Nothing quite says startup life like buying an old slot machine off Facebook marketplace and building an AR photo booth into it in your garage. And pulling 4 all nighters to do it in time to troll parties at SXSW. What can I say, we had a blast!
We took a deep dive into the tech stack of facial recognition and 3d object mapping with our visual cues coming from the intersection of an 80s arcade booth and a been there, done that retired slot machine duking it out in a back alley. Who won that fight? Anybody who had a drink in one hand and pulled the lever with the other to see what random AR props turned up in their pic! Cheers SXSW!
Every now and then you get to do something that after the fact, you really can’t believe it just happened. This was one of those projects.
Every year when the Emmy voting season rolls around, Netflix deploys an incredible experiential activation featuring all the nominated shows. As you might of guessed, their 2020 plans were derailed with COVID and the Netflix team was left wondering what to do. I’m glad they chatted with us!
We built an immersive web based world that allowed voters to explore one for one environments from their favorite shows. Throughout, users could discover relevant content and engage with the experience a bit via some interesting gamified elements, challenging them to find all the hotspots!
I’m happy to say the experience was such a hit that Netflix opened it up to the general public! That sure was fun making sure the site didn’t crash with such an unexpected surge of traffic… With solid high fives all around, the Netflix team has requested updates for new seasons of the shows and we’re developing long term plans to use this as an always on experience! Go team!
In what is probably the most obvious collaboration since Snoop Dog and Martha Stewart, Barefoot Wine wanted to find new ways to engage their fans as well as raise money for worthy causes. Naturally, The Black Eyed Peas came to the rescue to lend their musical talents and voice to drive awareness for the mission:
For every label scanned using the app, Barefoot would donate $1 to support CORE (Children of Restaurant Employees) and ACS (American Cancer Society).
Before any artists conversations were started, we knew we had our work cut out for us. Whenever you looking to trigger AR experiences from a physical object, the multiple sku, varying shapes of Barefoot’s products would present a unique challenge. Fortunately, that’s what get’s us up in the morning!
After lot’s of testing and tweaking (maybe even a little drinking…), the end result was a compelling experience that had Barefoot fan’s enjoying an AR performance from the band in their own home and helping drive donations to the cause. What’s more, we designed and developed the campaign microsite hosting all of the details as well as aggregating social content from wherever it was posted!
Amazon and their shipping box have become ubiquitous with our existence. I probably have 4 stacked up downstairs ready for me to open as I type this! They ship billions of them and that’s a lot of real estate. What if we could leverage that space on each and every box to help brands better connect to their demographics?
After several years of behind the scenes work, prototyping, testing, breaking things, and improving the user experience, we think we have a solution and Amazon thinks so too! After our original internal Corgi project proved the juice was worth the squeeze, I’m excited to say we just official launched the pilot program and announced this new tech to the world!
Users can engage with a digital “pumpkin carving” by drawing their design on the side of the box! Here’s where the magic happens. The tech sees that unique drawing and turns it into spooky AR filters and assets to play with! Yeah, it’s frighteningly rad. Check out the launch video (we even made that too)!
Brooks Running makes world class shoes for runners across the globe. When we were approached by their partner agency, they were having a problem. How could they help convey the technology that went into the Brooks shoes to runners through experiential activation at events?
After putting our heads together, we came up with the concept of using cutting edge AR paired with organic, hand drawn animations to bring the space to life. Where we landed was a fun and approachable experience that engaged and educated runners of all ages! Beyond the flagship experience, we deployed pull up banners to leverage the solution as sales tools wherever Brooks shoes are sold.
Every year Ford engages with customers in a mutually beneficial way. Ford dealerships bring vehicles to local schools and Ford will donate money to each school for every test drive a parent takes after dropping their kids off. It’s pretty awesome and it’s great for schools as well as Ford. That’s until COVID comes along!
This year, we weren’t about to let the party get stopped by an unwelcome guest (especially with the new Bronco launch). So why not create an immersive web based Drive For Your School event? Yeah, we thought it was a good idea too!
The team pulled together best in class 360° capture, 3D modeling, CG compositing, and some branching narrative web development to bring the whole package together and we couldn’t be more thrilled with the outcome!
The Austin Opera will always be a client that’s near and dear to my heart. As a member of the innovation council, I’ve had an extraordinary opportunity to help behind the scenes as well as lead exciting projects all targeted at addressing one question, “How do you breathe new life into one of the world’s oldest art forms and engage previously under-represented demographics without alienating current audiences?”
No sweat. I’m probably biased but I think we made a few great steps in the right direction! To date, we’ve focused on three major projects.
EVEREST AR ACTIVATION
Leveraging the power of augmented reality and high end video production techniques to take opera goers on a journey to the peak of Mount Everest. Focusing on the prologue and decisions leading up to the moment the opera starts, opera lovers were able to scan the cover of their programs and unlock this powerful content!
AUSTIN OPERA 2020 PROGRAM
A refreshing change from our traditionally non-traditional projects, we were able to partner with the Austin Opera marketing team to freshen up their seasonal brochure. One of the biggest pieces of content for them every year, we’re stoked with how well it turned out and look forward to 2021!
AUSTIN OPERA DIGITAL CONCERT EVENT
It seems like every client/partner conversation starts with”because of COVID…” and then we discuss solutions to the monkey wrench that has been 2020. This actually excites me because there is more beyond a band-aid, we have real opportunity to push the envelope further than we could have when we had the luxury of staying comfortable in what we knew.
For Austin Opera, the problem was an obvious one. People simply weren’t attending performances. So what was the opportunity? What if we produced a feature length performance film to be played around the resurgence of drive-in theaters around Austin? Yeah that sounds cool. So we did it!
Being a certified Creative Partner for TikTok, we were approached to create an out of the box experience to engage WPP Commerce participants (Fortune 500 executives) and inform them about why brands should engage with one of the fastest growing platforms on the planet.
Our solution? We built an immersive experiential website featuring all the reasons TikTok is a no brainer for any brand. Focusing on best in class branded executions, influencer reach, the history of engagement on the platform, and the ad buys available, we challenged participant perceptions and left attendees with the sense that they were either cashing in or missing out. Also, it didn’t hurt that we channeled an internet aesthetic mixed with synth wave vibes to nail the Miami coastal feel.
Jump in your Testarossa and head for that neon sunset.
How do you send off one of Showtime’s most beloved and followed shows? You mean the one where the environment is as much a character as any of the cast members? Well. I guess we figured it out.
We created a dynamic send off that hit the ground running as soon as the final episode finished featuring a countdown to a cast livestream and a true to life exploration of the infamous Gallagher house. While I might be biased in saying it’s awesome, the crying fans posting on social after exploring the house, it’s content, eComm extension, and AR social filters tell me we might have been on to something.
Well done Showtime and the next drink is on me Gallagher family.
