When you have a seriously important innovation to announce, doing that with humour is the last thing you would think of. Kudos to international collective, Mamapöol, for its campaign to announce Hitachi Finger VeinID in Europe.

Finger VeinID revolutionises identification. All you have to do is wave. The veins in your fingers are scanned and everyone’s vein pattern is unique. Yes, in the future that is likely to mean waving yourself through border control checkpoints. One quick scan from a camera, laptop or mobile device is all it takes to securely recognise anyone. Also, your face, fingerprints or biometric details aren’t stored so biometric copying or identity theft is impossible, as is racial profiling.

The campaign is currently running across Europe on digital and social media channels.

Hitachi pioneered the technology a couple of years ago and is currently being used in some banks and businesses across Europe, but it has now been developed further to work with any camera built into an iOS device, with Android available in the near future.

Tom Pinsent, chief strategic officer & founding partner, Mamapöol, stated “Identifying ourselves safely and securely has never been so hard and frustrating… having to remember multiple passwords, cleaning/drying our hands before using touchpads or fingerprint ID, removing glasses and medical masks before unlocking facial ID. Luckily Hitachi has found a better, simpler way:  just wave.”

Jason Mendes, chief creative officer and founding partner, Mamapöol, added, “The fact that you don’t have to remove your mask was a great springboard for the creative idea – given we are in the middle of a global pandemic. Hitachi’s Finger Vein Solutions are currently being used in some banks and businesses across Europe but when we asked Hitachi’s engineers if it could actually replace passports and the answer was ‘yes’, that gave us an ideal setting and location to dramatise the product benefit. There’s understandably a lot of gloom and frustration surrounding COVID-19 and so it was a conscious effort to deliver this film with an up-beat and light-hearted tone. After all, this technology is a refreshing and positive solution to so many areas of our daily life.”

Simon Crouch, assistant brand manager, Hitachi Europe: “We’ve made a lot of corporate films over the years but this is the first real commercial style film we’ve made and a much bigger production than we are used to. This is a new way to tell our story of how our technology is used to power good in society and improve people’s quality of life. This film will enable us to reach a wider spectrum of people – not just the business leaders we usually talk to.”

Mamapöol was launched by Jason Mendes (ex-Saatchi & Saatchi & Ogilvy) and Pinsent (ex-The&Partnership & Ogilvy), Mamapool in June 2020 using talent from London, Sydney, New York, Amsterdam, Copenhagen, Stockholm, Lausanne, Athens & Madrid.

Credits:

Chief Creative Officer: Jason Mendes, Mamapöol, London.
Creatives: Carley Illston & Marley Muirhead, Mamapöol, New York.
Chief Strategic Officer: Tom Pinsent, Mamapöol, Lausanne.
Producer: Jo Fogerty Mamapöol, Athens.

Director & Editor: Dave Hackney, Digital Cortex, UK
DOP: Kia Fern Little, Vision Artists, London.
Music: Harry Collier, The Kubb, Sydney, Australia.
3D Post Production: Mauri Duque, Atomicus, Madrid.
1st AD: Tom Wynborne, Freelance, London.
Grading: Chris Baker, Big Head Content, UK.
Casting agent: Gemma Gurvitz, Talent Talks, London.
Sound Engineer: Toby Griffin, London.

Client: Hitachi Europe
Client Team: Hans Daems, Simon Crouch, Kelly Smith, Mioka Suzuki, Candida Cereda & Alex Piseckis