DDB Shanghai’s ‘The Keyboard of Isolation’ wins Grand Prix at 2012 China 4A’s Creative Awards

DDB China Group notched up another major creative gong taking out the Grand Prix for its ‘The Keyboard of Isolation’ campaign for Family Care for Grassroots Community at the 7th China 4A Golden Seal Creative Awards.

This campaign has already won a Grand Prix in the Outdoor Lotus category at AdFest and a Silver Lion at Cannes in 2012.

“The Keyboard of Isolation’ is an installation by local artist Jody Xiong, created on behalf of the family care for grassroots community in Shanghai, China. The piece was designed to raise awareness of the issues developed from China’s new-found infatuation with the online world.

‘The keyboard of isolation’ is built from several hand-crafted human figurines sealed away in glass containers in the shape of a 5 meter long keyboard displayed with the tagline, ‘go online and family is isolated’. The piece pictures thirty-six families recreated as 9 centimeter figurines inhabiting isolated bubbles, separated into 115 keys as a result of their computer addictions. As families grow more and more dependent on computers to communicate, family care for grassroots community sought to help half a billion Chinese net-citizens to realize how and why computers are becoming a point of contention within families and communities.

This campaign traveled for over 11 months, beginning in an IT mall and ending in a public square, over the course of the installation’s movement around Shanghai. CCTV even has a special report on this outdoor installation, and the installation has been showcased at the Beijing 798 Artzone. After the exhibition tour the installation was collected and exhibited by Zendai MOMA.

Credits – CCO: Michael Dee. CD: Jody Xiong. Art Directors: Jody Xiong, Jack Xuan, William Zhang. Copywriter: Leo Liu, Jody Xiong. Illustrators: Jody Xiong. Producers: George Ooi, James Chen. Photographers: Nicholas Siaw , King Zhang