Firefly’s Holograms Bring Ghostbusters Afterlife to Real Life

With our client Sony Pictures premiering Ghostbusters: Afterlife this Friday, here’s a behind-the-scenes look at how Firefly helped generate buzz around the movie in Los Angeles and New York during the Halloween weekend.

If you live in either city, chances are you saw one of the ten cars we dressed up to resemble the franchise’s Ecto-1 vehicle, each of them helmed by a great team of brand ambassadors, i.e. actors dressed up in Ghostbusters outfits and accessories.

The jewel in the crown for this campaign floated above each Ecto-1: our ghostly holograms!

This was made possible through Firefly’s holographic display. Basically a giant fan blade with LED lights, it spins at 30 frames per second to create the illusion of a 3D projection above the vehicle. That made it possible to bring ghosts like Muncher into the real world, looking pretty much like the ghostly apparition he is in the movies.  

As you can tell from social media during the campaign, the consumer response was tremendous, with thousands of people sharing and re-sharing photos of the Ecto-1 and our Ghostbusters, and excitedly reporting sightings of Muncher.

(Because most smartphone cameras can’t be adjusted to match the holographic display’s frame rate, the effect is better experienced in person -- just like real ghost sightings.)

Hologram Advice for Brands 

We’re eager to work with other amazing brands interested in leveraging our holographic technology to create buzz-generating campaigns like this.

Often, the first step is making clients aware that it’s even an option for them to consider since it’s not (yet!) a typical car-top offering. The art itself is easily uploaded to our platform as a standard MP4 video – the real challenge is the creative one, imagining how a brand’s assets can be best displayed in animated 3D. 

For instance, here’s a recent campaign we launched for LEGO in New York City (below). Rather than just display random LEGO models in 3D, we worked with them to create and animate a LEGO Statue of Liberty – a perfect brand fit for the location.

Our displays can also be synced to work across multiple vehicles, enabling even more creative options. For instance, imagine a campaign for a sports team, where one vehicle displays a ball being thrown in 3D – while the display on a vehicle just behind it shows the ball being caught.

Thanks again to Sony for working with us on this campaign to help get audiences into a ghostbusting spirit. And if you work with a brand interested in going 3D, always feel free to connect.

Robin Singer is the Senior Campaign Strategist and Planner at Firefly. Continue the conversation by connecting with Robin on LinkedIn.