Skill Tester
Issue 13 | December 2009
Agency
Rapp, Melbourne
Creative Team
Executive Creative Director: Grant Rutherford, Group Creative Director: Ruben Cuirugeda, Group Creative Director: Glen Dickson
Other Credits
Group Managing Director: Tess Doughty Account Director: Melissa Fullerton
Date
From August 2009
Background
The tremors, slowed motion and rigid muscles often associated with Parkinson’s Disease can make simple, everyday tasks virtually impossible. But for non-sufferers it’s difficult to imagine, let alone comprehend, an existence where opening a carton of milk or doing up your shoelaces is just not an option.
The challenge was to help Australians understand what a completely debilitating disease Parkinson’s is and create a simple mechanism for them to give generously.
Idea
Classic arcade ‘Skill Testers’ are coin-operated games where, traditionally, you control a mechanical hand to try and pick up soft toys. As everyone knows, it’s difficult to grab anything.
The Parkinson’s Victoria machines were different in only one way. They were full of everyday household objects. Cartons of milk, tooth brushes, TV remote controls, knives and forks, packets of biscuits, etc. A prominent headline read: Parkinson’s Disease makes easy things hard.
By playing the game, passers-by learned about the daily struggles of sufferers, and simultaneously donated a coin to help fund research.
Results
Many Australians now know a little more about Parkinson’s disease and in the first 12 hours of the idea going live, over $5,000 was raised to help fund the search for a cure.
Our Thoughts
You can’t beat a good demo and while this isn’t the first arcade game that’s been put to use as an advertising medium, what would make this both intriguing and then shocking are the everyday objects which the mechanical claw fails to grasp. While the rise and rise of outdoor spam is something that should concern us all (before legislation comes in), here is an idea that knows its place and which engages without being pushy about it.