Project Re:Brief

A look at the potential of digital advertising on the web

Google's Advertising Arts team wanted to show off the potential of display advertising on the web, in a way that aligned it with advertising's glory days. To achieve this they decided to reach out to four legendary advertisers to re-imagine some of their classic ads and see how they could be enhanced by today's technology. Doug Pray, the director of Art & Copy, was hired to document the entire process.

Grow Interactive was brought in as the Lead Digital Agency for creative input as well as build the ads. Four classic ads were transformed and modernized to fit into a banner ad, but also on mobile devices. The ads themselves were HTML with videos, rich interactive games, and even connecting to various APIs and services.

Directed by Doug Pray, and the same team who joined him to make the Emmy-Award-winning film and PBS hit "Art & Copy," Project Re: Brief is a film that aims to shake up the ad industry and inspire new ways of thinking.

I was responsible for building the native iOS and Android applications showcasing the advertisements and videos. I also advised and assisted development of the Avis and Volvo ads building out the UI, rich games, and interactions.

The project won several Cannes Lions in 2012 including two Silver Cyber Lions for the project as a whole and a Bronze Mobile Lion for the Volvo ad.