matthew.d.mercer, visual thinker

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Leroy the Hand evolved as a viral marketing idea for Hostway. In an attempt to design an on-site application to walk users through how to best determine what their hosting needs are, 15 letters inc. produced a microsite called "Talk to the Hand." This site featured the character Leroy the Hand, walking users through a series of questions before making a recommendation of an available Hostway plan that suited their needs. Leroy is a parody of well-known food spokescharacter. This site was another attempt at a Bob's Cube-like viral marketing effort to get Hostway noticed online through a series of Hostway-branded distractions, including "lost" midi-music karaoke, a 10-minute video biopic, 2 interactive games, a personal journal, a scrapbook, and a few other surprises along the way. My role in the project included not only the planning and research of the concept and set, but also the art direction of most of the photography and videography, storyboarding the entire video sequence, generating most of the artwork (with the exception of the 3-D modeling), set and prop design (which served as Leroy's environment), designing the interface and visual style for the games, "books" and other content, and generating most of the sounds for the microsite.

LeroyTheHand.com was recognized as an Outstanding Microsite/Landing Page in the 2006 Internet Advertising Competition Web Awards.

Client: Hostway Corporation
Date published: Winter 2005
Role: Information Architecture, Art Direction, Design & Sound
Studio: 15 letters inc.

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Creative Director: Mark Rattin
Design & music: Matthew Mercer
Creative technologist: Jin Young Kim
Game developer: John Fisher
Copywriter: Greg Rolnick
3-D animation & modeling: Stanley Von Medvey
Programming & database developer: Rich Hanson
Photography & Video: Mark Lind
Post-production video compositing: Shawn Smith
Project manager: John Thurlow
Sound effects & production: Andrew Heidgerken
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Related projects:
Happy Holiplay
Hostway Knows
Bob's Cube