Gaming company Casumo turns boredom on Oslo cab rides into ‘happiness’

A new gaming company, Casumo, has launched a digital-experiential campaign in the Nordics starting with Norwegian capital Oslo. It has been conceptualised by Stockholm and Amsterdam-based digital agency Perfect Fools.

 

The campaign attempts to underline Casumo’s mission: ‘To erase boredom and make people smile’. It is based on the insight that people travelling in cabs and having to pass through city traffic experience several minutes of boredom.

 

From 11 June, three cameras in a regular Oslo cab feed into a 4G-connected computer and printer. During the trip, facial recognition software evaluates the emotional state of the unaware passenger and real-time software calculates the cost based on how bored they look. At the end of the trip, the passenger receives a receipt featuring his or her photograph, mentioning what percentage of their ride was dull. The bill for (only) the ‘joyful’ part of the journey is also part of the receipt. Lastly, there is a code to redeem the ‘boredom saving’ on Casumo.com.

 

The print out also asks permission to publish the pictures and other details on a campaign website. The site will feature a ‘heat map’ of the taxi’s journey, colour coded to identify the most boring parts of the city.  Passengers’ own experiences will be shown online alongside statistics and details of the technology used, informed the agency.

 

John Harmander, chief marketing officer, Casumo, said, “The boredom ride goes in line with the Casumo mission to erase boredom on all levels. Also in the physical world, Casumo is more than a casino. We are an entertainment machine, and we just got started."

 

Tony Högqvist, creative partner, Perfect Fools, added, “Taxi journeys are dull so we will analyse the level of boredom and fight it with the Casumo antidote. Our main call to action is to erase boredom, adopt a Casumo.”

 

The campaign is one of a series of executions to support the global rollout of Casumo’s multiplatform games, according to the agency.