IMAX

In 2015, IMAX introduced its most advanced theater system ever: 4K laser projection, 3D positional audio, immersive theater design — its biggest breakthrough and technological investment to date. After an initial push into the B2B market, they came to us to develop a more 360° perspective on marketing the system, one that was just as inclusive of consumers as it was of directors, theaters, and other industry partners.

By re-focusing IMAX’s take on messaging and visuals away from tech-specs and toward the feelings and sensations of watching with Laser, our campaign ushers in a new era for the company. With its new “Immersive by Design” philosophy, IMAX can build and expand on a bigger, more meaningful platform to show off its new technology wherever it goes, from new theaters to new cities, countries, and continents.

Every asset we created for the campaign, from our hero motion piece to digital display ads fuses the real-world with cutting-edge imagination. To call out visuals, we combined CGI footage of the millions of mirror chips inside IMAX’s advanced projection system with 6K high-speed motion clips we captured of the human eye. For audio, we augmented live-action footage of speakers playing sounds at different frequencies with our own custom CG graphics. By using “real world” scenarios to “seed” particle-based growth systems in 3D across applications and environments, each multi-layered visual delivers a sense of intimate, 1:1 Immersion with IMAX technology, delivering the emotion and impact at scale.

In addition to our immersive, cinematic pre-roll open, we also created a suite of assets and motion toolkits designed to help the company spread the word in every context — from pop-up digital display ads to massive door stickers for their theater partners. By giving IMAX new tools to step out of their comfort zone in a motivated manner, we helped set up a new pathway that the brand can grow into and expand upon in the future, from future experiences to new international versioning of our system.