The archive · Content & Film · Marketing decision · 2021
Billie Eilish fans play Happier Than Ever on Beat Saber in an abandoned theatre
A launch film for the Billie Eilish Beat Saber pack fills an abandoned theatre with fans whose Quest 2 gameplay becomes one synchronised dance.
Beat Saber · Billie Eilish
What it had to solve
Billie Eilish's music came to Beat Saber with a new pack built around her single Happier Than Ever, and the launch film had to invite her fans to experience the music in a virtual world. The album's 50s-Hollywood aesthetic set the visual language for the spot.
How it works
Beat Saber was getting a Billie Eilish music pack built around her single Happier Than Ever. To launch it, the campaign needed a film that would invite her fans to experience her music inside virtual reality, not just tell them the pack existed.
Inspired by the 50s-Hollywood aesthetic of the album, the film featured a group of Billie Eilish's fans gathered in an abandoned theatre to play the new single on Beat Saber. As the ballad builds, the fans strap on their Quest 2 headsets and immerse themselves in the dazzling virtual world of Billie Eilish on Beat Saber, their gameplay providing a graceful synchronised group choreography in the physical space.
The result is a spot that translates what playing feels like: the fans' bodies make the headset experience visible, and the film works as an invitation to Billie's fans to hear her music in a new way. The work is filed in the D&AD awards archive.
Why it lands
- Real fans, not actors, make the promise of the experience believable to the audience being invited.
- Setting the film in an abandoned theatre turns a product demo into a story about gathering and shared emotion.
- Choreography between the virtual and physical worlds shows both what the game offers and what it feels like to play together.
What it did
The spot made a private VR experience watchable: the fans' visible bodies turn headset gameplay into shared performance, and the film stands as an invitation to Billie's fans to experience her music in a new way. The work is filed in the D&AD awards archive.
What you can take
If your product only exists inside a screen, shoot the people using it: real players' bodies translate an immersive virtual experience into something audiences can feel and want to join.
Since then
The film was created around the launch of the Billie Eilish music pack for Beat Saber in 2021, as her album Happier Than Ever was arriving. D&AD files the work in its awards archive, and the spot remains an example of launching a VR product through the visible joy of the people who play it.
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