The Academic slides into summer
Created with BBDO New York, the Irish indie-rockers track Not Your Summer takes creative collaboration to a new level by being the world’s first live animation music video via Google Slides.
Credits
powered by- Agency BBDO/New York
- Production Company Open the Portal
- Director Michael Woodall
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Credits
powered by- Agency BBDO/New York
- Production Company Open the Portal
- Director Michael Woodall
- Chief Creative Officer David Lubars
- Senior Creative Director/Live Animator Bart Mol
- Creative Director Pol Hoenderboom
- Producer Chava Quinn
- Copywriter Benner Rawley
![](https://d17mj1ha1c2g57.cloudfront.net/v1/oOt1EwO8MW_uFoEgefG6eg7vXGg/1024x576%23/80/shotsmag/production/clips/25740-611a78473d9579.52163278-adfaf984c44b1bd26cca0bc368b51bd6.jpg?v=1&quality=80&format=jpeg)
Credits
powered by- Agency BBDO/New York
- Production Company Open the Portal
- Director Michael Woodall
- Chief Creative Officer David Lubars
- Senior Creative Director/Live Animator Bart Mol
- Creative Director Pol Hoenderboom
- Producer Chava Quinn
- Copywriter Benner Rawley
Presentation software: great for showing shareholders graphs about profits and somesuch or putting together disparate ideas in a pitch; not so good for making music videos. Or so we thought...
On July 15th, Irish Indie-Rock band The Academic and BBDO New York hosted the world’s first live animation music video via Google Slides, attempting to create an interactive audio and visual experience for fans.
Created in collaboration with Capitol Records and Open The Portal animation studio, the Not Your Summer musical experience was built out in real-time with a team of animators (and all four band members themselves) working together behind the scenes to create and delete slides every second - the resulting animation telling a visual story loosely based on the song’s lyrics about isolation and internal conflict.
![](https://d17mj1ha1c2g57.cloudfront.net/v1/KHeKcVvZbAiI_79eS6Rd8BdAsMo/1024x576%23/80/shotsmag/production/clips/25741-611a79925dc6f8.51418906-c5ef272c27f6efcfc2c90d02b2c0b59c.jpg?v=1&quality=80&format=jpeg)
Credits
powered byThe project isn't the first technical experiment between band and agency - the piece being seen as an evolutionary follow-up to 2017 Live Looper an innovative live musical performance that was hosted on Facebook Live, turning the platform into a global stage, and ultimately winning top industry accolades including Gold at Cannes Lions, D&AD, One Show, and Webby’s, among others.
“One of the things we’ve missed most throughout this pandemic has been interacting with our fans and creating unforgettable moments for them through music," comments Craig Fitzgerald, lead singer, The Academic. "We were thrilled to collaborate with BBDO and Open The Portal to create this totally new, virtual musical experience in Google Slides. Not only was it a clever way to say ‘hi’ to our fans, but we live for finding these new techy ways to make our music stand out from the rest.”.
“The strong, universal feeling of ‘I need to get away from me,’ is one that transcends this moment in time," adds Bart Mol, SVP, Senior Creative Director, and Live Animator, BBDO NY. "We used that emotion of not feeling happy with, and needing a break from, yourself as a thread throughout the experience.
"The main character literally breaks away from his own alter ego, resulting in an exciting chase across different pages in Google Slides, while featuring the platform’s many capabilities in creative ways.”.