Gallery
In 2014, the Mtel telco operator (now part of A1 Telekom Austria) introduced a new communication platform with the slogan "You lead". In fact, "You lead" is much more than a slogan – it is an expression of the philosophy that technologies do not oppress people, but empower them – a defiant and bold statement for a company whose products and services are linked namely to the use of new technologies.
Later that year, as organizers of the event Mtel Media Masters media competition, we reinforced the notion that Mtel provides the best technologies without encouraging the overconsumption of technologies and that people are free to choose when and how to use them. The event inspired journalists from the tech sector and recognized some of the best media articles, films and researches on innovation.
By transforming Mtel Media Masters 2014 into a platform for public discussion, we started the topic of the role of technology in our life and put it in the center of the communication campaign, preceding the event, as well as the official ceremony itself.
The provocative concept of Mtel Media Masters 2014 was: "The Human Being is an Endangered Species" – a platform which solved both communication problems:
- How, as a telecom, to talk about the impact of technologies, without a positive or negative assessment of their effect, and
- How to turn a routine event into unforgettable experience for its guests.
The goal of Mtel Media Masters 2014 was to provoke the audience to contemplate whether the increasing influence of technology would be the cause for a huge change. Whether people, as we know them, would become an endangered or extinct species.
The communication campaign of “The Human Being Is an Endangered Species” spread across traditional and new media. Leonardo da Vinci’s Vitruvian Man, as a symbol of human’s perfect harmony, was the inspiration and basis for the key vision.
The closing event of Mtel Media Masters included the award ceremony and a lecture by a world renowned neurologist. Over 350 guests – representatives of almost every media in the country, were able to see the special guest Baroness Susan Greenfield – neuroscientist from Oxford and a member of the House of Lords.
To illustrate the idea of "man’s extinction", we removed the words "man", "people", "humanity" and their derivatives in the news articles on few websites and replaced them with dots. When placing the mouse cursor over them, the campaign name would appear and Internet users were redirected to the website of the campaign. In addition – The Vitruvian Man symbolically disappeared on floating banners.
To illustrate the idea of "man’s extinction", we removed the words "man", "people", "humanity" and their derivatives in the news articles on few websites and replaced them with dots. When placing the mouse cursor over them, the campaign name would appear and Internet users were redirected to the website of the campaign. In addition – The Vitruvian Man symbolically disappeared on floating banners.
In order to reach the event’s spot, guests entered a special decorated labyrinth where they could walk among living human exhibits. Each scene represented actual people in scenes from their natural everyday life – a family dining in their home, a boy and a girl dating, a couple watching television and a male reading newspaper on the toilet. A guide plate (like in a real museum) with info about the typical habitat of the species was placed in front of each installation.
After passing through the experiential museum part, the guests entered the main ceremony hall. Special décor appeared as a background – layers of human figures printed with natural environment, screens and projections. During the ceremony human figures disappeared one by one to illustrate the idea of “The Human Being Is an Endangered Species”.
To reveal the big idea not through experiential, but also from a scientific point of view, our guests had the chance to meet the scientist who has dedicated her whole life to examining the way new technologies influence the human brain. Baroness Susan Greenfield provoked the audience in the overcrowded hall to think about whether new technologies are one of the means by which people are living fulfilling lives.
Mtel Media Masters event gathered over 100 entries from more than 50 tech journalists and media.
More than 350 guests attended the official awards ceremony
The event and campaign theme were ranked 9,97 /out of 10/ by the audience in a post evaluation survey
A total of 8 television reports featuring the winners of the competition, members of the jury and one-on-one interviews with the key note speaker herself.
A total of 8 television reports featuring the winners of the competition, members of the jury and one-on-one interviews with the key note speaker herself.