Philipstown Foundation ‘Philipstown WGP Mobile Game’

In the middle of South Africa is Philipstown.
There’s not much there.
And with little opportunity, kids often turn to drugs and gangsterism.
To help, the town created the Philipstown Wire Car Grand Prix – a unique race where kids use their imaginations to build cars out of wire and discarded scrap – and then race them 2 miles around the town.

But for 15 years, only locals knew about it, so we asked: how do we make the world see and care about an invisible town
On race day, we tracked each wire car with special sensors, showing exactly where they were at any point and time on the track.
We used the data to create a digital twin of the race, which became the exciting climax of a full length documentary on Amazon Prime Video.
Then we created the mobile game so that anyone in the world could experience the thrill of racing a wire car.
The game introduces players to the world and craft of wire cars, across multiple tracks, showcasing the entire town.
Every street, every building, every landmark.

Each car, completely customisable, generating direct income.
And a unique story mode that enables players to meet and compete against the actual kids from the real town.
In the final race, instead of racing against NPCs, players raced against the kids’ real race data.
So to beat the champion, you’d have to beat his physical time.
19,000 new virtual racers joined our race.

With all proceeds from the game go straight to our new Foundation.
And in 3 months since the campaign broke, headquarters for the Foundation were purchased, helping to get kids off the streets through paid programs and securing the craft for generations.
Proving that when you make the invisible, visible, it changes everything.

Client/Brand: Philipstown Foundation

Agency: Accenture Song
Chief Executive Officer: Celeste Koert
Managing Director: Jane Ashforth
Chief Creative Officer: Alistair King
Chief Creative Officer: Matt Ross
Chief Creative Officer: Tseliso Rangaka
Executive Creative Director: Cameron Watson
Executive Creative Director: Devin Kennedy
Executive Creative Director – Design: Rouleaux van der Merwe
Creative Director: Gregory Booysen
Creative Director: Tony Currie

Creative & Design
Design Lead: David Phelan
Designer: Connor Holyoake
UI Designer: Medford Torr
UI Designer: Jack Bergin
UX Designer: Maria Burnell-Romeo
UX Designer: Ryan Williams
UI/UX Designer: Maria Isabel Campa Nieto
Experience Strategy: Josh Woods

Copy & Content
Writer: Terry Mlangeni
Copywriter: Sandhya Mathura
Copywriter: Ross Sinclair

Production
Head of Production: Katherine Jones
Production Lead: Riska Emeran
Producer: Keyana Govender
Producer: Savannah Boltman
Producer: Joshua Michael
Producer: Lewis Harvey

Account Management
Business Unit Director: Leandi van den Berg
Account Manager: Nicola de Villiers

Earned Media
Earned Media Practice Lead: Michelle Berman
Earned Media Account Manager: Aissa Sithole
Earned Media Account Executive: Samukelisiwe Hashe

Technology & Development
Creative Tech Director: Alexander Bosman
Development Lead: Ilith Sher Schwartz
Developer: Róbert Székely
Developer: Bence Konecsny
Developer: Gáspár Balázs

3D & Animation
3D Art Lead: Luigi Russo
3D Artist: Norbert Oravec
3D Artist: Emese Tót
3D Artist: Lajos Mazlo
Animator: Jeffrey Booysen

Project Management
Technical Project Manager: Marton Helenyi
Technical Project Manager: Ntando Sicam
Traffic Manager: Yumna Jacobs
Traffic Manager: Emma Rasmussen

Sound
Sound Design: Giacomo Garoffolo

Film Production & Crew
Film Production Company: Giant Films
Director: Paul Ward
Produced by Cindy Gabriel, Jo Barber
Cinematography: Jason Prins
Edited by Emily Bussac & Matthew Swanepoel
Co-Producer: Kelly-Eve Koopman
CGI Director: Dima Lochmann

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