Who
Toaster is a creative bunch who love nothing more than helping brands stand out in a noisy world. To do this, they create compelling campaigns and connect brands and audiences in a meaningful way.
Toaster is full of talented folk and has a former Google superstar at the top of the ranks. They also have an impressive roster, having worked with the likes of Samsung, Google and YouTube.
With a strong focus on collaboration and relationships, Toaster's approach puts the user first, always. And that's something we're firmly behind.
Toaster is full of talented folk and has a former Google superstar at the top of the ranks. They also have an impressive roster, having worked with the likes of Samsung, Google and YouTube.
With a strong focus on collaboration and relationships, Toaster's approach puts the user first, always. And that's something we're firmly behind.
Trees for life
What
Untapped and Toaster have a lot in common. Aside from our beliefs, we have similar tastes in employees, too. Jane Harrington, Production Director at Toaster, also did a lot of great work at Untapped back in the day. And so when she reached out with a brief for Toaster Island, we knew it was going to be a good’un.
It was a simple idea with an ambitious time scale. The brief was to create an island using WebGL 3D tech, whereby clients could select a square on the island and plant a tree in return for a digital token. For every tree planted on Toaster Island, Trees For Life would plant one in Scotland.
It was a simple idea with an ambitious time scale. The brief was to create an island using WebGL 3D tech, whereby clients could select a square on the island and plant a tree in return for a digital token. For every tree planted on Toaster Island, Trees For Life would plant one in Scotland.
A similar programme already exists on the Toaster website. Here, they plant a tree in the Scottish highlands for the air miles their team have clocked up. But Toaster Island was different, and part of a Christmas card campaign that aimed to do some good for the planet by reducing the number of gifts and single-use cards they gave to their clients.
So what about the time scale? Ah! Glad you asked. First, we love a challenge at Untapped, and even for us, this was ambitious! So we started work in late November, and it needed to be ready to send to Toaster’s clients before Christmas. This gave us 3 weeks to design and build Toaster Island.
So what about the time scale? Ah! Glad you asked. First, we love a challenge at Untapped, and even for us, this was ambitious! So we started work in late November, and it needed to be ready to send to Toaster’s clients before Christmas. This gave us 3 weeks to design and build Toaster Island.
The project included:
Christmas campaign
Marketing Website
Subscription payments website
Optimised for Apple and Android
How
So it’s not every day you’re tasked with creating a digital island for a client, and it’s something we loved doing.
To build the island, we used threeJS, which is a common WebGL among gaming developers. While our designer got to work creating a mock-up and the final 3D assets in Blender, our dev team worked on a prototype. We also had to validate the tokens and update the database so that when someone planted a tree, it appeared on the island. It was a bit like The Sims but with ten times the stress and complexity.
To build the island, we used threeJS, which is a common WebGL among gaming developers. While our designer got to work creating a mock-up and the final 3D assets in Blender, our dev team worked on a prototype. We also had to validate the tokens and update the database so that when someone planted a tree, it appeared on the island. It was a bit like The Sims but with ten times the stress and complexity.
Time wasn’t really on our side with this project, and so, unfortunately, some of our ideas weren’t possible. For example, we wanted animated animals to roam the island and birds to soar in the skies. We also wanted the island to reflect the current time of day, with shadows from the sun.
Time wasn’t the biggest challenge, though. You see, 3D graphics can take it out of a computer’s processor and performance if they aren’t done well. And without knowing what type of computer people would be using, it had to work on all devices and browsers. So not only did we need to create something that looked good, but it had to perform well, too. And not only that, but we had to build it in three weeks!
Time wasn’t the biggest challenge, though. You see, 3D graphics can take it out of a computer’s processor and performance if they aren’t done well. And without knowing what type of computer people would be using, it had to work on all devices and browsers. So not only did we need to create something that looked good, but it had to perform well, too. And not only that, but we had to build it in three weeks!
The Impact
210 Trees planted via Christmas campaign
Shadows, 3D animals and a custom Island created
TREES FOR LIFE saving the planet
Delivery of a complex build in just 3 weeks
COST EFFECTIVE, SIMPLE TO USE
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