Volkswagen has created the Mzansiverse, a metaverse-inspired ad commercial, as part of its NFT (Non-Fungible Token) promotional campaign.
The new video shows the clever new Volkswagen Polo travelling around the Mzansiverse, a futuristic and gamified version of Mzansi complete with digital avatar characters.
The commercial’s director, Sam Coleman, was determined to make Johannesburg, the city where the ad was shot and set, a significant character throughout the commercial.
“It was critical to me to recreate Johannesburg while staying true to reality,” Coleman remarked. “It was all about establishing a Johannesburg unlike any other.” I wanted to imagine that a switch had been flipped, propelling Joburg into the future. At the same time, I wanted Joburg’s qualities to be discernible.”
Five different Polo NFT Collections were designed and hidden throughout the ad for fans to locate in order to win them. The goal was to gamify the fan experience in order to create a commercial that was not only entertaining but also rewarded fans for their engagement.
The entire commercial and NFT collections are made in the United States. The #GameOnVW campaign was designed locally by creative partners (Ogilvy Cape Town), produced locally (Patriot Films), and conceptualized locally by creative partners.
The soundtrack for the ad was composed by South African music group Field, alongside local singer Moonchild Sanelly, and sound design by local company Resonate.
The ad required a five-night shot, six weeks of post-production animation and CGI, as well as a variety of animation technologies to turn Johannesburg’s streets into the Mzansiverse and its avatar characters.
Coleman and Patriot Films used a specialized crew of drone pilots to film all of the Polo video from overhead shots solely, giving the commercial a real cinematic game atmosphere.
“Our new Polo Mzansiverse commercial and NFT campaign exemplifies our brand’s commitment to the future, not only in terms of vehicle innovation, but also in terms of our desire to embrace our customers’ passions and drive evolution in how we engage with them through our marketing executions,” said Bridget Harpur, head of marketing for the Volkswagen Passenger Car Brand.
To read our blog on “ALTAVA and Sandbox have teamed up to launch a new NFT project,” click here.
