Independent Band: "SOUR/MIRROR" Design & Branding by MASASHI QANTA SAQOOSHA HIROKI

Type of Entry: Digital Design
Category: Online Digital Design
Advertiser/Client: ZENITH
Product/Service: INDEPENDENT BAND
Entrant Company: MASASHI QANTA SAQOOSHA HIROKI Tokyo, JAPAN
Design/Advertising Agency: MASASHI QANTA SAQOOSHA HIROKI Tokyo, JAPAN

Creative Director/Director: Masashi Kawamura (Masashi + Qanta + Saqoosha + Hiroki)
Technical Director/Director/Programmer: Qanta Shimizu (Masashi + Qanta + Saqoosha + Hiroki)
Director/Programmer: Saqoosha (AID-DCC / Katamari)
Director: Hiroki Ono (Aoi Advertising Promotion)
Programmer: Yuma Murakami (Masumasu)
Film Producer: Yasuhito Nakae (Aoi Advertising Promotion)
Film Producer: Hisaya Kato (Aoi Advertising Promotion)
Film Project Manager: Hidetoshi Nagamine (Aoi Advertising Promotion)
Musician: SOUR (ZENITH)

Brief Explanation:
Our aim was to create an experience that engages with the band's young & tech savvy fans in a new way, and find a way to allow them to become a part of the video itself.

Another challenge was to overcome the $0 budget. We used the crowd funding service ‘Kickstarter’ and successfully raised the $5,000 to use for the production. This was actually a nice way to start involving the core fans of the band and create an early buzz about the new video release.
Describe the brief from the client:
The brief was to come up with a new music video for the song ‘MIRROR’ by the Japanese indie band SOUR.
Description of how you arrived at the final design:
The song Mirror sings about the fact that everyone around you is a mirror that reflects who you are. This gave us an idea of a journey to find yourself through your connections with the people online. So we created an interactive music video, which gives every single viewer a different customized experience by connecting to their Facebook, Twitter & webcam. You can also add yourself into the video by following @SOUR_official on Twitter. Please try the experience for yourself at http://sour-mirror.jp.
Indication of how successful the outcome was in the market:
When the site was launched, it gained over 150,000 viewers in just the first 3 days. Average time spent on the site was more than 3 minutes, which is an amazing number for a microsite. This music video has gained SOUR a lot of free PR on renowned news sites and blogs. 2/3 of the visitors were accessing from outside of Japan, proving that this video has created buzz around the world, which is a big achievement for a Japanese indie band.