Creators had to dig deep in 2020 to keep their content coming
#PUSHBEYOND
As a platform, Instagram enables users to exercise total control over their content. They decide how far they want to push it—in terms of creativity, innovation and production. But 2020 was a stifling year in terms of creation. A year where few of us have felt in control. We worked with the Instagram MENA team to create the idea of #PUSHBEYOND, a live virtual event and moment that celebrated the perseverance of creators, and their ability to thrive in what was a tough year.
Visual direction
Creators are always challenging themselves—pushing beyond limits and expectations. And this visual metaphor mirrors their ambition and drive.
Using a ‘stretching’ technique applied to existing still and moving imagery from our Instagram Creators, we pull the colour and lines of our still and moving images to blur them and showcase beautiful images of people, food, interiors, objects and places.
Screen transitions
Throughout the event we used assets built from the “stretching” effect and individual elements. As we moved on from each Creator’s section we use these transitions to introduce the next speaker/segment. These were overlayed during the live event by one of our technicians in the studio in Dubai.
Incentivising attendance
Each potential attendee received a localized email invite featuring an image of their city (Dubai, Riyadh, Beirut, etc.) that had been treated in the same stretched manner as the event identity.
As they RSVPd to the event, we requested that they upload a photo submission – their favourite of 2020 – to be in with a chance of winning a custom print using the stretch treatment. This was a key element in building excitement around the event as they didn’t know if their entry had won until the artwork appeared behind Samer during the live event. That’s one of our winners there on the right.