Apr 16 2013

Colourful computer animations and international internships – the only possible link between these two is Design is Dead! Our Antwerp-based agency is now adding to its expanding video portfolio the animated promotional clip of the Flanders Trainee Programme.

Flanders International, or the Flemish Department of Foreign Affairs, shapes the international policy of the Government of Flanders. It was looking a very non-institutional way for promoting  a programme, offering financial aid to Flemish graduates when completing an internship with an international organisation.

What better way to reach that audience than an entertaining online clip? The colourful Design-is- Dead-style animation guarantees a low threshold, high impact and enforced  share-ability!

*Text adapted from the Design is Dead News page.

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Feb 14 2013

At the end of January 2013, the European Commission proposed far reaching measures to encourage more innovation in EU railways by opening domestic passenger markets to competition, as well as substantial accompanying technical and structural reforms.

But how does one raise awareness on such a complex topic, making it relevant to diverse audiences across Europe? In one word: Emakina.EU

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Feb 11 2013

Start getting used to the following names:

Anne Marchadier became our Senior Content Manager and Social Media Strategist. She comes with over 10 years of experience in communication from organisations such as European Voice and viEUws.

Carl De Gussem is our new Strategic Planner. Having worked for over 30 years in communications, and for more than 20 years as a strategist, Carl led campaigns for companies such as Belgacom, Proximus, and Mobistar; as well as various EU institutions. Previous agencies he has worked for include Mostra, Y&R, and Publicis.

Damien Walckiers is now our Creative Director. He has over 20 years of experience as both Creative and Art Director, working for agencies like TBWA, Magnesium, Palmares, Grey, McCann Ericsson, Karamba, So Nice, and Fingerapps.

Sabrina Serra joined our production department as an Audio-Visual Producer. Having worked for RTL, Everlasting Productions, and Dragone, Sabrina has five years of experience in both video and press journalism, as well as in documentary productions.

Shabnam Agneessens also joined the production department where she serves as an associate-producer. Shabnam’s professional history includes some of the most prominent brands in the Belgian market, including Electrabel and Belgian Shell. Having worked for other communication agencies as well (e.g., IsaMedia), Shabnam reinforces our team with experience in marketing.

Truus Heremans joined our production as an Associate-Producer. She comes to us after years of experience in the UK market, working for SiteVisibility. In addition to audio-visual productions, Truus has experience in producing content for social media and optimising web searchability (SEO).

Philippe Ramos will serve as our new Motion Designer. Philippe joins us after five years of working for ABS Creative Group, where his clients included: Abbott, YSL Beauté, L’Oréal, Renault, Astra Zeneca, and Biotronik. He offers expertise in Flash, After Effects, Action Script 3 and more!

Vasilios Stefanidis is a Junior Content and Bid Manager, working on the preparation of our new bids; and creating content for our existing institutional clients. Vasilios has intimate knowledge of the European institutions, having worked in the European Council, European Parliament, and the Permanent Representation of Greece to the EU.

Judith Crispin and Sophie Blondiaux are our new Social Media Campaign managers. Judith was previously a senior social media consultant as the Social.Lab, where she communicated on behalf of major brands of all sectors. Sophie has rich experience in building web strategies from agencies like So Nice and Air. Sophie is also Cross Media Project Manager and leads the on-line promotion of films and animations.

Antoine Jovenet is now our Head of Studio at the Graphic department. Antoine’s experience ranges from ad-hoc products to conceiving broad visual identities for entire campaigns and brands. He has worked with corporate, commercial, and institutional clients; designing for print products, as well as for web and mobile applications.

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Dec 19 2012

Your Facebook account is no longer just a social network; it just became a highly convenient way for you to securely check and top up your BASE balance! Design is Dead (DID), a proud member of the Emakina Group, joined forces with ‘KPN Group Belgium’ to develop a new Facebook app, designated for this exact purpose. The transaction is done over a secured platform, allowing thousands of BASE clients to recharge their phones within just a few FB clicks.

Whether travelling for during these holidays or staying in Belgium, you can easily make sure your mobile is never out of credit. No more excuses for not calling Grandma to wish her a merry Christmas!

DID has been a strategic digital partner of the KPN Group Since 2004, developing apps, online, and e-services for the international telecom company. This included the outlining and building of this simple, user-friendly, and efficient app.

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Dec 14 2012

The extravagant pan-European production of The Spiral might be officially over; but the way in which it redefined public engagement through  multiple media is still to be studied and explored! Our latest analysis indicates the critical role of the online platform in this international success story. Developed by PKA Wanabe, a member of the Emakina Group, the platform allowed various levels of online engagement, depending on each user’s preferences.

The lowest level of participation (other than that of passive TV viewers) was that of users searching the masterpieces on our online mapping game. Many users, however, went a step further, creating their own MySpiral profile so they could take part in the game’s indoor and outdoor creative challenges. We now know that within the 36 days of the game, the map was searched almost 1.3 million times by over 140,000 users across Europe! In addition, almost 20,000 images were uploaded, some of which were even incorporated into the TV series.

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Nov 20 2012

The EU is taking proactive measures to open the energy market and ensure that EU citizens will have  the choice between different energy suppliers. This gives us, consumers, a new power: we can now change and get  the energy services (and the prices) that suit us best!. But how do you communicate that? How can the EU raise public awareness to this evolution of the energy market?

That is the challenge  we have been asked to meet by the European Commission’s Directorate General for Energy, a long-lasting Emakina client. The trust we have won from this institution allowed us to propose a somewhat bold approach when presenting the energy market competition in a viral clip, produced by Emakina.EU

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Sep 10 2012

The European Ombudsman has a critical role as the point of contact of any EU citizen or entity who wishes to appeal against an EU institution. Its role, however, is not always known by those same EU citizens whom the Ombudsman is meant to serve. A new clip, produced by Emakina to be launched today, illustrates this message in a light and entertaining manner.

Due to the difficulty to communicate the role of such a complex institution, Emakina presented the Ombudsman three different concepts, each  detailed to a high degree. The winning concept (illustrated below) interprets rather literally the feeling of being “tangled” in EU bureaucracy…

As of today, the final product is being disseminated across all EU Member States, in 22 different local languages. While in the short run the distribution strategy is based mostly on social media, the product’s high quality makes it fully adaptable for television dissemination as well. Broadcasting opportunities across Europe are already being explored so don’t be surprised if you find this clip on your big screen:

Emakina.EU had the pleasure to produce the Ombudsman’s first clip of this kind. Fortunately, the feeling was mutual, as this unique client expressed great appreciation of the final clip, across all levels of its organisation. To put it in the words of the European Ombudsman’s head of communication unit, Benjamin Hagard: “…the Ombudsman himself, as well as his team, are highly satisfied with the result, and with… [Emakina’s] creativity and dynamism all along this project”.

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Aug 21 2012

PKA Wanabe, a member of the Emakina Group, was selected to set up the web platform of The Spiral, a cross-border and cross-media interactive game. You might have not heard of it yet but this is about to become the new buzz across Europe!  The Spiral is a television programme, aired simultaneously in eight European countries: Belgium, Sweden, Norway, Finland, Denmark, France, Germany, and the Netherlands. Produced by the international Brussels/ Los Angeles based Caviar Films company; the series tells the story of an art community, centred in Copenhagen, and its charismatic leader – who conspires to steal six of the most important paintings held in museums across Europe.

Yet, being a cross-media action series, The Spiral is not like any other TV programme you’ve seen before! Viewers in all participating countries are invited to compete over finding the stolen masterpieces, through a game involving both online tasks and off-line challenges. As for the group of rebellious artists, they also have an online presence, in the form of a Facebook group which follows the developments and sends out challenges and instructions. Apart Facebook, the fictitious story universe of this project includes numerous other websites.

Due to the fact that PKA Wanabe is based in Waterloo, the production was entitled to financial support from Wallimage, a public fund which supports Walloon audio-visual productions.

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Aug 6 2012

You knew you could rely on him for toy certification, but did you also know he can also sing?

Back in February, Emakina/ Motion produced a viral clip on toy safety for the European Commission’s Directorate-General for Enterprise and Industry (DG ENTR). The clip was a huge success, among other reasons, due the original 3D characters, led by the newly-created star: the CE-E robot. The little hero spends his nights in a toy shop, checking out his fellow toys (especially Barbie…) to make sure they are safe for use. In fact, CE-E was created to raise awareness of the EU toy certification (CE marking), ensuring they are safe and well-explained to potential buyers.

Since we all fell in love with little CE-E, we were delighted when the Commission asked us to produce a new clip, in which the robot reveals his singing skills…!

The challenge in both these clips was to target both young children and their parents, across Europe. In order to do this, we invested in fine 3D animations, witty song lyrics, and an original catchy tune (warning: very catchy tune!). The song has already been produced in English, French, and Spanish, and we are currently working on the next language adaptations, including: Italian, Polish, and German.

When seeking CE-E’s response to this post we received the following statement from his agent: “I would like to thank my fans across Europe for their love and support, and to reassure parents that even now that I sing and dance during the day, I am still dedicated to testing toys every night. Despite my newly-acclaimed fame, other than upgrading to a fancier shelf in the toy store, and buying Barbie the doll house she’s always wanted, I am still the same simple robot”.

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Jul 25 2012

How do you go about raising awareness on road safety, among the broad public of all EU countries? This was the challenge we faced when asked by the European Commission to promote such vast a topic through a short viral clip. Our approach was to illustrate road hazards using strong visuals (which traverse European languages and cultures), rather than using the “good-old” institutional voice-over. We combined filmed footage with various 2D animations, including: graffiti art, a trompe-l’oeil, and other optical illusions. Finally, an original musical soundtrack was composed to give the video the right beat. The result is a 1”20’ thought-provoking aesthetic appetizer…

The video is officially launched today, at the 4^th European Road Safety Day, taking place in the Cypriot capital. This production was part of a long-term working relationship between Emakina.EU and the European Commission’s Directorate- General for Mobility and Transport (DG MOVE).

Shooting day at Vilvoorde, Belgium

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Jun 25 2012

You’ve all seen the signs, hung all across the city of Brussels, inviting participants to the EU Sustainable Energy Week. But have you watched the viral clip, produced by Emakina, which accompanies this cross-national campaign?

The EU Sustainable Energy Week (EUSEW) is the key annual event of the Sustainable Energy Europe Campaign. It showcases activities and over 600 events, dedicated to energy efficiency and renewable energy solutions in almost 40 countries. These events are organised by the Executive Agency for Competitiveness and Innovation (EACI) on behalf of the European Commission’s Directorate-General for Energy. From 18 to 22 June, more than 30,000 participants discussed energy efficiency and renewable energy in all their forms during the 2012 edition of EU Sustainable Energy Week.

The new video trailer, produced by Emakina.eu, shows how small changes can make a big difference in the future of our energy consumption. The video was being used to promote this large-scale annual event. Its target audience was fairly wide, with a spectrum of industries, schools, local authorities and municipalities, transport companies and academia. In addition, Emakina produced a series of interviews with winners of the EUSEW Awards, using the same visual identity and setting as that used in the clip in order to give the campaign a coherent branding. Among the interviewees are representatives of initiatives from the UK, Belgium, Germany, and the Netherlands; and even a Belgian minister.

For more information on the events, please visit the Sustainable Energy Week website.

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Jun 21 2012

Framework contract

Emakina has won the Belgian Railways (NMBS / SNCB)  framework contract for the production of audiovisual material of the company’s web TV channel. Content will vary according to the wide range of products, including: educational videos, informational films and promotional clips.

The Emakina team already started its first two productions, to be integrated on the site sncb.tv.

Diabolo and more

Ready for the holidays? Good news from NMBS-SNCB!
Diabolo is the new devilishly smart way to go to Brussels Airport (in Zaventem)  in a fast an comfortable way. With train departing from Antwerp and Mechelen, you now arrive at the airport in half the time!

This very first video, made by Emakina for its new client, illustrates the journey, before and after.
Passengers can now spoil themselves a little; staying in bed a little longer, not having to rush, and still arrive on time…

This is the first of a series of productions. So stay tuned for more!

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May 29 2012

Water is the source of life. And yet, all too often do we take it for granted, failing to protect it properly. Emakina.eu created a new viral clip for the European Environmental Agency (EEA), titled “if water could speak”, highlighting this exact message.

In developing the concept, our creative team preferred to avoid an ‘institutional’ tone of numbers and figures; nor did they wish to scare viewers with apocalyptic draught descriptions. Instead, they searched their way into the viewers’ hearts and souls, choosing an aesthetic approach of strong visuals and a poetic text. The personification of water is used to addresses European citizens and to raise their awareness to the importance of our common water resources and to our responsibility to preserving them.

So now water can speak, and it is talking to you.

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May 7 2012

How do you take an abstract and complex topic, such as the contribution of the eco-industries to the European economy, and turn it into a viral clip? This was the challenge, posed by the European Commission to Emakina.EU, member of the Emakina Group, specialising in communicating the European institutions. The goal was to promote “Eco-innovation”, a programme run by the Executive Agency for Competitiveness and Innovation (EACI), supporting private initiatives which have a positive impact on both the environment and the European economy.

The great level of trust we gained from the client allowed our creative directors to explore new concepts, off the beaten-track of the typical “institutional” clips. Their idea was to “personify” the themes of environmentalism and economic activity in the form of two dancers.  The artistic interplay between the dancers metaphorically expresses the synergic potential of the two fields.  It was meant to rebut the misconception that environmentalism stands in the way of economic growth and show that the two can in fact enrich one another.

The clip was produced entirely in-house by Emakina.EU, including its original soundtrack music. In order to develop the concept and properly illustrate the relationship between the dancers, it was decided to produce a clip which lasts over two minutes, long in today’s standards of viral clips. The video will now be disseminated on the most popular social media,  targeting potential entrepreneurs who may be eligible for an EU grant.

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Mar 27 2012

It’s not easy, knowing that we were yet again winners of such distinguished prizes, and to have to remain silent about it… But now that the organisers of the Internet Advertising Competition (IAC) gave us their OK, we can proudly announce: we did it; Emakina won two IACs this year!

Our first prize was for the “Test-Achats 50 Avocats ” campaign, under the Best Magazine Online category. The original campaign was supported by social media activities and a viral clip on protecting consumer rights. It generated a record number of citizens engaging with the organisation, thus making it more relevant than ever before.

We also won the Outstanding Website award for Belgium Rollers’s new home page, designed by Emakina. Thanks to its original funky characters and marvelous design, the website presents to its visitors the fun urban universe in the Roller Parade spirit. All that’s left is scrolling and clicking around this dynamic website in order to learn about the event!

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