Our campaign establishes a new standard for digital projects from the outset by melding craftsmanship, innovation, and storytelling with sound. Collaborating with artists and incorporating music into NFTs, along with 3D and multi-channel audio, we vividly portray the theme of Corrupted Time. The early adoption of sophisticated sound craftsmanship and cutting-edge technology not only strengthens emotional ties but also bolsters world-building. Utilizing Unreal Engine 5 and MetaSounds, we achieve unparalleled immersion through real-time adaptive audio and customization. Reimagining storytelling for digital projects, sound becomes 50% of the experience, revolutionizing user engagement and pushing the limits of conventional narratives.

This campaign launches at a pivotal moment, as the lines between digital and physical realms increasingly blur, fueled by the global fascination with the Metaverse, Web3, and digital ownership concepts. The VERT watch brand, recognized for its luxury and innovative approach, aimed to capitalize on these trends to attract a technologically sophisticated audience. By incorporating cutting-edge sound technology and the realm of NFTs into its marketing strategy, the brand positioned itself at the forefront of a digital revolution, resonating with current cultural and market dynamics.

The decision to employ sound as a narrative tool reflects a broader cultural shift towards immersive experiences that engage senses beyond the visual, catering to a market that values depth and authenticity. Additionally, the integration of NFTs addresses the growing interest in digital collectibles, providing a unique engagement and investment opportunity for the audience.

This initiative was crafted to resonate within a specific cultural context where digital innovation is highly valued by consumers. The timing was strategic, aligning with a surge in interest in virtual realities and digital interactions, further amplified by global trends towards online engagement.

By merging the physical with the digital, the campaign not only mirrors the current technological zeitgeist but also anticipates the future direction of brand engagement. It demonstrates a deep understanding of the market's trajectory and the cultural significance of digital integration in daily life, establishing a new benchmark for how luxury brands can interact with their audiences in an increasingly digital world.

In 2023, Diesel's creative director Glenn Martens unveiled VERT, a VR-designed watch, created for the Digitally Born Generation shifting between virtual worlds and reality. Staying true to this vision, the VERT watch was designed to be embedded in a breathtaking Web3 release event as part of a $1.5 million expansive campaign. The extended, 360-degree campaign – entirely realized in Unreal Engine 5 – featured AI-driven retail setups interacting with a worldwide audience, truly merging the virtual world with reality. Central to the campaign was engaging the Web3 community; early purchasers of the watch were granted an exclusive NFT that transformed into an Avatar. This slowly revealed the main characters of the experience which were then used to explore the virtual land of Tempus, a fictional world where the campaign culminated with the unique sound of the world of Tempus, celebrating the re-establishment of time with a virtual concert by artist

To illustrate the world of Tempus and its story of corrupted time, we translated this motif into the sonic world. Our approach was to temporally manipulate every single sound in the soundscape through pitching, stretching, reversing, and warping. Even the music reflected this narrative of the planet’s state – with choirs frozen in time and instruments drifting in and out of phase, creating over 600 unique sounds that told the story in a unique way. We celebrated the restoration of time with a musical performance by artist Lil Dre using MetaSounds within the Unreal Game Engine to create a reactive soundtrack and 3D audio for maximum immersion. We also created a change of perspective in the sound for the retail iteration, to tell the world of Tempus’s inhabitants. This made the users feel as if they were actually on the planet Tempus.

Working closely with the art and design team, we aimed for a cohesive and captivating sonic experience that enforces the audiovisual presentation of VERT and the world of Tempus, firmly rooted in dystopian science-fiction storytelling and world-building.

To shape and realize our creative vision, we first produced an extensive array of sounds using a combination of instrument recordings, foley work, synthesizer drones and vocal phrases, evoking the feeling of an otherworldly civilization lost in time. Keeping true to narrative of time corruption, we modified the resulting sounds on a temporal level – warping, pitching, reversing and time-phasing them until a unique sound palette emerged.

Over the course of three months, we implemented the resulting sounds and music in Unreal Engine, creating over 600 separate assets. Making use of Unreal’s MetaSoundSources, we scripted each sound and each piece of music to maximize user interaction and immersion. From Ambisonics ambiences to player character movement sounds to spatialized environmental effects to expressive user interface audio, each piece of sound was designed to adjust to user input in real-time. The narrative of corrupted time also extended to VERT’s dynamically evolving soundtrack, with choirs frozen in time and instruments drifting in and out of phase, reflecting the state of planet Tempus. Together with a digitized concert by artist Lil Dre, the music was mixed and implemented in 7.1 multi-channel surround, flawlessly translating to binaural 3D audio on user headphones. Along with pixel-streaming, the applied audio streaming technology ensured everybody the best sound quality regardless of their hardware setup.

Users of the Retail version of VERT controlled Tempus’s Giants with a camera-guided gesture system located in Diesel flagship stores – so we also switched the sonic perspective for these users, providing them with an alternative version of the soundtrack, along with custom user interface audio scripting.