Brandon Generator brought a whole new meaning to immersive story-telling which was not only beautiful and on par with a traditional film, but showcased the stunning visual experiences possible through Internet Explorer 9. The world’s first socially-sourced animated graphic web series drove positive shifts in perception of Internet Explorer as an innovative brand and critical acclaim from the film industry (Steven Spielberg, Jonathan Ross and Simon Pegg).

The concept was to work with an award-winning director and illustrator to create and curate a unique animated graphic web series, enhanced with Internet Explorer 9. It put the target audience centre stage by inviting them to help shape this interactive noir-inspired series.

We recruited award-winning director, Edgar Wright and renowned illustrator, Tommy Lee Edwards with narration from The Mighty Boosh’s Julian Barratt and music from ‘Unloved’ a new collaboration with DJ David Holmes. We gave them an ‘open’ brief to create the world’s first animated web experience, with one condition – to put the audience at the centre of a production. “The Random Adventures of Brandon Generator” (www.brandongenerator.com) was born.

A unique website experience was created, accessible across multiple devices (PC & mobile), and exclusively in HTML5. Central to this experience was the chance for people to contribute to the story across digital platforms. Chapters 2-4 included content provided by the public – from voice-overs to words and images and the opportunity to be animated as Brandon’s girlfriend. This unfolded between April and July 2012.

Digital PR was at the core of the campaign, with an initial launch teaser, followed by a huge influencer engagement, community management and content seeding campaign alongside media briefings and even an exclusive event that played, for the first time, all four episodes, including the final installment.

Paid and digital media tactics were also used to help amplify the campaign, with digital seeding, search, TV and outdoor advertising all being key to help bring the Brandon campaign to life.

Exposure to the Brandon Generator campaign led to positive shifts across all IE metrics, including +68% for “innovative browser”, +48% for “best browser for my favourite sites”, an increase in favorability, +32% and a likelihood to recommend Internet Explorer 9, +35%.

The campaign also generated 202 pieces of positively branded coverage including BBC Radio 2, The Daily Telegraph and Shortlist, whilst 99% of all coverage was positive in message tone.

Other engagement stats are as follows:

- 600,000+ unique visitors to the site

- 10,000+ crowd-sourced entries

- 62.3m Tweet Reach (Brandon Generator mentions and #BrandonGenerator)

- 308,000+ Brandon Generator views on YouTube

- 2,000+ new likes on IE9 Facebook page

- 7,000 mentions of Brandon Generator across social channels

- Uplift of 215% in online buzz during Attack the Block TV takeover

- Tweets and retweets were seen from - Jonathon Ross, Simon Pegg, Steven Spielberg