Golden Campaign | The Last Judgement | Hans Memling

Background

The main principle behind the campaign was to create a universal and contemporary marketing communication language to promote Hans Memling’s painting „The Last Judgement”. In our concept, we wanted to refer not so much to the painting itself, but to its spirituality and timelessness in an original and very accessible way. The whole idea of the campaign is based on showcasing the orb upon which Christ’s feet rest, taken directly from Memling’s painting. The orb is a silent symbol of the absolute that came down to Earth and appeared in our everyday life.

Campaign

The first stage of the campaign was the teaser phase where we produced graphic designs with a 3D generated golden orb against a red background with the logo of the National Museum in Gdańsk, as the leitmotif of the overall teaser message. Posters, citylight displays, posters on poster pillars and social media profiles showcased the golden orb for a period of 2–3 weeks.

The campaign’s second stage was the educational campaign. The orb model used previously in the teaser campaign was transposed and blended in with photographs of various places in the Tri-City of Gdańsk, Gdynia and Sopot. This way, we created identifiable visuals on which the overall message is based, as used in our outdoor campaigns and the full sphere of messaging to build associations with Hans Memling’s painting.

Compositions

Commercial

Continuing the campaign we began the year before, we produced a video commercial to promote Hans Memling’s triptych. Just like with the earlier static visuals, the idea for the commercial was based on the motif of the orb upon which Christ’s feet rest, taken directly from Memling’s painting.

The video makes use of various cutting-edge audio-visual technologies. The video shoot took about 8 days, with the postproduction taking over half a year. The commercial’s musical score was composed by Stefan Wesołowski, an acclaimed Gdańsk-based composer. The soundtrack was recorded live at Gdańsk’s Trinity Church, which has excellent acoustics. This way we obtained a very open sound and clarity of the background music. The recording is complemented with the Latin words „Ultimum Judicium”, freely translated as „the Last Judgement”.

The commercial officially premiered at one of Gdańsk’s cinemas on 17 October 2018. The audience that came that day had the opportunity to see the video on the big screen and talk to its makers. That same day, the video was posted on youtube, facebook and vimeo. A few days after its premiere, the video was highlighted by Ads Of The World by being featured on its home page.

Logo / infographics

In order to give the project a more robust identity and to ensure give its message the widest possible recognisability, we have developed the Last Judgement logo, which is featured in all the visual materials designed for the Golden Campaign. We have also created a series of icons / infographics that transplant selected details of the painting into the modern language of communication. This makes it easy to transfer these modern communication components to all available uses: folders, mugs, bags, t-shirts, tickets, business cards, merchandise etc. in an accessible way.

Golden Tram / Golden Orb

A tram covered with golden coating and a sculpture of the golden orb was another outdoor feature of the Golden Campaign. The golden tram, which operated in Gdańsk from the very beginning of the campaign, was very well received by the locals, tourists and the local media alike, leading to over a dozen competitions on social media and much press coverage. In 2018, as part of continuing efforts in the campaign to promote the triptych, an 800 kg model of the golden orb about 2.5 meters in diameter was put up in the heart of Gdańsk. The landmark was also very popular and featured in recurring social media campaigns.

photos authors: Grzegorz Mehring i Dominik Paszliński / gdansk.pl

Making of

Awards