Put Yourself on the Screen with CHI&Partners' TalkTalk X Factor App

TalkTalk TV’s new X Factor sponsorship campaign, BopHeads, will launch tomorrow night – offering fans a taste of stardom by making and starring in their own music video. The campaign is TalkTalk TV’s latest way to get fans closer to The X Factor and give them a chance to appear on TV during the show’s ad breaks.

BopHeads is created by CHI&Partners and shot by London Alley, which produces videos for stars including Ed Sheeran, Calvin Harris, Jessie J and Nicki Minaj. The idents pull content from an app, which allows TV viewers to create their own professionally crafted music videos. The best videos will then be broadcast to the nation during the show’s ad breaks.

The BopHeads app, developed by MPC Creative to be fully responsive across Android, iOS and desktop, films fans as they sing along to tracks including Little Mix’s Number One hit ‘Black Magic’, John Newman’s new single ‘Come and Get It’ and nineties hit ‘Return of the Mack’ by Mark Morrison.

The app then super-imposes fans’ bopping heads onto the bodies of choreographed characters in real-time, allowing users to watch, upload and share music videos featuring them as the stars. Users can also invite their friends and family to co-star alongside them in their videos, by merging separately-shot performances. The videos are shot against the backdrop of stylish music video sets by London Alley directors Emil Nava, Courtney Phillips and Alex Southam, who regularly work on chart-topping music videos featuring A-list celebrities.

BopHeads will launch with three interchangeable tracks and three music video styles for people at home to choose from: ‘Onesies’, which features up to four protagonists dressed in funky onesies; ‘Fun House’, a magical world of life-size toys; and ‘Bounce’, a glossy hip-hop set. The BopHeads app can be downloaded from 29 August from the App Store and Google Play.

From August through to The X Factor live final in December five more fun music video styles will be released in staggered phases, along with five more of the nation’s favourite tracks, resulting in the broadcast of more than 160 user-generated spots. 

Jim Bolton, Deputy ECD at CHI&Partners, said: “What we love about TalkTalk’s X Factor idents is how unique and inclusive they are – using clever technology to bring together the new world of user-generated content with the old world of professionally-crafted TV advertising. In advertising, we don’t always get to see people’s reactions to our work – so seeing how much fun thousands of people of all ages have with TalkTalk’s X Factor app makes it extremely gratifying to work on.”

David Parslow, Head of Marketing at TalkTalk, said: “TalkTalk TV is all about bringing people the great TV that they love, and our sponsorship of The X Factor is a big part of this. Our customers love being part of the show, that’s why we are really excited about BopHeads. The music videos are great fun and by far our slickest, most entertaining yet.”  

Simon Cowell said: “I am thrilled that TalkTalk are part of The X Factor family for another year. We really value this partnership and the huge contribution they make to the show.”