AKQA creates a ‘Hall of Distraction’ to launch Levi’s jacket that carries Google technology
To launch Levi’s new trucker jacket that is embedded with Google’s Jacquard techonology, AKQA created a ‘Hall of Distraction’ experience at Sydney’s Carriageworks. The hallway compiled 12 months of smartphone notifications into a 30-minute experience.
The announcement:
The attention economy is thriving, and – notification by notification – it’s pulling us away from the things we’d rather connect with. But we have the technology to change.
That was the message from Levi’s® VP of Global Product Innovation Paul Dillinger at the launch of Levi’s® Trucker Jacket with Jacquard™ by Google at Carriageworks.
The Levi’s® Trucker Jacket with Jacquard™ by Google is a revolutionary product that seamlessly merges Levi’s® iconic style with the technology of Google to enhance wearers’ experience of their world.
The tech is built into the fabric, providing an ever-expanding toolkit of abilities, accessible by simple gestures to keep wearers connected while they’re on the go.
“We’re excited to continue this journey with our partners at Google ATAP,” notes Dillinger. “Two years after we first launched Jacquard™ – the technology has become smaller and more discrete, more affordable and more useful … but the premise and purpose remain the same: you can keep your phone in your pocket and your eyes on the world around you, staying connected without being distracted.”
To accompany the launch, AKQA created ‘The Hall of Distractions’, a large-scale immersive experience in which audiences were confronted with one year of a smartphone user’s notifications, condensed into a 30-minute cacophony of sound and light.
“We created the Hall of Distractions in an attempt to help people understand the scale at which screens and algorithms have gained command over our lives,” explained AKQA APAC Executive Creative Director Tim Devine. “The average user spends 56 days of the year on their phone – and that’s not without cost, we pay for it with the dreams we never pursue.”
“That’s what makes products like Levi’s® Jacquard™ by Google so important. It gives us a new interface through which we can use technology, and gives us back the attention we’d rather be placing on our own lives.”
The experience was accompanied by a conversation between Paul Dillinger and Devine, before a small gathering of members from Sydney’s media, technology and fashion communities.
Levi’s ANZ Managing Director, Paul Sweet, said “This was more than a traditional product launch – it was a conversation. Levi’s® has always put a premium on clothes that stand the test of time. And with the Levi’s® Trucker Jacket with JacquardTM by Google, longevity comes by way of both durability, and the more human way in which it uses technology to align with the wearer’s own goals.”
Source: AKQA media release
