Throughout history technology has offered artists and musicians new modes of expression that continue to transform the way we create and consume music. DELQA is an interactive installation that allows the audience to physically go inside a song created by critically acclaimed music producer and artist, Matthew Dear. A large aluminium frame with mesh walls, housed a 44-channel spatial audio system that allowed people to experience the installation in 3D. As people interacted physically with the elements around them, Microsoft’s Kinect technology detected their movements and shaped the composition in real time, essentially allowing people to create their own version of the song. The vision was to create a dynamic and immersive environment that would push the relationship between music and technology - blurring the lines between creator and audience.

The New Museum was chosen for the physical space. We assembled a team of architects, media artists and sound designers to construct the interactive environment. Transparent mesh walls curve and slope at unexpected angles. Wide-open spaces are interspersed with tapered corridors. Visitors are surrounded with light and music that change in sync with their movements and interactions, allowing them create their own experience and contribute to what others are seeing and hearing at the same time. Data from the fabric inside the installation and people moving through it are turned into outputs. Materials were chosen to play to the strengths of the Kinect. The mesh fabrics are transparent to the Kinect’s color and infrared cameras but opaque to the depth camera, allowing the walls and people within them to be tracked at the same time — as well as how they interact and move against one another in real time.

Thousands of people experienced the installation live at New York’s New Museum driving organic conversation that saw #DELQA generate over 4M impressions over the first few days. Most of the credible major publications spanning technology, music, art, and culture celebrated the project culminating in a reach of over 50 Million. Video content generated over 130K views. In the consumer research 78% of the “creators” surveyed said they were interested in learning more about the Kinect, in addition to an overall lift of 12% points in positivity about Microsoft, with many expressing increased excitement about what the brand is currently doing. Cost per impression has been calculated as $0.0065 per impression. Due to the overwhelming response the concept will now live on. We are currently working with musicians like Grimes, Alt-J and others to bring new versions to some of the most credible festivals, museums and events around the globe.

For such a particular demographic we knew credibility would be critical, so the strategy focused on authenticity with innovation, and was tested by inviting influential people from the target audience to participate. We began with an audit of the music community (creators, industry and fans) to identify where authentic use cases of Microsoft technology existed, which we used as triggers for ideation. We also rigorously researched what else had been happening in the space to set the bar for ideation against what would be newsworthy with opinion leaders and our desired media. Once the core creative idea came together, we assembled a team of creators from the music and tech community, then looked for a musician whose fan base matched the desired target for the brand. From there we continued to develop the idea with the team to ensure it provided strong storytelling opportunities for the brand, without impacting credibility.

Microsoft briefed us to look for opportunities where their technology could empower the music ecosystem by creating meaningful roles for their products in ways that would drive brand favorability. Their ambition was to improve brand perception with the hard-to-reach audience of cultural influencers and creators, specifically in the music and technology community.