For this week’s company spotlight feature, we head across the channel to Barcelona, where BCN Visuals have been collaborating with agencies to produce exciting 3D advertising campaigns for some of the world’s biggest brands. These are not your typical OOH campaigns, these are activations that live at the intersection of storytelling and technology and blur the lines between interaction and narrative.
To learn more, we caught up with Davide Bianca, Partner and Global ECD, to explore his agency’s innovative and unique approach to content creation.
How was your company born and where are you based?
BCN Visuals is an award-winning innovation technology company and digital super studio. Known for pioneering 3D anamorphic content and revolutionizing digital out of home, we collaborate with brands and agencies who want to leave an indelible mark. Headquartered in Barcelona, Spain and Los Angeles, we are a global production partner with additional operational offices in New York, Hong Kong and London.
Born from an innovative approach to content creation and a deep love for craft, we believe in the emergence of a new form of immersive entertainment that delivers meaningful shared experiences, and that transcends cultural constraints or geographical boundaries.
What was the biggest challenge to the growth of your company?
The company is almost two years old, and in such a short lifespan we have successfully executed nearly ninety award-winning campaigns and partnered with some of the most globally-acclaimed brands and leaders in entertainment, luxury, automotive, food and beverage - including Coca Cola, Disney, PlayStation and Spotify - all while redefining advertising as a form of immersive entertainment.
However, with such rapid growth and high volume, the biggest challenge is always maintaining the highest standards of innovation and quality execution. We tackle each project as a new opportunity to raise the bar, and take it upon ourselves to make sure the story we tell is epic, and resonates with fans and audiences.
Which was the first huge success that you can remember?
The European launch of The Walking Dead on Disney+ was the first true break-through campaign for BCN Visuals. The campaign generated unprecedented reactions from fans and buzz online and ended up winning Promax’s best out of home ad of the year, getting us international visibility and positioning BCN Visuals as global leaders of 3D anamorphic content. Who knew zombies could do that? :)
What’s the biggest opportunity for you and your company in the next year?
We have lots of exciting projects currently in the works, some - like FC Barcelona’s record-breaking foray into the hi-end NFT market - of which are first to market innovative executions that deliver new tech integrations and exciting new ways of engaging with audiences and fans.
Can you explain your team’s creative process? What makes it unique?
Our ‘Secret Sauce’? We live and thrive at the intersection of narrative and technology, blurring the line between storytelling and interaction, utilizing the digital layer as an amplification tool. We believe that brands can serve as narrative connecting devices and are today in the best ever position to become true ambassadors of change.
How does your team remain inspired and motivated?
Inspiration comes from everything and everywhere. We are in the emotions business. By connecting communities and individuals via shared experiences, we can create true cultural moments.
How has COVID-19 affected your company?
The past two years have put us to the test. We have witnessed a radical shift in how we come together and interact with each other. We have also witnessed deep transformational change, the fast-tracking of transformative processes, and true digital innovation.
BCN Visuals was born during the pandemic and is a testament and by-product of these times: an era when physical activations needed the ability to transcend geographical limitations by blurring the line between physical and digital.
Our work aims to be a celebration of our resilience as human beings, of creativity geared towards human interaction and mobility, a new form of entertainment that is bold, immersive, disruptive and universal.
Which agencies do you gain inspiration from? Do you have any heroes in the industry?
W+K, North Kingdom, Team Lab, but also production companies of the likes of Unit9 and Media Monks, and companies such as Blur, Prologue, Elastic and Method Studios, who are constantly pushing the boundaries of VFX, title design and immersive storytelling.
What is one tip that you would give to other agencies looking to grow?
Focus on telling stories you truly care about for brands and clients you are inspired by; find your unique voice, the one thing you do best and want to be known for ... and just do that. The rest will follow.
How do you go about finding new clients/business? (Pitching, work with retainers, etc.)
Your reputation precedes you, so producing great work is the single most effective way to attract more exciting work, but being a great production partner and a team of genuinely humble, professional and passionate human beings is what truly makes the difference.
What’s your one big hope for the future of the industry?
When innovation and purpose work hand-in-hand, magical things can happen. As we transition from a vertical-centric approach to communication, to one that favors narrative and emotion, it becomes immediately clear that brands have never been better positioned to become story-devices and connective tissue.
Hopefully, in the future we will see more and more examples of relevant, contextual and innovative storytelling that moves audiences on an emotional level, and goes beyond the traditional advertising silos, but rather campaigns built as fluid and frictionless ecosystems.
Do you have any websites, books or resources that you would recommend?
The Trojan Horse is A Unicorn, OFFF, TheFWA.com, motionographer.com, watchthetitles.com, Amy Wallace’s “Creativity Inc.”, Bob Iger’s “The Ride of A Lifetime”, Phil Knight’s “Shoe Dog”
