Rakbank turns memories to art

Rakbank helps FC Barcelona fans relive Camp Nou experience

Memories can be felt, but they aren't easy to touch. What if you could turn memories into a piece of art by using technology? The UAE's leading bank Rakbank invited unsuspecting FC Barcelona fans to participate in this unique social experiment, all documented in a video content piece. Memotraits (memory + portrait) is a process of transforming emotional data into abstract art with the help of an electroencephalography (EEG) headset.

The participants were connected to an EEG headset that monitored human brainwaves and turned it into data. As they shared their memories, the headset captured three types of emotions: concentration, excitement and relaxation.

Art, as we know, is often displayed for aesthetic reasons but viewing it actively can evoke emotions, thoughts and memories. Memories are all about connections, especially first-time experiences that get imprinted in our minds. But in today's digital era, memories reside more on our smartphones and on cloud. We as humans crave for physical objects and tangible experiences.

Rakbank, being the regional partner of FC Barcelona in the UAE, wanted its Barça fans to relieve their memories of Camp Nou. The thrill of watching FC Barcelona play live at the home stadium invokes emotions, similar to first-time experiences.

As the fans shared these Camp Nou memories, the data points are visually transformed by associating each emotion to a FC Barcelona brand colour: concentration = blue, excitement = shade of garnet and relaxation = yellow.

For over 100 years, these colours have come together on the shirts of FC Barcelona players, especially blue and garnet; this is why the football club is also known as the 'equip blaugrana' (blue and garnet team). So these colours hold true for any Barça fan. For these fans, memotraits depicts their memories of Camp Nou transformed into beautiful portraits.

Yet again, a first from Rakbank that goes beyond banking and differentiates itself by creating 'Simply Better' experiences. Being a challenger brand in the cluttered BFSI space, Rakbank has always strived to innovate and defy conventions.

• Media & Marketing