Digital street art, or faux out of home as it is often referred to, has grown from a relatively unknown phenomenon, to a form of advertising we’re growing accustomed to seeing on our social media feeds in the time since LBB first sat down with co-founder and chief creative hero of SuperHeroes, Rogier Vijverberg.
Describing digital street art back in October 2023 as “endless untapped potential”, SuperHeroes have spent the past year working with its own digital artist collective, JIMMY, to master the craft of digital storytelling, merging reality with imagination in our everyday lives.
SuperHeroes’ work with Lenovo Yoga has been instrumental in establishing the brand as a trailblazer in digital art since launching the initial ‘Made With Lenovo Yoga’ campaign almost two years ago. The relationship has developed in line with how interest in the art form has grown, leading to the launch of ‘The Art of Making’, a social-first campaign spotlighting three digital creators revealing how they use the Lenovo Yoga laptop series to create social posts that seemingly leap off the screen, as well as unveiling a free Digital Street Art School, with Lenovo creators teaching the skills behind the craft.
Speaking to Rogier Vijverberg, co-founder and chief creative hero of SuperHeroes, LBB’s Abi Lightfoot finds out how the agency is utilising digital street art, and why “there’s still so much to discover” for brands and budding digital street artists.
LBB> Digital street art / faux out of home has seen a huge upsurge in popularity over the last year or so, how have you seen the medium evolve as it has become more widely utilised?
Rogier> While we may have seen this start as a trend or social media stunt that captured consumer and media attention – like L’Oréal’s famous mascara tube, or the work we did for Fenty x Puma – it’s a new art form that is here to stay. Digital street art is a new playground for creatives who are using the world as their canvas and turning their digital art into a new form of media. It consistently stops viewers in their tracks and organically drives engagement for brands.
The work we do with our JIMMY artist collective has evolved a lot over the past year. We’ve moved away from the famous landmarks towards more elaborate forms of storytelling, merging reality and imagination in everyday settings. For example with Netflix & APPA in San Francisco, but also Balenciaga in space.
LBB> What advice would you give to brands or creatives wanting to take the leap into using digital street art?
Rogier> First start with strategy. Great work is always built on a strong insight. You need to also really hone a brief to build work in partnership with the right artist. Not every artist is right for every project.
At SuperHeroes, we founded the digital artist collective called JIMMY, which consists of 20 global digital artists and creators that specialise in earned-first storytelling for brands.
They not only bring their expert skill and POV to the creative work, but a lot of these proven creators have massive followings that engage with the work as well, which only helps the brand.
LBB> This campaign is an evolution of the Digital Street Art work that has driven success for Lenovo over the past year. Can you tell us more about the work of the previous year and how it led to ‘The Art of Making?’
Rogier> Lenovo Yoga has really become a trailblazer in digital art, enabling artists and creatives around the world to elevate their work to a global stage. We launched the initial ‘Made With Lenovo Yoga’ campaign almost two years ago now, celebrating 50 years of street art.
Our social-first campaign is always-on and features digital street art around relevant themes and moments in time for our young creative audiences. It has resulted in tremendous success for the Lenovo Yoga Pro, with very sizable increases in brand awareness, sales and revenue.
As we were releasing the work, we consistently noticed people asking for a behind-the-scenes look into how digital street art is made. We were already making short ‘How I Made It’ videos, but we thought – let’s expand on it and incorporate it into our next campaign – and we’ve gotten great feedback.
LBB> How does SuperHeroes work with Lenovo to bring the work to life?
Rogier> We have a very close relationship with a lot of mutual respect, trust, and understanding. As a result, the artists get a lot of freedom, which makes the work authentic and real.
An important component of our campaigns is that our artists are actually using Lenovo products to create the work that we advertise with. This helps us believably convey the key product features that the artists are utilising in their creations.
LBB> ‘The Art of Making’ spotlights three different digital creators, why were these artists the right fit for the campaign?
They are experts in their fields, they create wildly imaginative work every time, and they have extremely engaged and curious followings. Fun fact is that we got to know Camyl through a mentor program that we did with Lenovo, where we matched more established artists with up-and-coming talent. Plus, they all are fun to work with, which made them an easy choice for this campaign.
True to the nature of our campaign, all films were shot by a Gen Z crew, directed by the talented Iris Kim.
LBB> How did the response to the social campaigns you’ve made signal the need for a platform such as Digital Street Art School?
Rogier> We’ve always gotten a lot of engagement on our social posts – viewers want to know how it’s made, which has inspired the ‘How We Did It’ videos that our creators produce.
With so much interest for consumers and a desire from Lenovo Yoga to give back, we were inspired to launch a Digital Street Art School. So what we’re doing now is not just empowering creatives and artists, but we are also actively schooling a new generation.
LBB> What kind of resources and tools can people expect to find within Digital Street Art School?
Rogier> Well first of all, it’s a series of free online courses from Lenovo which I think is an awesome resource for aspiring creatives. We have some of our top creators teaching 3D skills, motion tracking, compositing, filming, shading and more. We are building out the program even more now, as it is an important focus point for the upcoming years.
LBB> And what do you hope that people take away from the school?
Rogier> We hope it equips more young people to confidently join the creative field and to upskill current creatives so that they can create inspiring work – on their Lenovo Yoga laptops of course.
LBB> Finally, what are SuperHeroes’ predictions for the future of digital street art?
Rogier> This is a new form of ‘advertising.’ We see it as Art as Media. When we are able to deliver outstanding, not boring work that stops people’s thumb in their scroll, we are able to drive real results.
We see this art form continuing to evolve as we have now also started working with artists who leverage AI to create novel work. And through our studies on Gen Z, we’ve found this is a generation that loves to be creative, so with both digital art and AI art, the possibilities are truly endless.
We’ll continue to see this be a big part of earned-first advertising for brands on social media as they look to capture the attention of Gen Z. Creative quality needs to be guarded, but that goes for every form of advertising of course. Just look at where we stand: it has all just begun; there’s still so much to discover.
