Background

The country’s first ‘death fest’. Organic embalming fluids. Modern memorial parks. Xiao En has a long tradition of innovation in the business of death. But they also wanted people to look to them as a brand that celebrates life. To further their philosophy of “Caring like family” they wanted a message that encouraged people to treasure the time they have with family.

Describe the creative idea

Xiao En's in-house grievance counsellors revealed that the number one regret most families have, is not taking the time to be with their loved ones enough. And this is most prevalent when it comes to children and their elderly parents. In the fast-paced urban life that most people find themselves in, work and their immediate family take priority over their parents. In a culture that honours filial piety, this guilt is a huge source of anguish for the families left behind by the departed. We saw this as a huge gap and wanted to find a way to jolt working adults into realising how they spend their time in the here and now. To remind them that as they chase their ambitions and goals, time is also slipping away for their parents. This led to the thought of how time flies in the blink of an eye.

Describe the strategy

In a first-of-its-kind mobile site experience, Blink gave viewers a chance to control a film with their eyes. When the film plays, every blink shortens the experience. In the spot, a father is seen reading a newspaper, but he ages decade by decade with every blink. Every blink from the viewer shortens the film experience. The film uses a proprietary code that works on both mobile and desktop browsers. The experience brought people face-to-face with the fickle nature of time. But it also ends with a message of hope. That we can wield the power to control time by being present in the now.

Describe the execution

The key to the experience was to make the film entirely native to users. An app would hinder the reach of the message, so we decided to build everything within the possibilities of a mobile browsing experience. A proprietary code was developed to enable each blink (as the front-facing camera is activated) to skip ahead in the film. The interactivity and capture of the blinks had to work across multiple browsers and devices. But what was most challenging was the process of making sure that the blinks felt seamless. Too sensitive and it would trigger a buggy experience. Not sensitive enough and viewers would have to perform conscious blinks for the skips to register. This led to tests after tests after tests. At the end of the day, the technology had to work so seamlessly that it was hidden in the storytelling and message.

List the results

199.8k views (+30% from their previously highest-performing campaign)