Microsoft x Childish Gambino

Virtual production propels musical performances into mesmerising new universes

Brief

We’re on a quest to enhance how people are able to experience music. We were asked to create opportunities for Microsoft to show how they can create new experiences and meaningfully partner with the music industry to develop resonant roles for their products, drive brand favourability while collaborating with cultural influencers and creators in the music and technology space.

Solution

Working with Microsoft’s Brand team, under the Music x Tech programme in concert with Childish Gambino, we conceived, scripted, designed and created an original live shared immersive and in home virtual reality experience.

Pharos was the world’s first musical short story in virtual reality with music act Childish Gambino, alter ego of the multitalented Donald Glover. Through a bold exploration in emotional reality, we created both a physical experience, augmented by digital, in tandem with an in home experience. Three different types of engagement, all created from one real-time production pipeline.

Thousands of festival goers gathered in California’s Joshua Tree National Park under a massive projection dome for the Pharos concert. As the audience looked up above the central stage, they were propelled into an imaginary 3D world – a giant, shared virtual reality experience that blended the physical reality of the live concert with real-time 3D animation to create a truly out-of-this-world experience. The show was made available for fans to experience at home on an immersive app, taking them from the front row of the Joshua Tree concert into a spellbinding virtual universe; all run in real-time.

Results

This epic challenge saw us combine live music, high-tech and immersive effects to create a live performance never seen before. Working closely with Donald to bring his vision to life, we invented an interactive visual narrative that enriched the live performance and took the audience mood and energy to new heights.

This was a unique opportunity to showcase how real-time, immersive technology is transforming the way content is created and how it creates for deeper audience connection.

Overall, we delivered purchase intent for Microsoft of 79% for 18-35-year-olds. We delivered 182m impressions including 1.1m video views at full dwell time and 338 unique press articles along with features in Wired, Billboard and Rolling Stone magazine. Pharos was awarded Gold and Silver in the Clio Awards, among others.