Problem Solved: Creating a Virtual Shibuya Halloween | LBBOnline - Little Black Book - LBBonline

Geometry Ogilvy Japan’s creatives, Yasushi Arikawa and Takuya Murakami, connected utilising the Metaverse to discourage visitors from in-town Halloween events

At the tallness of the pandemic, Geometry Ogilvy Japan recreated the world-famous Halloween lawsuit held annually successful the centre of the Shibuya district, turning it into an alternate metaverse space. The caller amusement acquisition brought radical astir the satellite unneurotic virtually alternatively of physically and built an evergreen spot that continues to turn commercially successful standard and impact. 

Taking a look backmost astatine the occurrence of ‘Virtual Shibuya’ Halloween 2021 and up to this year’s event, LBB speaks to Yasushi Arikawa, caput of originative experience, and Takuya Murakami, radical relationship manager astatine the Japanese bureau to get an penetration into the originative process down this alternate Halloween celebration.

What You Made

The Shibuya territory successful Tokyo is the taste centre of Japan's youth. They spell to Shibuya to bask buying and acquisition the music, fashion, and thoroughfare civilization that is calved successful this city.

The city's signature lawsuit is Shibuya's Halloween, erstwhile young radical from each implicit Japan stitchery determination successful costume astatine the extremity of October to conscionable and bask the consciousness of togetherness that this immense lawsuit brings. While the Halloween lawsuit is not officially sanctioned oregon sponsored by the Shibuya Ward Office, it continues to turn successful standard arsenic young radical stitchery successful costume annually, with attendance estimated to beryllium arsenic precocious arsenic 1 cardinal people. The lawsuit is covered connected TV quality and crossed assorted online and people publications arsenic an yearly Halloween tradition.

This lawsuit became a occupation successful 2020 though owed to covid-19. With a planetary pandemic underway, we knew that in-person visitors needed to beryllium curbed to debar wide infection. 

Introducing ‘Virtual Shibuya’ – a Halloween lawsuit successful Shibuya created wholly successful the Metaverse. The virtual lawsuit offered partygoers the accidental to locomotion the streets of Shibuya, participating successful the Halloween festival successful Shibuya’s virtual duplicate - from the information and comfortableness of their homes, each without losing the charm of the accepted in-person Halloween lawsuit and experience.

The Problem: Contain 1 Million Visitors

In 2020, covid was raging, and the satellite was asked to marque spontaneous decisions and respond to these issues. Shibuya made nary objection and called for the curbing of people's visits to the metropolis for Halloween. This meant controlling 1 cardinal visitors.

Together with Japanese telecommunications institution KDDI, Shibuya Future Design, and Play! Diversity Shibuya, a municipality relation designing tourism and civilization projects for Shibuya Ward, we launched ‘Virtual Shibuya’ - a metaverse officially recognised by Shibuya and utilized to lick the occupation of visitant suppression for Halloween successful Shibuya.

Ideation

Virtual Shibuya Halloween was designed to supply an amusement acquisition comparable to a existent Halloween event. It was each astir entertaining Halloween virtually, not successful existent beingness – with the catchphrase ‘Stay Virtual’.

The World

The ‘world’ was an country centred connected the scramble crossing (the cardinal determination of Shibuya), wherever elaborate spaces were created. The streets, objects, and pavilions were each designed to correspond a Halloween atmosphere.

To adhd to the existent consciousness of Shibuya, photogrammetry was used, photographing existent buildings and mapping them onto 3D objects to recreate the streets artifact by block. Within this world, a signifier hosting unrecorded euphony and speech shows was created, on with a ‘Game’ satellite wherever games could beryllium played; stores for purchasing merchandise and adjacent photograph spots were created and made accessible to all. 

Event Program

The lawsuit itself was akin to experiencing a locomotion done the streets of Shibuya. In this virtual reality, radical entered arsenic avatars, capable to bask unrecorded euphony and speech shows designed by assorted creators, influencers, and artists. Avatars were capable to play Halloween games and quizzes, and adjacent triumph tickets for existent doughnuts and sweets! Visitors enjoyed divers entertainment, specified arsenic trick-or-treat hunting, avatar cosplay contests, and instrumentality meetings. The crippled was wholly designed to beryllium enjoyed arsenic if you were walking done an existent city, accessing assorted lawsuit venues and pavilions, portion besides being capable to pass with different avatars and marque friends.

Prototype and Design

Production Process

The plan of this Halloween lawsuit was fraught with difficulties. First was the existent capableness issue. Designing the 3D entity capableness and contented to tally smoothly erstwhile letting radical entree the lawsuit from their smartphone apps was difficult. To let that galore radical to link simultaneously, we designed the servers to administer the traffic, but adjacent so, we were apprehensive astir whether they would stay unchangeable oregon not. We besides struggled with the fig of simultaneous avatar connections and displays. Even if the fig of participants increased, displaying 25 avatars successful the aforesaid country was the bounds of the hardware specs astatine the time. So, we struggled with however to marque the lawsuit look exciting. There were regular online meetings with the tech team, client, and creation manager to marque adjustments. And moving arsenic 1 team, we were capable to marque decisions and stay agile. 

A Wide Variety of Content

The Virtual Shibuya Halloween was programmed with contented from aggregate sponsors, partners and performances by assorted artists. The standard of this contented accumulation differed from regular lawsuit enactment though and alternatively was similar moving a unrecorded euphony festival. We had to marque galore changes successful however we designed the lawsuit programme and devised ways to marque the unrecorded creator performances look good. We besides went done a bid of trials and errors to verify the photography techniques for filming. To marque it look similar a unrecorded performance, we designed abstraction successful unity and repeated simulations erstwhile filming the unrecorded dependable recording.

Live

Metaverse arsenic the Centrepiece 

Before the Halloween event, the politician of Shibuya Ward held a property league successful mid-September calling connected radical not to travel to Shibuya for Halloween. Instead, helium asked radical to ‘Stay Virtual’ by enjoying a Virtual Shibuya Halloween. The city's approach, which projected celebrating successful a antithetic mode that twelvemonth alternatively of cancelling oregon postponing, was received favourably and rapidly picked up by media. Through a azygous property release, the lawsuit received immense media vulnerability without an advertizing fund – decidedly 1 of the project's successes.

Creating Buzz arsenic a New Experience: 500,000+ Visitors and 2 Billion Yen successful Media Exposure

The quality that the authorities had utilized this metaverse lawsuit was a blistery topic, and provided accrued involvement successful this latest technology. The quality dispersed rapidly – including that the lawsuit produced ¥2 cardinal successful sum and avoided a crowded Shibuya. At the aforesaid time, it contributed to the city's value, yet winning a Webby Award and a nationalist XR Award.

Learnings

Attitude Change to Halloween

Unfortunately, past Halloween events successful the metropolis had brought astir a atrocious representation – with young radical moving amok successful chaos and garbage strewn astir the city. In contrast, the Shibuya Halloween successful the metaverse brought astir a bully broadside to the event. Not affected by determination oregon distance, the virtual lawsuit could judge a divers scope of people. As avatars, everyone is accepted - careless of sex oregon appearance!  For a metropolis that has declared that differences tin marque a metropolis attractive, the metaverse has opened up a full caller realm of diversity.

The improvement of Halloween into a festival that immunodeficiency assorted societal issues has go socially significant.  Proceeds from some the lawsuit and its merchandise person been donated to Kids Table, which supports neighbourhood acquisition successful Shibuya. 

From Event Space to Communication Space

Since its inception successful 2020, the Virtual Shibuya Halloween has been held annually with its 3rd twelvemonth to beryllium marked this month. The lawsuit continues to update functionality – and is scheduled to beryllium updated for the web3 era, evolving from the accepted lawsuit abstraction benignant of metaverse into a connection abstraction wherever individuals, specified arsenic the town's residents, instrumentality the starring role.

For details, delight visit the website here.

Geometry Ogilvy Japan, Fri, 21 Oct 2022 09:46:00 GMT