The Writing’s on the Wall

How do you make the next best music video for a band that’s known for always making the next best music video? Film a series of 28 real-life optical illusions—in one take, of course—that would be both a visual feast for OK Go fans with the highest of expectations and a clever rebuke to the apparent certainty inherent in the song’s title.

Our close partnership with bandleader Damian Kulash helped us bring our vision to life in a way that we knew would surprise and delight OK Go’s eager audience.

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SpecialGuest spent a month in a Brooklyn warehouse prototyping and perfecting the illusions. Our “thinking-making” approach served us well; constant experimentation and a rapid failure-success cycle let us quickly rule out what wasn’t working and move on to what was.

The video for “The Writing’s on the Wall” reinforced and progressed OK Go’s “brand” reputation as a group of visual and musical innovators. It solidified their place among contemporary creative artists. Within a week of its premiere, the video had over 7 million views on YouTube, and it has garnered over 28 million views to date. The video also won the 2014 MTV Music Award for Best Visual Effects.