crack the us open

A few geniuses and I turned the world's most popular photo-sharing app on its side and into a first-of-its-kind interactive photo hunt, giving tennis fans a chance to win their way into the US Open. And it didn't take a single line of code – just a whole lot of planning to arrange 225 carefully orchestrated Instagrams into a giant panoramic photo mosaic right within the default profile view. 

Anyone clever enough to decipher our riddles and spot the right characters in the crowd to find the tickets first got to attend the Men's Final.

It was named Nitrogram's #1 most Innovative Instagram Campaign of the Year and "pretty cool i guess" by my lovely mother. Though Instagram's design has changed a bit, you can still see the account at @crack_the_us_open. 

Press: Creativity Online / Business Insider / Digiday / Instagram Blog

Awards: ACIP - Winner - Mobile /ACIP - Winner - Social / Cannes Shortlist - Mobile / Cannes Shortlist - Promo / Mashies - Winner - Best Use Of Instagram / Webby - Nominee - Promotion & Contest / Webby - Nominee - Native Advertising / Young Guns - Merit - Mobile

Role: Creative / i also appear at least 3 times in the mosaic at no extra charge.

Heineken wanted to open tennis fans’ worlds to a richer, more engaging and unexpected US Open experience – even if they didn’t have tickets. So we took the world's most popular photo sharing app used at live events – Instagram – and flipped it on its side to turn the gallery view into an interactive Where’s-Waldo-style photo hunt. Tennis fans explored a giant panoramic mosaic depicting fans in the stands, all in search of tickets to the Men’s Final that were hidden inside the grid of images. It was the age-old ticket giveaway, turned on its head – simply by uploading one of the largest images ever to Instagram, and then flipping it on its side.
“A clever use of Instagram by a brand that has been encouraging spotanaeity and adventure in its messaging.”
— Creativity
“A very original campaign that “Hacked” a social network to create a new experience for fans, managed in real time with quick reactivity from community managers.”
— nitrogram