Foundation Content Animates New York’s Times Square

Chicago, IL & Culver City, CA – Indie advertising and production collective Foundation Content recently produced three concurrent campaigns featured on billboards in New York’s Times Square.

The company’s newest such billboard appears as an animated promotional campaign on behalf of indie rock duo Matt and Kim, whose new album, Lightning, was released by Fader Label in October. Foundation’s 2D animated work promoting Matt and Kim can currently be seen in New York’s Times Square on a large billboard on the side of the American Eagle Outfitters store, where it will remain until November 15th.

Foundation Content was commissioned to create an animated piece for a 235-foot tall electronic billboard on the side of the American Eagle Outfitters store in New York’s Times Square. Designed to camouflage the building, the animation begins with Matt and Kim, who appear to be falling from the top of the building. As Matt and Kim are seen continuing their fall, the bottom of the billboard screen appears to be filing up with water. When the musicians are half-way down the billboard, the water meets them from halfway up. When Matt and Kim finally appear at the bottom of the sign, their images fill most of the screen, which now appears to also be fully filled with water.

Regarding the outdoor promotional campaign, Fader Label’s Jon Cohen said, “When the American Eagle people offered us the amazing opportunity to promote Matt and Kim's Lightning release on their Times Square billboard, we knew we had to come with something that would standout. As they always do, Matt and Kim came up with a simple but amazing idea that would capture peoples’ attention. And the crew at Foundation Content truly brought that idea to life.” 

Adds Foundation Creative Director, Kyle Shoup, who animated the piece, “Matt & Kim had a really fun concept for the animation based on their ‘underwater’ photo shoot, and it was a nice change of pace to work on a site-specific animation piece that let me break out of the HD frame I see on a daily basis. As with any of the environmental graphics I've worked on in the past, it's always impressive to see things at such a large scale. It's not every day that you get to animate an entire building in Times Square. So, I had some fun with this project -- coordinating motion across 12 screens was definitely a challenge!”

This news marks the third time within a month that the work of Foundation Content has appeared on a major billboard in Times Square. Recently, the company also produced the launch campaign for the Sony X Brand of headphones, which was also featured on its own large Times Square signage.

Also, Foundation Content, in partnership with Chicago-based Third Street Advertising, has a third billboard in Times Square. Entitled “Real Complainers Vote,” the animated PSA web video is part of a national, multimedia campaign – a non-partisan effort designed to encourage young registered voters to embrace two American privileges:  Voting and Complaining.  Featuring the voice talents of TJ Miller and the artistic expressions of renowned street artist Ray Noland, “Real Complainers Vote” takes a “seriously humorous” look at how our nation isn’t just comprised of complainers; it was founded and built by them.

Source: Foundation Content