CHI&Partners Turns on the Filters With MPC for X Factor Campaign

TalkTalk will tomorrow continue its sponsorship of The X Factor for the tenth year, with ‘FX Star’ – an ambitious new twist on its popular   user-generated idents campaigns.

Created once again by CHI&Partners, this year’s idents will feature performances created at home by X Factor fans, using TalkTalk’s ‘FX Star’ app.

‘FX Star’ allows users to create their own music videos, lip-syncing along to their favourite tracks, and adding a splash of glamour or comedy to their performances with fun filters such as ‘Apple Head’, ‘Party Paint’, ‘Comic Book’, ‘Glam Rock’, ‘Teddy Boys’ or ‘Flower Power’.

The best videos to be submitted by the general public each week will then be selected to air on TV during The X Factor ad breaks.

The app, which was designed and built by CHI&Partners and MPC Creative, launches in the App Store and Google Play this weekend, with five filters and three tracks: Zara Larsson’s ‘Lush Life’, Sigala’s ‘Give Me Your Love’, Birdy’s ‘Wild Horses’.

The app allows groups of up to four people to feature in the same music video, meaning users can create and submit thousands of different combinations in a bid to star on TV.

David Parslow, TalkTalk Marketing Director, commented: “The TalkTalk X Factor ad breaks have become so iconic to the point that they’re almost synonymous with the show. Over the years we’ve helped hundreds of fans appear on TV, given away thousands of money-can’t-buy prizes and delighted thousands of TalkTalk customers with tickets to the show – giving fans the chance to see their favourite acts, judges and presenters live in action.  

“This year’s FX Star is fun, current and entertaining. Like The X Factor, it celebrates the feel-good moments that bring people together and is a chance for our customers, and fans of the show, to enjoy sharing and showcasing their inner pop star.”

Jim Bolton, Deputy Executive Creative Director at CHI&Partners, said: “TalkTalk has brought some great user-generated content to the big screen over the past ten years. We wanted to build on that and make this year’s X Factor sponsorship big, special and memorable. Filters deserve to be shared and extended to the TV platform – after all, who doesn’t want to be a comic book character singing Zara Larsson’s ‘Lush Life’ with their mum and dad?”

Andre Assalino, Interactive Creative Director at MPC Creative, said: “It’s been a pleasure to work with CHI&Partners on TalkTalk’s X Factor idents once again. This year’s filter-based idea was technically ambitious, and relied on seamlessly integrating real-time face-tracking, 3D rendering and video recording. We had a lot of fun making it, and we’re sure it’ll be a big hit with X Factor fans of all ages getting involved with the show at home.”