How do you share a memory if you don’t have a photo? Fujifilm brand, instax, has worked with researchers to take memories out of one’s head and put them into print. The company has created the world’s first printed memories.
The groundbreaking experiment, [Mind]ography, was led by research scientist, Dr Paul Scotti. It combines Functional MRI (fMRI) brain scans and cutting edge machine learning to reconstruct memories from the mind. With the support from Research Imaging NSW (RINSW), Dr Scotti trained his AI algorithm to recognise the unique brain patterns of Nicole Toum, a social worker from Sydney, Australia.
The experiment focused on core memories that Nicole hadn’t captured in photos. Having lost her father in 2018, Nicole chose three core memories to be reconstructed through [Mind]ography. Nicole’s memories became the centrepiece of an exhibition at China Heights Gallery, where the printed memories were displayed.
HERO worked with production company, Chisel, to produce an emotion-provoking film of the [Mind]ography journey, rolling out as a social-first campaign supported by PR and paid media.
“This is literally cutting-edge, mind-reading research,” stated Dr Paul Scotti. “We scanned Nicole’s brain as she was seeing and imagining thousands of images, teaching a machine learning algorithm to recognise her brain activity. Then we scanned Nicole’s brain as she imagined her personal memories, and used AI to create a visual reconstruction of what she was imagining.
“These images aren’t just a 1 to 1 copy of what she saw in the past. They reflect more brain activity than that – her history, her memories, her emotions. So the outputs are more meaningful, I think.”
HERO Sydney executive creative director, Ben O’Brien, added, “This has been an incredibly exciting project, all the way from concept to reality. A true world first. I’d like to thank our wonderful clients at Fujifilm Australia for their trust and support, along with our amazing HERO and Chisel team. And of course, don’t forget to print your memories with an INSTAX mini Link 3 printer, it’s a lot easier than doing this.”
“At the heart of our instax brand is memories. We are thrilled with the results of our Mindography project, which has seen a talented research team bring to life precious memories from Nicole’s mind and make them tangible to share with the world,” added Mary Georgievski, general manager photo imaging, Fujifilm Australia.
The campaign supports the launch of the instax mini Link 3 smartphone printer.
Credits:
Client: Fujifilm General Manager – Photo Imaging Division: Mary Georgievski
Head of Product Marketing Operations – Photo Imaging Division: Daniel Paul
Brand & Digital Marketing Manager: Sakshi Vyas
Senior Product Manager – Photo Imaging Division: Roy Kim
Brand & Marketing Coordinator – Photo Imaging Division: Vanessa Chen
Creative Agency: HERO
Executive Creative Director: Ben O’Brien
Senior Art Director: Mitchell Sutton
Senior Copywriter: Josh Campbell
Art Director: Charlotte Smith, Johnathan Akiki
Designer: Sammy Lee
Studio Manager: Daniel Hickey
Senior Producer: Jeff Edwards
Executive Planning Director: Lu Vardy
Junior Planner: Grace Coutts
Senior Account Manager: Sophie Toy
Communications Director: Ebony Santin
Communications Manager: Stephanie Rinaldi
Social Manager: Gemma Davies
Production Company: Chisel
Senior Producer: Emma Whitehouse
Directors: Jarid Seymour & Emily Mays
DOP: Jarryd Sinclair
Editors: Ben Bowles
Colourist: Peter Danks
Mix: Anthony Marsh
Animator: Adrian Katz
