London, United Kingdom Nov 28, 2018 (Issuewire.com) - PaperBoat Creative embarked on its largest post-production contract to date with PwC UK. The digital photo retouching and post-production company added creative digital touches to portraits taken by the renowned photographer, Michael Blann.
PwC UK reproduced PaperBoat Creative’s work into 30-meter-long billboards that graced the walls of Heathrow Airport Terminal 3. The images also appear in PwC UK’s website, campaign and marketing materials, events standees, and other online assets and sponsored engagements.
Realistic Portraits Promoting AI
The campaign’s concept was to use portraits of professionals in key industries to show AI’s role in the financial, health, social, tech, professional services, and humanitarian sectors. The challenge for PaperBoat Creative was to capture Blann and PwC UK’s vision of conveying the importance of big data and artificial intelligence (AI) on the grassroots level without cookie-cutter, futuristic visuals.
For their part, PaperBoat Creative’s photo retouchers wanted to preserve Blann’s honest and truthful approach to photography. The team believes his style is a perfect match with PwC UK’s brand as a professional services network. A realistic approach is better-suited to an organization whose main offering is the expertise of professionals from different industries.
Sharp, Noise-Free Photos of Impressive Dimensions
PaperBoat Creative had to overcome the challenge of processing digital portraits into large files without compromising their resolution. When image files are stretched larger than they were shot, the pixels may break. The enlarged images lose their clarity and sharpness and will appear “pixelated.”
For this campaign, the PaperBoat Creative team stretched each portrait to about 200,000 pixels. For perspective, the average web picture is 800 pixels and print pictures for magazines are about 5,000 pixels wide. The final image size also averaged 30 gigabytes each. The team used an iMac 8GB RAM, 3.4 GHz, 32-inch screen computer to process these files correctly.
Enlarging the images to such gigantic dimensions ensured that the quality and clarity visible from the computer screen would also translate to Heathrow Airport’s hallway billboards. Adobe Lightroom filters like noise reduction and dehaze also contributed to the final output.
Photo Processing Fit for Multi-Media Use
Well aware that the client will also use the final images for interactive media marketing, PaperBoat Creative also processed several versions of the portraits to meet the pixels and dimensions necessary for smaller screens. Besides the 30-meter billboards on the hallways, the images also appeared on wall-mounted televisions and the tablets in the PwC kiosk where representatives interacted with travelers and potential clients.
The Creative Process
Realistic visuals don’t have to be devoid of creative effects, and PaperBoat Creative knows this. Their photo retouching team performed high-end image editing on each of the seven portraits. They removed blemishes but kept the physical features that added character to each subject. Mood lighting and effects added just the right amount of drama that transformed the images from standard corporate headshots to images worthy of an international campaign. Finally, to incorporate AI in the visuals, the team composited elements that represent technology, like a computer screen, control panels, headphones, blinking lights, and urban scenery.
“Strategically, as a visual campaign... [PwC UK] wanted to keep [the images] as human as possible and show how it affects you, the consumer, at the base level,” says Rebecca Van Ommen, founder, and CEO of PaperBoat Creative.
The resulting portraits show professionals and individuals in their everyday work environment. The accompanying copy highlighted the campaign’s core message: that data intelligence has arrived, and it can make a significant, positive impact across industries and around the world.
“Intelligent Digital is here.”
PwC’s mission is to build trust in society and help solve important problems. The network has long proven that it is a leader in assurance, tax, and advisory services. PwC UK says, however, that with artificial intelligence, they can do more.
According to its website, AI has the potential to contribute $15.7 trillion to the global economy in 2030. PwC UK intends to capitalize on this potential by integrating AI into its workflow and service offering. Clients could have a clear picture of their present status, use the information to boost productivity, and steer their business in a more progressive direction.
This is what “Intelligent Digital” is about: using AI to harness information, synthesize data, and provide valuable insights to clients in the corporate, service, and manufacturing industries.
With Intelligent Digital, PwC UK can also go beyond traditional HR. Already, the network has engineered an app that allows employees to track their well-being while at work. Employers will have real-time access to the data, so they can make smart HR decisions — also in real-time, if necessary.
“We balance business understanding with technology innovation and human insight,” it says on the PwC UK website. “Together [with employers], we’re helping people work and live well.”
PwC UK aims to offer these opportunities to partner companies and their clients. Applying data and analytics to key business processes can improve overall performance, open doors for innovations, and provide organizations with new income opportunities.
PaperBoat Creative, along with Michael Blann and other creative consultants involved in the conceptualization of this project, is instrumental in PwC UK’s campaign. Thanks to the company’s high-end photo editing service, the portraits conveyed PwC UK’s technological inclinations while staying grounded on the human side of things.
About Pricewaterhouse Coopers (PwC):
PricewaterhouseCoopers provides professional services to 429 of the Global Fortune 500 companies and over 100,000 private businesses in 158 countries. Forbes ranks it as the second largest business services and supplies company next to Deloitte. It is also one of the renowned “Big Four,” or the largest professional services networks and accounting firms in the world. In July 2018, PricewaterhouseCoopers published a study which revealed artificial intelligence (AI) could boost national GDPs and the global economy by improving labor productivity.
About PaperBoat Creative:
Rebecca Van Ommen, photographer, artist, digital photo retoucher, and former Senior Art Director at Getty Images London founded PaperBoat Creative in 2011. The company has since provided post-production services to renowned commercial photographers and creative agencies in Asia and Europe. PaperBoat Creative has done photo retouching and editing for campaigns of international brands, such as Adidas, Speedo, Publicis, Getty Images, Leo Burnett, Barclays, and CNBC.
To reach PaperBoat Creative, get in touch with their offices in London and Manila.
Media Contact
PaperBoat Creative hello@paperboatcreative.com Avant at the Fort, 26th Street, BGC Fort Bonifacio, Taguig, Metro Manila Philippines https://www.paperboatcreative.com/
