Sphere – IBM x Adobe

As Artificial Intelligence becomes an increasingly significant part of our online experience, more than ever we need trusted sources to ensure that AI is working at its absolute best. That’s where IBM’s Watson-X comes in. With rigorous security and machine-learning, Watson-X is designed to root out the issues that can plague so much of AI - bias, hallucinations, noncompliance. But how could they represent this complex idea in an accessible, visual manner? The answer: the perfect goldfish.

In conjunction with IBM’s partnership with Adobe, the company set out to do a massive takeover of Las Vegas during the Adobe Max conference, with video activations all along the Strip, centering around the crown jewel of the Sphere.

With the spherical design of the already-legendary venue, IBM’s agency Ogilvy NY and Mirada saw the perfect opportunity to create a dynamic, animated fishbowl, full of an idiosyncratic school of fish, each one uniquely designed to personify the corruption of data with bad AI. The character of each goldfish was designed to playfully reflect its theme, from the furry hamster-fish of AI Drift to the blurry pixelated fish of bad code, to the giant one-eyed cyclops goldfish speaking to AI Bias. All of these characters surround our hero fish, Jon - a perfect AI creation free of flaws, representing IBM’s core message “Trust What You Create.”

Mirada Executive Creative Director Robin Resella stepped up to this challenge by crafting a beautifully lit 3D fishbowl viewable as a full 360 with a hero fish in two sections, setting it up as a diptych. This would allow multiple audiences from different viewing angles to enjoy the story of the animation, and receive the messaging, while still making this feel like one giant fishbowl from wide angles or higher elevation. Within this animation, we built a subtle digital “Watson-X Effect” to showcase the way that the AI analyzes the data and determines which pixels aren’t meant to be there.

With the Sphere as the tentpole activation playing 24 hours a day, Mirada also designed a series of customized variations of this video for screens atop the Palazzo, the Grand Canal Shoppes at the Venetian, and the video walls of the Adobe Summit, culminating in the IBM booth: a stunning LED aquarium archway where visitors could walk through the underwater school of fish.