ROCA | RITUALS | 2010
They showed life-size bathroom moments nobody shows anyone else — and won an award for it / ROCA "RITUALS"
Shaving at the sink, checking yourself in the mirror. They turned "you, in the bathroom" — the self nobody ever shows anyone — into life-size footage and projected it on the walls of a showroom. Sometimes the plainest idea is the strongest one.
The problem
ROCA, a global maker of bathroom and water fixtures, opened its own brand experience space, the Roca Barcelona Gallery, in Barcelona. The building was designed by Carlos Ferrater's firm OAB, and Tiempo BBDO Barcelona handled the video content shown inside.
The insight
The bathroom is the most private room in the house, and what we do there is a collection of habits nobody ever shows anyone else. The flip in thinking here: that very 'unseen everyday life' becomes the most real kind of advertising material for a brand whose business is water and daily living.
The idea
In the projection titled 'Rituals,' a life-size screen shows people going through their everyday routines in the bathroom. It was directed by Paul Freeth and produced by Boolab. Alongside it, visual effects called 'Momentums' - evoking weather phenomena like water, rain and ice - wrapped around visitors. It wasn't so much an ad as a video installation blended into the architecture itself.
What happened
This 'Rituals' piece, part of the video content for the Roca Barcelona Gallery, won a Gold Lion in the Design category at the Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity 2010. The following year it also picked up a Silver Lion.
Afterthought
What's great here is that it wasn't a TV commercial or a web video that won the award - it was footage built right into the building itself. It's not an ad trying to show off; it's just a setup where visitors stand and watch. And yet 'you, in the bathroom' is something nobody can really claim doesn't apply to them, which is probably why people end up staring at it anyway.
Awards
- Cannes Lions Gold 2010
