The client: The City of Maribyrnong is a local government area within the metropolitan area of Melbourne, Australia.

Challenge: How can we use the magic of augmented reality to make our city festive through the month of December 2021 and boost foot traffic in local shopping strips? How can we organise a fun competition for residents to enter and win a prize? How can we refresh some of the city’s wonderful murals?

Goals

- To create immersive festive activities with the magic of augmented reality technology

- To refresh some selected murals across the city and boost foot traffic in local shopping strips to increase local spending for traders

- To launch a competition offering residents the chance to win a visit from Santa

- To develop an augmented reality app for the council’s current and future needs

 Solution: The following augmented reality services were provided to achieve the goals:

1. A white label augmented reality app for the council: We developed the MARIality app and published it on both App Store and Google Play store. The app icon and its features were designed in line with the council’s branding guidelines. The immersive experiences below were activated on the app. The MARIality app could be also used for different purposes in the future from events and destination marketing to digital place making, community engagement and education and more.

2. Augmented reality murals: We created two 3D animations and five 2D animations to enable mobile users bring selected murals across the city to life. Mobile users are able to interact with some of the 3D characters or jump in for a selfie and share their happy moments.

3. Augmented reality colouring sheet: We created an augmented reality colouring sheet to allow residents to enter the Santa and Sirens colouring competition for a chance to win a personal home visit from Santa and his helpers on board a vintage fire engine and a sack full of sweets to share with the neighbours. The colouring sheet and its 3D animation were branded to suit the council’s requirements and to ensure the consistency across the campaign. A pop-up box appeared at the end of the colouring animation to direct mobile users to a webpage where they were able to submit their pictures into the colouring competition and go into the draw to win a visit from Santa. Residents were able to collect a colouring sheet from participating local stores, libraries, community centres or download it from the campaign website.

4. A promotional video: We made a video to promote augmented reality activities online.

Outcome: By June 13, 2023, the augmented reality murals had been scanned approximately 2,400 times. The magical and innovative nature of the experience, coupled with the positive results achieved, led the client to collaborate with us once more for their Christmas 2022 campaign/festival.