Who needs yoga, meditation or aromatherapy when you can smash things to release anger and stress? That’s the philosophy behind Wieden + Kennedy Amsterdam’s latest interactive campaign for Electronic Arts’ Burnout Dominator game, which is known as the king of speed and destruction. The game challenges players to face off against a series of hot-blooded rivals in tests of reckless driving.
The campaign is based on Kah Ra Shin, which originated in 19th-century Tibet. (Any similarity Kah Ra Shin many have to the word ‘crashing’ is purely incidental.) The interactive website www.kahrashin.com teaches visitors how to use the Kah Ra Shin philosophy of releasing inner peace through outer violence through several videos. One demonstrates simple object destruction, starting off with a humble pencil, while another features “freestyle” object destruction. One video shows how for extreme cases of deep rooted and pathological anger, masters prescribe a new method of release–the adrenalin-fueled Burnout Dominator.
“What everyone loves about EA’s Burnout Dominator is its pure and unabashed celebration of destruction. The truth is, it feels good to smash into things at high speed. And after a stressful day at the office, there is something even pleasantly cathartic about it. The worldwide global phenomenon, Kah Ra Shin, and its mantra ‘inner peace through outer violence’ was born from this insight,” said Mike Farr, W+K Amsterdam copywriter.
In addition to The Teachings, there is also a section on the site called the Way of the Scream, which stresses the importance of screaming to achieve inner peace. Visitors can upload their own scream, listen to other people’s and send theirs to a friend. You can also learn the history of the movement–for example how the first temple was built but then destroyed two weeks later by an overzealous disciple–and read testimonials. Each section is light on text but heavy on visuals.
“We wanted it to be full of interactive animations. It was important that it would be both rich in details and full of surprises. We also wanted to acheive this with as little text as possible so that it is very visual, easy to understand and accessible to a wide audience. I hope that the overall result makes you smile and makes the viewer want to share it with their friends,” said Joakim Borgstrom, W+K Amsterdam’s interactive creative director.
He said overall it was an easy site to create. All the animations and content within the website were built in Flash. The hardest part of the whole process was to create the backend structure that converts and feeds all the screaming videos. USSR and CCCP, both located in Amsterdam, were involved in the production of the site.
Borgstrom is pleased that instead of creating a typical gaming site, the creative team took the concept of the game to another level and created a whole movement. “The feeling of playing the game and releasing your inner demons relates directly to the teachings of this new philosophy, ‘inner peace through outer violence’. It’s a great idea with a strong concept that is stunningly executed,” he said. Along with Borgstrom and Farr, W+K Amsterdam’s creative directors Eric Quennoy and Paul Stechschulte and art director Joseph Ernst headed up the campaign.
Oscar Nominations Snubs and Surprises: Biggest Oversights Include Paul Mescal and Ariana Grande
After such a strong year for movies, the brutal limitations of Oscar nominations were bound to have some big omissions. But there were several genuine shockers Thursday morning, including widely expected nominees like Ariana Grande and Paul Mescal missing out on nods in their respective acting categories. In some cases, that meant room for long overdue recognition, as with Delroy Lindo, who earned his first nomination for "Sinners." Here are the biggest snubs and surprises: SNUB: Ariana Grande and "Wicked: For Good" "Wicked" got a staggering 10 nominations last year, and yet its much darker sequel, "Wicked: For Good," ended up with zero. That's possibly because the film wasn't as well received as the first by critics — but most still thought that Grande would snag another supporting nomination for her effervescent Glinda. It also means that Cynthia Erivo was left out of best actress, though she wasn't on many prediction lists this time around, and that it was roundly rejected for both crafts and — with two new, original options — song (yet somehow Diane Warren still managed to get through again). SURPRISE: Delroy Lindo, "Sinners" One of the best surprises of the morning was Lindo's supporting actor nod for playing the hard-drinking blues great Delta Slim in "Sinners." It's his first ever Oscar nomination and long overdue. But his inclusion also meant that another "sure thing" didn't make it. SNUB: Paul Mescal, "Hamnet" That seemingly sure thing was Mescal, who delivered an achingly poignant performance as the grieving father William Shakespeare in "Hamnet." It would have been his second Oscar nomination; in 2023, he was recognized for playing another sad father in "Aftersun." SNUB:... Read More