work relevant for Direct?
Two individuals meeting eye to eye in order to exchange thoughts through personal dialogue, is the most effective and direct form of communication. By combining VR with live acting, we created the very first dialogue between an animal and humans. Animal rights were never addressed more directly. Because telling another human why you think it’s okay to kill and exploit animals is one thing, but looking into a victim’s eyes while explaining yourself is another.
Background
PETA, the worlds biggest NGO for animal rights, wanted to change its communication. Because brutal images of tortured animals and an accusing tone of voice repel people instead of making them stop and think. The idea of Eye to Eye was to change the communication from in-your-face to face-to-face in order to make people rethink their consumer behaviour towards areas ranging from food to fashion and beauty. Because all of these are largely based on the suffering of living creatures.
Describe the creative idea
What if mankind could exchange thoughts with an animal? What if it could ask us inconvenient questions and make us realise how deeply related animals and humans actually are? What would you say if the animal wants to know why you kill and eat it? Empathy grows through personal dialogue. The idea was to engage people in an eye-level conversation with an animal to discuss the value of life. And because rabbits are exploited for food, clothing, experimentation, hunting and entertainment, a bunny is the perfect ambassador for animal rights.
Describe the strategy
Numerous experiments have proven that empathy grows through personal dialogue, from antagonised political beliefs to the refugee crisis. If you understand your opponent, you open up to them and are more willing to take their point of view and change your own. That’s why we combined VR with live acting to realise the first dialogue between humans and an animal at eye level. We wanted to overwhelm users with real emotions that aren’t expected in a virtual environment, to break through their wall of indifference. Additionally, using VR gave us another strategic advantage, as we live in a technological world in which state-of-the-art technology like VR catches people’s attention. With an innovative VR experience like Eye to Eye, PETA aimed at a new target group: the tech aficionados and influential geeks who crowd the internet and events such as re:publica or NEXT.
Describe the execution
We set up the world’s first application to combine VR with live acting. At numerous events and festivals throughout Germany and the US, a rabbit welcomed people to a virtual world with an eye-to-eye dialogue. Nothing was scripted. Everything was open. Because there was no bot technology behind the virtual animal. It was triggered by a psychologically trained PETA activist. He controlled the rabbit through facial recognition and body-tracking technology. His movements and facial expressions became the rabbit’s movements and facial expressions. His voice became the rabbit’s voice. Live, in real time. At the end of the conversation, the user received a virtual letter from the rabbit. When they took off the VR headset, they found a physical letter placed in front of them, a compassionate plea for the value of life. In that moment, the virtual and real world became one.
List the results
The average dialogue between human and animal lasted twelve minutes. People completely forgot that they were talking to a virtual creature. They opened up and talked about their beliefs, personal loss, fears and hopes. And they listened. Most of them described their experience as touching and moving, and stated that they would rethink their consumer behaviour. Some even became activists themselves. The clip of the experiment gained over 3 million online views and a lot of media buzz helped to spread the rabbit’s message even further.