--- title: "Pulse" description: "Pulse (Rovio Entertainment, 2011/12): A photo starts a sponsored event, so brands add to experiences instead of interrupting" url: "https://www.sugar-network.org/en/projects/pulse-2011-12/" lang: "en" --- # Pulse **A photo starts a sponsored event, so brands add to experiences instead of interrupting** _An Engaging and Productive Way to Advertise in Digital Entertainment._ - **Corporate partner:** [Rovio Entertainment](https://www.sugar-network.org/en/network/partners/rovio-entertainment/) - **Cohort:** [2011/12](https://www.sugar-network.org/en/projects/cohort/2011-12/) - **Theme:** [Living & leisure](https://www.sugar-network.org/en/projects/themes/living-leisure/) - **Type:** Digital service - **Key fact:** 30+ concepts before the team chose Pulse - **Universities:** [Hasso Plattner Institute](https://www.sugar-network.org/en/network/universities/hpi/), [Aalto University · Design Factory](https://www.sugar-network.org/en/network/universities/aalto/), [Kyoto Institute of Technology](https://www.sugar-network.org/en/network/universities/kyoto-it/) - **Team:** 10 master students - **Disciplines:** Business Administration, Marketing, IT Systems Engineering, Industrial Design, Product Design, Service Design ## Challenge Advertising is mostly ignored and mistrusted, with trust in advertisers as low as 25 % in Europe. Rovio asked for a new, organic and engaging advertising format for digital entertainment. ## What the team learned Research with potential consumers showed that storytelling gets any message across, and that people's real experiences are the most authentic kind of advertising. ## What they built Pulse is a mobile and browser app. When three or more people take a picture in one place and choose a sponsor, an event starts. Photos appear in real time on a heat map, and the sponsor adds Smart Content to the event. How it evolved: 1. Dark-horse prototypes explored consumer experiences, augmented reality and unconventional advertising; consumer experiences proved most interesting. 2. Six prototypes then tested how to improve the link between company and consumer. ## Impact For Rovio, Pulse fits its aim to be a strong media channel and an entertainment provider in all its forms. ## Full project text Users and brands are brought together through an application by creating, organizing and sponsoring events. ### Challenge It is often said in business circles that half of advertising is completely useless – we just don’t know which half. Many companies spend on advertising because they feel they have to, but do not often know whether their efforts are working or not. And with degrees of trust in advertisers as low as 25% in Europe, it is safe to say that most are not doing very well. New technologies and platforms appear at an ever-increasing pace, but surprisingly little has changed in this respect - Bill- boards, TV, print and radio are now accompanied by banner-ads and pop-ups, but the fact remains, they are being mostly ignored and largely mistrusted. The lack of attention consumers pay to advertising has presented itself as a challenge to corporations for decades. Interested in finding if there were any possible solutions to this ever present issue, Rovio Entertainment challenged the student team to design a new advertising format for digital entertainment that was organic, seamless, and engaging to the consumer. After doing research on potential consumers, the student team came to the conclusion that storytelling was a powerful way to get any message across. Using this abstract realization, the team commenced rapid prototyping on advertising with a focus on stories, whether it be stories of consumers, corporations, collaborators, or sponsors. All of this prototyping culminated in the teams final solution: Pulse. ### Solution Pulse is a system for collaboratively creating, experiencing and capturing events; a tool for matching people and brands in a way that is unique every time. It is a mobile and browser application that makes it possible for any group of people to create an event simply by taking a picture. And not just any event, but a Pulse-Event. These events capture all the pictures taken at them in real-time, and show up on a “Heat Map” to attract other event-goers. And what’s more, each event has a sponsor – a brand that helps users in enjoying their event experiences with something called Smart Content. In this way, brands become a chosen part of our experiences not by interrupting them, but by actually improving them. For brands, it is a completely new kind of tool for brand- building and advertising. For Rovio, it fits naturally in their vision of being a powerful media channel, and a provider of entertainment in all its forms. ### Impact Spontaneous Events are initiated once three or more people take a picture and choose a sponsor in the same area. Organised events are initiated by brands - they show up once a brand organises or sponsors an event, and creates smart content that can be utilized by users during their participation of the event. Through connectivity and the sharing of stories, Pulse bridges the gap between user and brand, allowing for both sides to gain from a fun and engaging time. *The Journey:* Ten students from three countries were given a less-than simple task by Finnish mobile gaming and entertainment company Rovio: “Revolutionize online advertising". A decisive direction towards an end result was yet to be found, but four potential key factors for the solution’s success were identified: Tangible Experience Trust Social Interaction Push vs Pull. The winter quarter started out with exploring these directions, and the three country teams diverged into separate focus areas. These deep dives resulted in radically different “Dark Horse” prototypes that examined channeling consumer experiences, augmented reality and unconventional advertising methods. Testing concluded that each of these prototypes had its merits, but ultimately, the use of consumer experiences proved the most interesting of all. A total of six prototypes were then constructed and tested, which looked at how the communication link between company and consumer could be improved. The whole team then met in Japan and established a vision for the final prototype: harnessing people’s actual experiences as the most authentic and impactful kind of advertising. The spring term was all about making this vision a reality. This was no easy task, since using user-generated content for the mutual benefit of people and brands can be seen as one of marketing’s Holy Grails; many have tried and failed to achieve it. The students benchmarked relevant success and failure cases, analyzed the foundations of storytelling and came up first with over 30 concepts. They chose six of the most potential to develop and prototype further. The final choice of the exact concept was perhaps the most challenging of the whole year, as all six had merit and potential. However, after considerable evaluating and analysis they agreed on it: a concept that would some weeks later be named Pulse. ## Who built it. - Christoph Müller, IT-Systems Engineering (Hasso Plattner Institute) - Kai Rollmann, IT-Systems Engineering (Hasso Plattner Institute) - Tobias Mohr, IT-Systems Engineering (Hasso Plattner Institute) - Tuomas Silverang, Business Administration, Marketing (Aalto University · Design Factory) - Maria Solovjew, Industrial and Strategic Design (Aalto University · Design Factory) - Eva Rio, Service Design & Engineering (Aalto University · Design Factory) - Atsuki Tachibana (Kyoto Institute of Technology) - Yoko Komatsu (Kyoto Institute of Technology) - Mariko Tobita, Industrial and Product Design (Kyoto Institute of Technology) - Misun Kang, Product Design (Kyoto Institute of Technology) ## Video - ME310 Team Rovio - Pulse: https://vimeo.com/76752533 ## Sources Summarised by the SUGAR editorial team from the team’s project page.