Creative Execution

Kao TV (which means Face TV in Japanese) helps kids understand their world with simple stories about everyday objects. We created the app for smartphones and tablets that lets kids select the eyes, nose, mouth, and accessories that combine to create unique faces. When they're done, the created face jumps into the TV and sings a quirky song about its life. In order to show the complex user generated animation on normal TV sets existing around Japan, we found an alternative usage of the Hybridcast API, which is usually used to display real time news & stats.

The show was a huge success not only with the kids and parents, but for the TV industry itself. The participation rate was 100 times higher than any previous Hybridcast content. Kao TV demonstrated the fun potential of interactive TV content, and has successfully become an ongoing TV series.

NHK, the national broadcaster of Japan, wanted to explore the possibilities of interactive TV with a program that's new and innovative. Our goal was to create something simple and engaging enough for even the kids to enjoy, since they will be the generation to accept and experience more of these interactive TVs in the future. So we came up with a new TV program that empowers children and parents to customize what they see on TV, literally creating the "face" of the show.