Couleurs Carolo, a case of transmedia story marketing, was announced the Intermedia Globe Silver Award Winner at the WorldMediaFestival in Hamburg. Produced by Flemish production outfit SanctaMedia, the multipartner project was also broadcast as a docureality TV series by RTBF last summer.
Belgium’s most notorious post-industrial city Charleroi was stigmatized as ugliest city in the world by an Internet poll some years ago. As a story marketing endeavour for AkzoNobel’s paint brand Levis, SanctaMedia created six colourful storylines across the city.
Couleurs Carolo follows six ordinary citizens as they convince their communities to colour six urban spaces in Charleroi, ranging from an old water tower to the town’s ancient steel factory or the local hospital. The result was aired on RTBF’s La Une during eight consecutive Sunday nights in the summer of 2011. Throughout the venture, locals were also incited to pour their cheers onto the project’s fan page on Facebook and thus initiate word of mouth.
By awarding Couleurs Carolo the Intermedia Globe Silver Award, the WorldMediaFestival recognizes the project as a successful achievement in modern media communication. Experienced professionals from around the world in the field of film and video production serve as judges. This year more than 580 entries were submitted to the fest that celebrates excellent solutions in corporate film, television, web and print productions on an international scale.
SanctaMedia’s founder Kristoff Leue already created, produced and marketed culturally inspired audiovisual endeavours of various shapes and sizes. In 2004 he won international acclaim for his cross-media and cross-cultural children’s edutainment project W@=D@. The company is currently working on ZOOks, an equally ambitious transmedia adventure for children combining an online game with a.o. the release of a derived TV mini-series and feature film presented in the rotoscope technique.