What happens when you throw the most creative team in the world, into the fast-paced, interactive landscape of gaming?  You get seriously fun campaigns with seriously real results.  Be prepared to have your face melted with the most innovative ideas ever imagined....And with a catalog of the largest games on Earth you can rest assured we will deliver a return you'll never forget. 

 

The average gamer in the US is male, 34 years old and makes $78k annually.  Is that your target demo? You're in luck, it's easier to hit this market that you ever imagined.  These are not kids playing Pac Man. These are blockbuster games with several million followers all playing together online.  Social Media is more than a buzzword to gamers.  PS3 and Xbox 360 consoles have single handedly connected the largest social networks in the world with the addition of Facebook and Twitter.  Imagine connecting all this into one media buy with one shop that has an impeccable record of blowing people's mind!  How about jumping into the most riveting form of entertainment with an ROI that will have you waking up next to us saying; "Was it as good for you as it was for me?"  In a word, "Yes" it will be. 

 

TAO Agency is THE connection to the most creative, engaging campaigns within the exciting world of video games.  Our ideas can be found no where else due to our deep ties to the gaming industry and digital advertising background.  Don't believe us?  Peep our roster of rockstars. Are you ready to play in the fastest growing entertainment sector in the world?  Ask us how we can get up to a 50% return on your media investment, while creating real brand loyalty.  When was the last time your campaign delivered those kind of results? This is more than a media buy.  This is an experience that consumers will not only appreciate, but will proactively seek out and through the connectivity of social networks, word-of-mouth will quickly spread.

 

Curious about what games we represent?  Want to find out how your brand can make a real impact here? Call us and we'll break it down, gently.

When Ford Motor Company came to us to help bring their new crossover vehicle the "Flex" to the iPhone, we immediately jumped at the chance.  The landscape of the iTunes app store was beginning to become more and more littered with choices for consumers.  We knew we had to create something fun, engaging, useful and had replay value.  We delivered on all fronts with the creation of the Ford Flex Photo Lab.  And the client couldn't have been happier!

 
Want to learn more about the Flex?  Head to iTunes and pick up a copy.  It's free!  Or give us a call to discuss in more detail.

When GCHD called us we were very excited to work with them.  Why?  Well, we’re all avid gamers here at TAO so to have the chance to work with a website like theirs was a great opportunity.  We were even more honored when they turned the entire vision of the brand over to us.  We transformed their website into a sleek destination for older gamers and the layout oozes with style.

 
We created every aspect of their website and their iPhone application.  The app is still one of the highest ranked video game news applications in the App Store.  (It was beating the CBS news app for a few months ;)  After their site launched we jumped back into our labs to create some exclusive content for them.

 
GCHD with the help of TAO became the first video game news outlet to ever appear on the HD screen in Times Square!  TAO created the logo, image and vision of GCHD, helping to thrust it into the noisy landscape of the video game enthusiast press.  

When American Apparel approached us they were looking for something never been done before.  Something that would help extend their brand’s message and penetrate a new market.  They wanted something cool and press worthy. After extensive research we brought them an opportunity that changed the game for them and Second Life. 

We began construction on a virtual American Apparel store in the summer of 2006.  It took approximately 45 days to complete and populate the store with clothing.  The store was setup for avatars to purchase clothing for their digital and “real-life” counterparts.  Yep, that was a first.  The first retailer to ever use a digital economy in a virtual world to generate real revenue on virtual and real products. 

Click the picture on right and get the virtual product.  Click the “real” picture to the left and you’ll be directed to that identical product on American Apparel’s website and users would receive a 10% off coupon for virtually shopping.  Cool.

Our idea for the Deadliest Catch iPhone application focuses on creating something that users will continue to use and want to talk about.  We wanted something challenging, skillful and it should feature something never before seen on the iPhone.  We did not want to simply create a game. We wanted to create an experience.  Well, actually we wanted to create two experiences.

 

Storm Creator:

We wanted to replicate the experience the crab fishermen experience while on the roughest sea in the world.  Similar to how a painter begins a new painting, the user would start with an empty canvas, however the canvas is a beautiful day at sea.  As the user swipes the screen he/she creates clouds. Tilting the phone to-and-fro causes larger waves.  Blowing the screen stirs up gale force winds and shaking the phone causes rain.  The user sees a tiny boat in the ocean thrown about as they create a larger storm.

 

Multiplayer Massive Storms:

If two users, on the same WI-FI network have this application, they can work together to build a massive storm.  Perhaps the storm can be much greater in scale.  They can control a much larger portion of the sea.  One user controls the wind and rain by blowing and shaking their phone.  The other user creates lightening and thunder by tapping the screen.  

 

And if you want to share this application with your friends you can email it from within the app.  However when you start to send the email the keys freeze up and break away as if they are floating away.  And the keys still work!  How fun is that?

For the Home Depot iPhone Application we propose a utilitarian approach that caters to consumers interested in small, quick upgrades and projects, that improves the value of their home and can be accomplished in one weekend.  Part of the attraction of this application is the real-time ROI estimates for each project that the consumer will receive if they complete each project.

Our idea for THD was to build an app that included ten common projects that do-it-yourselfers can accomplish in a weekend.  Each project will include how-to instructions, product breakdowns needed for the project and estimates that show the new value of your home after the project/upgrade is completed. 

Included within this application would be several examples of before and after for inspirational ideas.  The “before” picture will showcase common areas (kitchen, bathroom, etc) with touch points for tips and ideas.  Touching these points will bring up an overlay with information, product list, instructions and even a shopping list generator. 

The “after” picture would be interactive using TAO’s exclusive iPhone Enhanced Parallax technology.  This technology will allow consumers to move through a static image as if it were 3D and give them the power to touch products in the image to learn more.

The Chevy Volt is a technological revolution for consumer automobiles.  So how do you build a campaign that supports and mirrors that breakthrough?  How can you replicate that innovation on the iPhone?  You call TAO.  Chevy did and this was our idea: 

 
Imagine you open the Volt iPhone App to see the Chevy Volt.  However it's sitting on a city street in the pitch dark, only outlines of the car and cityscape are visible.  When the user barely moves the phone a flicker of light appears revealing some of the car and city, but only for a second.  You start to move the phone more and the headlights on the vehicle come on.  You move more vigorously and the city street lights in the background light up to reveal the whole car.  Shake harder and the car fires up....logo appears.  But wait, what about the interior?  

 
The application also include the interior of the vehicle.  But instead of a boring 360 view or photo slideshow, we wanted to offer an experience.  The user sees a first person perspective of sitting behind the wheel of the Volt.  All is dark.  The user shakes the phone and the dashboard lights come on, then the city street lights, then the car, so on and so forth.

 
The basic idea here is to use human energy to bring the Volt to life.  That's what it's all about.  Energy.  In motion, harnessed and transferred through people then machines and then back to people.  So think about looking at the speedometer of the Volt, in first person.  Imagine rubbing the screen or shaking the phone to increase the speedometer.   Want a Bigger idea?

 
For every 10 people that get the speedometer above 100 mph, Chevy will purchase one green credit to offset the energy it took to create the Volt to begin with.  Now the public is taking a proactive step, using THEIR energy to do something good.  All the while they are constantly interacting with the Volt brand.  And at the end of the day, Chevy looks good because they are doing good AND perhaps they purchase enough green credits, to truly make the Volt the first car that consumed zero energy to create.  That's a revolution!

How do you make home improvement cool? You call TAO. Ace Hardware was looking to make the leap to the iPhone but had no idea how to do it. They needed the creative and the developer. We do both. So we pitched them the idea of an interactive DIY guide of common household fixes. The application included our exclusive line of code that creates a “Parallax” effect on the iPhone.

 

Users see a faucet but when you tilt the phone it displays an exploded view of the inner-parts of the faucet and it pinpoints common leaky spots. The exploded view shows all the small parts and inner workings of the faucet and if the user touches the parts it zooms in on the part to give the user more information. Zoom view includes part name and number, price and with one more touch they can add it to an automatically generated shopping list. Now anyone can be handy…and cool.

TAO and video games just go hand in hand, so when we approached Ubisoft with an idea for their smash hit Assassins Creed, it was primarily out of lust.  Assassins Creed was different because the decisions the gamer made during the game changed the outcome of the game.  Meaning each gamer had a different experience when playing.  Awesome. 

 

So we thought their trailer should mimic that.  Why watch non-interactive trailers when you can allow fans to “create” the trailer.  Our idea for Assassins Creed allowed gamers to make decisions during key call to action points during the playing of the trailer.  Users make this choice via the web and on the largest HD screen in Times Square.  People make different decisions therefore their trailer feels exclusive to them.  And we would give them the tools to share the custom trailer they made with their friends and on Facebook.

We’re huge fans of 30 Rock here at TAO.  (Mostly they first season) So we were stoked when NBC reached out to us.  Here’s a taste of the ideas we generated for them: Jack Donaghy’s Corporate Ladder Climbing Tools – iPhone application provides weekly tips, through the application on succeeding within a corporation.  How to take over a company in 10 easy steps.  Narrated by Alec Baldwin.

 
GE Product Demonstrations - User picks a GE product and it is demonstrated by their favorite 30 Rock Character in full motion video on the iPhone.  If you’re in Times Square you can display the video on the largest HD screen at the corner of 7th and broadway.  Mobile-interactive-to HD Screen in Times Square.

 
Tracey Jordan Entourage Name Generator- part of the iPhone application that auto updates users’ Facebook profile with a randomly generated odd name (like Dot Com).  Stupid funny.