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FRANCE – Arena 3D Experience by Agence Tokyo
Thursday, June 23. Passion, effort, performance, innovation and technology, to generate a unique and common emotion. Arena, the famous swimwear brand, has often turned the athletes it supports into muses. In the early 2000s, Roxana Maracineanu, Alexander Popov and Virginie Dedieu were playing with words and slipping humor between the lines of water. Arena has more recently staged the spectacular side of swimming , by tearing Alain Bernard out of the Niagara Falls. Now, the brand wants to share all aspects of water: “Without denying our status of authentic sports brand, we wanted a very innovative way, with a high technological value, able to create links and generate strong emotions to reach our target,” says Mathilde Rohmer, brand communication manager.In 2006, she meets the Agence Tokyo team at one of their events that she will remember for 4 years, before the agency suggests her the Arena 3D Experience. And it’s a real stroke! Everything is planned very quickly and remains top secret. The Arena Group gets very enthusiastic about the project led by the French subsidiary. The date is obvious: June 23, forty-eight hours before the kick off of the Open EDF, the annual swimming rendez-vous, bringing together the international swimming world elite in Paris.
The place? “We thought of the French Cinematheque at the early stage of the project, because of its monumental and architectural facade designed by Frank Gehry. Dedicated to cinema and carrying symbolistic values, its international influence has increased since the launch of the exhibition tribute to Stanley Kubrick, said Nathalie Koffi, Agence Tokio. The management team instantly felt in love with the project, and spontaneously encouraged it.”The event seduced both Mr. Costa-Gavras, international movie director and president of French Cinemathèque, and Mr Gehry, designer of the building. Olympic champion Alain Bernard has also contributed to the project, with both curiosity and interest: “This film will make everyone feel what I see, what I feel, what I experience everyday. It’s a unique opportunity. ” Finally, Tokyo added the “hype” details by inviting the French electro band Birdy Nam Nam, awarded at the Victoires de la Musique in 2010 as Electronic Music Performers of the Year, among other famous nominees Air, David Guetta and Wax Taylor. They immediately accepted to sign the soundtrack of the 3D movie. “We understood easily the common passion for technology between Arena and the Birdy’s, and when we told them about this project they were very enthusiastic! They offered us to use their international hit The Parachute Ending”said Nathalie Koffi.
Spectacular, immersive and free Organised in an outdoor public area with free access, the 3D projection mapping is a first in Paris! New York, San Francisco, London, Sydney, Shanghai already welcomed this revolutionary phenomenon! With the “3D mapping ” projection, building facades become giant screens: the 600 m2 front of the Cinémathèque comes to life thanks to 10 projectors with a capacity of 140 000 lumens. For 10 minutes, Arena will lead the audience in an immersive and deep dive, with one of the world’s greatest swimmer, Alain Bernard. The idea: to live the emotion of a high level athlete. “It’s an ambitious project tailored for Arena. Everything has been thought to convey the brand values, and its passion for water and swimmers, to the people. It took about nine months to organise this event, including preparation, negotiations, and creative encounters. We met, in the Arena team, professionals sensitive to the new trends of events communication,” said Nathalie Koffi. The event is free to all audiences: 3D fans, technology geeks, electronic music listeners, sports aficionados, new sensation seekers…
Several well-known personalities are also invited to this never seen before event. Among them: French Olympic Swimming team, French Sport Minister Chantal Jouanno, French Minister of Culture and Communication Frédéric Mitterrand, and many more names from sport, music and film industry.