キングレコード | RUN and RUN MV for Smartphone | 2016
Now That's a Clever Idea Award / King Records "RUN and RUN MV for Smartphone"
You hold your phone upright and watch the screen, and without you noticing, it shifts from the lock screen to Twitter, FaceTime, and the camera app. A music video where six members run around inside all of it. This is exactly what you'd call a "now that's a clever idea" moment.
The problem
In 2016, lyrical school was a six-member idol group about to make their major debut. One member had just graduated from the group right before this, and fans were feeling a bit uneasy at the time. Around the same period, more and more videos were being watched with phones held upright instead of turned sideways.
The insight
Teens don't want to turn their phones sideways to watch videos. So why not turn the inside of the smartphone itself into the music video? Because the lock screen and app notifications are things everyone recognizes so well, it creates the illusion that "my own phone has been taken over." That sense of strangeness was something only a vertical video could pull off.
The idea
Unlocking the screen, an incoming call, the camera, a Twitter timeline, Vine—the screens keep switching one after another, and the members appear and disappear within them. No CG was used at all, and the team was committed to making sure the same screens could be recreated on any device. The background stays white the whole time. By removing any sense of physical space, it highlights the feeling of jumping from one app to another. What the director asked of the members was to stay aware that fans were watching from the other side of the screen.
What happened
The video got 50,000 views on its first day and started trending on Twitter. Within a few weeks it passed 1 million views, and it was picked up by The Verge and Noisey, with Noisey calling it "the best music video of all time." In 2016, it won a Bronze Lion in the Cyber category at Cannes Lions.
Afterthought
The idea itself is simple enough to think of. But pulling it off completely at the one-shot moment of a major debut is what makes it amazing. Watching it now still gives me a thrill. I really want you to watch it on your phone.
Awards
- Cannes Lions Bronze 2016
