THE KEYBOARD OF ISOLATION

Short List
TitleTHE KEYBOARD OF ISOLATION
BrandFAMILY CARE FOR GRASSROOTS COMMUNITY
Product / ServiceLESS ONLINE TIME AND MORE FAMILY TIME
CategoryA04. Ambient/Alternative Media
EntrantDDB CHINA GROUP Shanghai, CHINA
Entrant Company:DDB CHINA GROUP Shanghai, CHINA
DM/Advertising Agency:DDB CHINA GROUP Shanghai, CHINA

Credits

Name Company Position
Michael Dee DDB China Group Chief Creative Officer
Jody Xiong DDB China Group Creative Director
Leo Liu/Jody Xiong DDB China Group Copywriter
Jody Xiong/William Zhang/Jack Xuan DDB China Group Art Director
George Ooi/Rico Zhang DDB China Group Agency Producer
James Chen DDB China Group Production Director
Nicholas Siau Win Shanghai Photographer
King Zhang Win Shanghai Photographer
Alex Chen DDB China Group Photographer
Jenny Liu DDB China Group Planner

The Brief

With half billion netizens in China, many are unaware of how being online can alienate their families. Family Care For Grassroots Community is a non-profit organization dedicated to community building and family care. They wanted to communicate their call for spending less time online and more family time, in a ground-breaking way.

Creative Execution

Netizens aren’t aware of the isolation that computers bring to their families unless they see it. So we recreated these scenes to them, let them feel that their family might be just like one of these isolated families.

Describe the creative solution to the brief/objective.

We interviewed families that have poor relationships due to the overuse of computers and recorded true scenes in their families. We then made 115 figurines - crafted in the likeness of these family members, recreating the scenes of them overusing computers. Next, we set up a massive installation in an IT mall and put these figurines in sealed glass jars of different sizes. The glass jars with figurines were arranged in the form of a keyboard, just like all the real-life family members being isolated in the keys. We also extended the installation to outdoor plazas, hotels and metro stations.

Results

During the two months of the exhibition of our outdoor installation, an estimated audience of 1,800,000 was reached. 89% of them said they would like to spend less time online and more time with their families. Hundreds of TV stations, magazines, newspapers and websites reported the campaign, creating a hard hitting topic in China. On Weibo(Chinese Twitter), it also attracted 35,700 retweets and 8,296 comments. After the exhibition tour, the installation was collected and exhibited by Zendai MOMA.