MEC Creates Interactive Installation in Partnership With Jason Bruges Studio to Celebrate Cannes Lions Innovation Festival

LONDON, UNITED KINGDOM and CANNES, FRANCE--(Marketwired - Jun 25, 2015) -

• 180 Mini screens will live display the emotion of the Cannes Festival of Creativity, using data drawn from social media
• The installation launches MEC's partnership in the inaugural Lions Innovation Festival
• #EmotiCannes, The Art of Always-On

MEC today unveils its installation at the Cannes Lions Innovation. The visual art piece, which explores the future of the 'Live Room,' has been created in collaboration with iconic interactive design and art company Jason Bruges Studio to celebrate MEC's sponsorship of the inaugural festival.

#EmotiCannes is an anamorphic digital installation made up of 180 small screens that, from certain vantage points, resolve into the icon of the Cannes Festival of Creativity, the Lion. Using entirely bespoke hardware and software, the Lion displays the emotion of the Festival using data drawn in real-time from social media. Viewed from a distance the Lion is a barometer of the social media sentiment surrounding the Festival. When approached it reveals data that gives an insight into the prevailing mood of the Festival crowd. Like a chameleon reacting to different stimulus, the installation will shift and change its colours and projections in sympathy with the 10,000+ festival attendees.

The Lion represents MEC's capability to uncover real-time insights and is one of several MEC always-on innovations; taking vast amounts of data and turning it into intuitive, useful visualizations.

Jason Bruges Studio has created a unique hardware and software solution that includes 180 Raspberry Pi boards connected at the back of each screen. This technology allows each display to be controlled separately or in unison, offering an infinite amount of screen configurations that mean no individual will provoke the same response from the installation.

Stephan Bruneau, Global Chief Analytics & Insight Officer, said, "Today consumers are always on, they interact with brands daily, even when they are not in the active phase of the purchase journey. So brands need to be always-on too, and listen to the vast volume of real-time consumer conversations happening continuously. We decided to get creative with technology to make it easier for marketers to capture insights, by literally taking data out of the computer screen, and into more intuitive and interactive visual installations. We have recently experimented with different forms of visualisation, and now we have partnered with Jason Bruges Studio to create something truly special for Cannes, where creative technology and data meet art." 

Jason Bruges said: "At Jason Bruges Studio we work with brands to manifest their ambitions in a way that uses the most advanced technology to connect with people on the most human of levels. MEC are a very creatively savvy business that understands that big data is useless to their clients without useful curation and interpretation. #EmotiCannes is a complicated machine that is instantly accessible to anyone -- it is designed to connect on a truly emotional level, making it fun while also exploring complex themes."

#EmotiCannes creators Jason Bruges and Stephan Bruneau are available for interview 10am-3pmTBC, Thursday 25^th June

#EmotiCannes can be visited from 9am Thursday 25^th June in the MEC PALAIS CABANA, Rotonde Lerins Building

About MEC
MEC is committed to growth. Growth for our people, our clients and our industry. MEC pushes the boundaries of what's possible in order to thrive in ~ Ad Ops ~ Analytics ~ Brand Partnerships ~ Content Marketing ~ Data ~ Insight ~ Integrated Planning ~ Mobile ~ Multi-cultural ~ Performance Marketing ~ Planning & Buying ~ Programmatic ~ Search ~ Social ~ Sport, Entertainment & Cause Marketing. Our 5,000 highly talented and motivated people work with category leading advertisers in 93 countries and we are a founding partner of GroupM. To find out more, visit us at www.mecglobal.com #dontjustlivethrive

About Jason Bruges Studio
Established by Jason Bruges in 2002, Jason Bruges Studio is recognised for its work in public art and interactive environments. Today a team of 20, including architects, coders, artists, electrical engineers, industrial designers and visualisers work from a studio and workshop space in Old Street, London.

At the heart of the studio's work is a dedication to creating engaging environments, using curious minds, technology transfer and a combination of disciplines to achieve extraordinary results.

The studio has created work all around the globe and been commissioned by cities, large corporate clients, architects, public arts organisations and charities.