National Geographic Channel
experiential | social | contest

National Geographic Channel came to us wanting to promote Season 2 of their Emmy Award-winning series Genius, starring Antonio Banderas as Pablo Picasso. The concept we pitched and ultimately produced, Framing Genius, used the iconic Nat Geo frame to illustrate the ways in which geniuses see the world differently.

designing a scavenger hunt

In one of the cooler things I’ve ever done in exchange for money, this campaign let me design a scavenger hunt in which users on social media had to guess the secret location of a golden frame, hidden somewhere—anywhere—in the world, to win a free trip to Spain.

gamifying a history lesson

To craft the interactive riddle, I started by researching Pablo’s life to find a location that 1. still existed, and 2. told a meaningful story about the man himself. The search ultimately led me to the Lapin Agile, aka the Nimble Rabbit, a Montmartre cabaret where a young Picasso famously paid his tabs with napkin drawings. I then worked backwards, constructing a series of clues that drew users closer to the hidden frame, day by day.

what would pablo do? 

How would Pablo react to online dating apps? What would he do if you handed him a selfie stick? With a short series of rants, I imagined and scripted Picasso’s take on modern inventions, which Antonio Banderas performed on camera for the show’s promotion.

Introducing modern-day artistry

In addition to scripted content, we proliferated #FramingGenius on social by partnering with artists from five major cities to take our ornate golden frame and create their own compositions, with each artist exerting their own influence over the final imagery.

team

Creative Director: Zach Goodwin

Art Director: Maggie Winters

Video Editor: Vinh Le