Solarflare Studio used Photoroom's Background Remover API to build a real-time selfie generator for Hennessy's Hip Hop 50th anniversary campaign. The tool removed backgrounds from fan selfies on the spot and placed them into era-themed Hip Hop portrait templates, creating shareable content at multi-city live events where guests got results in seconds.
Life before Photoroom
No real-time tool for live background removal at events
Fan portrait creation required manual editing after the fact
Limited options for instant, shareable branded content on-site
Life with Photoroom
Real-time background removal at live events via the API
Fans received personalized portraits in seconds
Shareable, era-themed content generated on the spot across cities
Integrate Photoroom’s API to run global fan campaigns"Implementing Photoroom's Background Remover API was a very straightforward process, which is exactly what we look for in our tools. By seamlessly merging the capabilities of their AI-driven photo editing software into our social-first digital experience, our project is consistently producing top-notch results."
— John Martinelli, Head of Production, Solarflare
When Hennessy released a limited edition VS bottle to mark Hip Hop's 50th anniversary, the brand wanted more than a product launch. They wanted fans to feel like part of the celebration. Laundry Service, Hennessy's partner agency, brought in Solarflare Studio, a creative technology agency based in London, to make that happen.
Solarflare's concept was called "Rep Yours": a selfie-based portrait generator that let fans pick their favorite Hip Hop era and coast, then see themselves transported into a custom visual from that moment in the culture's history. The portraits were designed to be shared instantly on social media, extending the campaign's reach beyond the room.
The idea was ambitious. But making it work at a live event, where guests are standing in front of a screen expecting an instant result, introduced a problem that most digital campaigns never have to solve.
Creating instant portraits at a live event with no room for error
At a live brand activation, the margin for failure is zero. A guest takes a selfie, and the system needs to remove the background, composite the portrait into a themed template, and return a finished image, all within seconds. If the cutout is rough, the portrait looks wrong. If the system is slow, the line backs up. Either way, the experience falls apart in front of the person waiting for it.
Solarflare needed a background removal solution that could process real-time selfies with enough accuracy to produce shareable, high-quality portraits on the spot. The tool also had to run reliably across multiple live events in different cities, with no downtime during the campaign.
The API solution that worked on the first try
Solarflare assessed multiple background removal solutions before choosing Photoroom's Background Remover API. The deciding factor was trust: the team had seen the technology used across similar live experiences and validated it as a tried-and-tested solution before committing.
Here's how the selfie generator worked after Solarflare integrated the Photoroom API:
A fan stepped up to the activation, took or uploaded a selfie, and the system sent the image to Photoroom's API.
The API removed the background in real time and placed the cutout into one of several era-themed Hip Hop portrait templates.
The fan then received the finished image within seconds, ready to download and share on social media.
This process ran in multiple cities where Hennessy hosted events for their anniversary.
Selfie portraits from Hennessy’s activation campaign. Source: Solarflare Studio
The result: reliable performance across a multi-city live campaign
After launching the Hennessy Hip Hop 50 selfie generator with Photoroom's API integration, Wolt achieved:
No technical failures across all live events, with the API processing selfies in real time.
Instant fan portraits generated on the spot, with background removal accurate enough for guests to share directly on social media.
Multi-city deployment with the same workflow running reliably across different events and locations.
The agency now considers Photoroom a standing part of its experiential technology stack for future entertainment campaigns.
"Photoroom's reliability makes it a welcome addition to our experiential toolkit, and we're excited about our ongoing partnership."
— John Martinelli, Head of Production, Solarflare
Photoroom processes millions of images for agencies and developers creating fan-centered visual campaigns at scale, such as Hennessy’s Rep Yours for Hip Hop 50 and Warner Bros. Barbie movie campaign. Solarflare's work demonstrates that the same API handling millions of product listings daily is fast and reliable enough for consumer-facing experiences where guests watch the result appear in real time.
