Psyop: Navigon “More Real”

What I love about Psyop is that even though they have the power to create digital universes of unending detail and visual effects that make your eyeballs ache, they know when to exercise restraint.

navigon.jpg

Their new spot for Navigon, “More Real,” isn’t really motion graphics in the traditional sense. It’s not even terribly earth-shattering, and I expect a grip of pithy comments lamenting it’s “uncoolness.” I’m posting it, however, because I want to show that honoring the concept with the most appropriate execution is what makes a studio great.

Here we have a spot about one of the most technologically advanced consumer technologies on the market today: GPS. In the minds of most people (me included), using a GPS system is about as intuitive and fun as dismantling a television with a toothpick.

The solution: Make it about people. Keep whizbang graphics out and let simple, hand-wrought, “more real” imagery rule the spot. The result is a subtle but effective ad that succeeds by differentiating itself from the rest of the herd. Psyop did it’s part by crafting solid, simple visuals that stay out of the way.

(Credits in the comments)

About the author

Justin Cone

/ justincone.com
Together with Carlos El Asmar, Justin co-founded Motionographer, F5 and The Motion Awards. He currently lives in Austin, Texas with is wife, son and fluffball of a dog. Before taking on Motionographer full-time, Justin worked in various capacities at Psyop, NBC-Universal, Apple, Adobe and SCAD.

7 Comments

justin

Client: Navigon
Product: Navigon
Title: More Real
Release Date: November 2, 2007
Time: :30

Agency: TwoXFour, Chicago
Agency Producer: Kent Kwiatt
Creative & Art Director / President: David Stevenson
Creative Director / Copywriter: Daniel Consiglio
Account Executive: Jessica Pohren

Production Co: Psyop, New York
Director: Laurent Barthelemy
Creative Director: Marco Spier
US Producer: Kim Wildenburg
US Exec Producer: Justin Booth Clibborn
Designers: Tanya Weiss & Kim Dulaney

Spanish Prod. Co: Boolab, Barcelona
Spanish Exec Producers: Lucas Elliot & Coke Ferreiro
Art Director/Post Prod. Director: Nico Casavecchia
Production Designer: Pancho Chamorro
Production Manager: Lucia Grau
Assistant Director: Gerard Verdaguer
DP: Marcos Pasqui

Music: Human, New York

mtgentry

It’s sort of earth-shattering in that it really shows how the product works. Great stuff.

Marc B.

Here’s a first pithy comment. “Might be just up here because of the name psyop” :D
I wish it would actually show you more about how the product works than look like a making of of some studio time-lapse setup. How about doing some in-camera stop-motion on the street with interface animations made of these real elements.

rothermel

@marc b.
the client wanted exactly what psyop did. how the interface looks, not the real world.

good stuff guys, great solution.

DeathSultan

This spot is great. Loved the design, for some reason the clouds really struck a chord with me. I can’t see why someone would bad mouth this…

justin

There’s no doubt that I posted this partially because it’s Psyop. I wanted to use them as an example. They’re known for high-end, ground-breaking digital imagery.

Showing that even such ninjas as Psyop know when to throttle back and honor the concept with simplicity is, I think, a post-worthy notion. :-)

anonymouse

did they paint out that butt crack ?

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