Project Overview
To celebrate the 51st annual Rip Curl Pro surf competition at Bells Beach, we released a limited edition vintage video app, iSupr8.
Achievements:
- Nearly 300,000 new users downloaded the app in 3 weeks.
- Peaked at over 30 new users per minute (1 every 2 seconds!)
- Outranked Instagram in a various countries including Germany and Portugal.
- Reached top #20 in iTunes for photography in around 40 countries (iPhone & iPad).
- Reached #1 for photography in iTunes in France (iPad).
- Reached #9 for all free apps in iTunes in Portugal (iPhone).
Project Commissioner
Project Creator
Team
A cracking team from Rip Curl & MEA Mobile!
From MEA Mobile:
- Klas Eriksson - Lead Creative:
From concept to reality, Klas is the app's creator and designer. He is responsible the unique look and performance of iSupr8 - Rip Curl Pro Bells Beach Edition, including the design of the Rip Curl branded camera and a unique gritty film-stock made espcially for Rip Curl.
- Evan Sunley James - Lead Developer - with the mad tech skills to algorithms ino turn vintage video, Evan finessed development of this app from in-app purchases to new and innovative film-stocks.
- Ryan Lind - Production Manager - Ryan leads the release process for our apps, ensuring only the highest quality is submitted to the app store.
- Rodney Macfarlane - Director - managed the client account and assisted with the marketing and launch of the app.
From Rip Curl:
- Dane Sharp - International Media Manager - led and supported the project from Rip Curl's side.
- Brendan Downs - Group Webmaster - assisted to integrate the app and promote it at Rip Curl websites and in other Rip Curl Apps.
- James Taylor - Creative Director - oversaw the creative endeavours of the team.
Project Brief
iSupr8 is a vintage video app for iPhone & iPad. The app grades each pixel of your iPhone/iPad video based on exposure adding old school effects. The resulting film becomes a unique and retro masterpiece.
The app has received significant attention from press around the world:
- The Next Web said "the iSupr8 app is like Instagram for iPhone video."
- Gizmodo said the “iSupr8 Film app probably does the best at capturing the finicky flickery flippity of those Super 8 cams of yore.”
- MacLife said "It only takes 5 minutes to go from 2011 back to circa 1968 with iSupr8"
To celebrate and promote the 51st annual Rip Curl Pro surf competition we released a free limited edition version of the app. iSupr8 Rip Curl Bells Beach Pro included free special features for those that downloaded the app during the promotion period. Specially, we released a custom Rip Curl branded camera case, and a limited edition film stock specially designed for Rip Curl.
Project Need
The long standing ties between the nostalgia of Super 8 film-making and surf were brought to the forefront with this innovative marketing initiative. Our aim was to evoke the inner film-maker in an Endless Summer kind of way. Both technically and from a marketing point of view this project pushes boundaries.
For this limited edition app, a special Rip Curl film-stock was developed for our users which is ideal for capturing the good-times at the beach. It featured a unique combination of high contrasts (for dark shadows in the sun) and saturated blues (for a washed out sky and sea), with a sandy/gritty grain. We strive for the highest quality and best reproduction of vintage video meaning that we are continually pushing iDevices to their limits.
We also made a custom Rip Curl branded camera case so that users enjoying film-making and doing it with the help of Rip Curl.
Each film made using iSupr8 can be shared across the usual social networks as well as via email. But most importantly, iSupr8 brings creation and sharing of vintage videos full circle by including a full community in-app and online where you can enjoy other film-maker's works, and contribute your own.
And every time a user shares their video, its branded with a Rip Curl leader and end-slate which further promotes the event and brand.
User Experience
iSupr8 RipCurl Bells Beach Edition is about film-making made fun; and about classic surf culture personified as an iPhone app.
Mobile phones have made everyone a cameraman and RipCurl teamed up with MEA Mobile to create a unique surfed-theme version of the highly successful iSupr8 app to help everyone capture all your magic moments from Bells Beach at this year's RipCurl ProSurfComp. The iSupr8 app is a video recorder which allows you to add beautiful old-school effects and film-burn to your iPhone videos. The resulting film becomes a unique, retro masterpiece!
Thousands of people at Bells Beach over Easter, and at other beaches around the world, using phones to video some their favourite holiday moments. The Rip Curl version of the iSupr8 app puts a Rip Curl camera in their hands and applies a cool historic surf filter to their footage.
Also included:
> the normally paid app was made free for a limited time.
> a Rip Curl branded camera-case/"skin" was available for recording video with a look and feel specific to the brand experience.
> the app incorporated a full community for watching and posting user video, including like, follow, see popular (and also share via social networks) and associate with the brand
> a custom rip curl branded "film stock" or vintage video effect was included free for producing your own videos with a unique branded look and feel, including a rip-curl branded leader (3-2-1....) .
Project Marketing
The starting point for this app's significant international success (the almost 300,000 new users) is that it is a great product.
For its release, we reached out to our new and old friends in the blogosphere and reviews and mentions of the app were wide spread.
A cross media approach was also taken with a promotional video for the surf competition and app being posted on YouTube, and on Rip Curl websites; and links to and promotion of the app was integrated into other Rip Curl apps and websites.
We also enabled users to share the videos that they made directly to their Facebook page, or Twitter feed. And further to this we added a Rip Curl branded leader and end-slate were added to user videos meaning that every time a user shared a video to their social network, Rip Curl was promoted.
The result was the app's release went viral on the social networks with a constant stream of posts on Twitter, Facebook and the other social networks.
Best use of Mobile in Marketing
This category recognises the best use of mobile incorporated in a wider marketing campaign.
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