​15.02.2022

Present without being there – UnitedSenses produces purely digital campaign on behalf of ARD for the Olympic Winter Games in Beijing

by Eyes & Ears of Europe

While Felix Neureuther and Sven Hannawald are themselves at home, their digital twins invite viewers to the Forbidden City on Das Erste and put a smile on their faces with surreal situations.

This year, the Olympics are taking place in Beijing under difficult corona conditions. A challenge not only for the athletes, but also for the campaign. The UnitedSenses team, led by CEO and Creative Director Markus Schmidt, has taken on this challenge and shows in trailers and idents that the agency has a knack for animation, sport and entertainment.

Exceptionally similar

In their home city of Munich, the team from UnitedSenses not only produced a 3D version of the Forbidden City, the World Heritage Site in the centre of Beijing, but also brought the digital twins of ARD sports experts Sven Hannawald and Felix Neureuther to life. These twins take the viewers along on the Olympic journey in trailers and idents and provide breath-taking insights where they meet the winter sports athletes in surreal situations. By using motion capture technology, the experts managed to ensure that the 3D images do not differ from the living original in their facial expressions, gestures and language. 

However, this was not the first time UnitedSenses had worked with motion capture. The Munich-based agency is an expert in the production and implementation of motion data gained through many project implementations. The creatives are also already versed in the field of the Olympics: The current campaign e.g., is the long-awaited continuation of the little cloud-men from the Olympic campaign for Vancouver 2010 resulting from the long-standing cooperation between ARD and UnitedSenses. The TV broadcaster and the creative agency have already implemented many successful sports campaigns together, e.g. for the UEFA Euro or the European Championships. Creative Director Henriette Edle von Hoessle was responsible on the ARD side.

You can find more information on the Olympic design at https://unitedsenses.tv/work/ard-olympics-2022/