Sir David Attenborough’s Story of Life
BBC
Issue 43 | June 2017
Agency
AKQA London
Creative Team
Creative Director James Chorley Art Directors Lionel Agbadou, Rishi Ramdaras
Production Team
Designer Ana Pais Senior Designer Mark Limb UX Director Ben Gonshaw Associate UX Director Winnie Ng Senior UX Architect Polly Thompson Executive Business Director Brian Snyder Senior Project Manager Przemyslaw Jan Wojcik Group Technical Director Simon Brunton Technical Delivery Manager Stephen Smith Lead iOS Developer Kim Summerskill Technical Architect Bindiya Jinnappa
Other Credits
QA Managers Stephanie Phillips, Gurpreet Brach
Date
November 2016
Background
For over six decades Sir David Attenborough and the BBC had epitomised the discovery and understanding of our natural world, pushing innovation to unprecedented levels to tell the untold stories of the planet. While the stories were timeless, how people consume content has changed, giving audiences new ways to discover and experience life on earth.
Idea
The Story of Life assembled the largest collection of Sir David Attenborough’s most informative and breathtaking moments, in one place. It gave viewers control so that they could define and create their own discoveries of the natural world.
The app featured over 1,000 landmark clips from his many TV programmes for the BBC, which spanned over 60 years and which had inspired love and awe for the natural world in every generation. The app also allowed users to create personal collections. These could then be shared with the world, making it possible for everyone to discover an endless number of journeys through nature shaped by their personal interactions with the app.
BBC Story of Life app store link: http://www.bbc.co.uk/earth/storyoflife ;
Results
From fans of the natural world through to the world’s press, Story of Life launched to huge acclaim. Averaging 5 star ratings across both the App Store and Play store, it brought the world of nature to new generations in a way they could understand and interact with.
Our Thoughts
In 1913 Wolfgang Riepl put forward the prescient hypothesis that new media don’t replace old media, they transform them. Thus TV did not kill radio, it moved it out of the home and into the car. Similarly digital has not killed TV, it has moved it to the bus, the train, the lavatory – wherever and whenever you have the time and the inclination to watch. This is a perfect example of how broadcasters can adapt to go where their audiences are going and remain relevant.
The longterm benefit of this is in the continuing sales of the TV shows to networks and broadcasters around the world. The digital presence of ‘Life on Earth’ will give the several series continued life on earth.