The Year 2022 Augmented Reality (AR) Projects

The client: JLL is a global real estate services firm specialising in commercial property and investment management. This service was provided for Warrawong Plaza (formerly Westfield Warrawong).

Challenge: How can we blend digital with physical and provide playful experiences for shoppers

Goals

• To provide playful experiences and novel activations for shopping centre patrons
• To keep families entertained and engaged during school holidays
• To promote the brand as the “centre of entertainment”

Solution: Among a couple of ideas we shared with the client, the Warrawong Plaza team decided to use our AR “virtual zoo” scavenger hunt during September/October 2022 school holidays as a “test and learn” pilot, and see how they can get the best result from AR treasure hunt during the Christmas 2022 holiday season. Compared to their September AR activation, the client used Christmas backdrops and props to provide more magical photoshoot experiences and used a custom Santa 3D character and animation for their Santa photography services. All AR experiences were provided using the CreativiTek AR app. The AR activation turned the shopping centre into Sana’s Christmas wonderland, where shoppers virtually interacted and had fun with Christmas characters. They captured holiday photos at immersive Christmas-themed photo stations and shared them on social media. Please find more details below.

AR “Virtual Zoo”

1. Five virtual animals were placed around the centre and shoppers were encouraged to have their photos taken with each one, and share photos using the centre’s hashtag for chances to win gift vouchers
2. Five custom-designed floor decals to work as markers for the AR animations

“Santa’s Christmas Wonderland” (AR)

1. A custom 3D character and animation of Santa for centre’s Santa photography services. A physical Sana chair was the main prop for this animation. The CreativiTek team used a floor decal as the marker for this animation (shoppers had to scan the floor decal to launch the AR experience) and we had to create a virtual floor decal in the animation to hide the physical decal and make the final photo more impressive

2. Six AR Christmas animations (Santa, reindeer, gingerbread, snowman, and elf)
3. Seven custom-designed floor decals to be scanned by shoppers to launch the AR experiences

Services: Augmented reality development, 3D animation, 3D modelling, graphic design

Outcomes

Christmas 2022 holiday season: The augmented reality decals were scanned about 11,620 times by shoppers during a period of about three weeks. A total number of 5,905 photos were captured and 3,610 photos were shared by users. Here's another case when “numbers say more than words”. We’ve already started working on new AR activations for this client.

Christmas 2023: Augmented Reality Christmas Card

For the Christmas 2023 campaign, we collaborated with Warrawong Plaza to offer shoppers a completely new experience, enhancing their celebration of the festive season and providing a unique way to share Christmas messages with family and friends. We designed an augmented reality Christmas card, enabling shoppers to interact with and capture photos with Santa, seamlessly incorporating them into a digital Christmas card. Users could then personalise the card by adding a note and effortlessly share their festive messages through various platforms, including social media, email, and messages.

In this project, a Christmas backdrop served as the AR marker, and Santa appeared from a chimney on the backdrop in a truly magical manner. Additionally, the centre strategically placed some of our new Christmas AR animations around the premises, encouraging families to explore, find the characters, and enjoy the festive fun. 

Watch the Warrawong Plaza video below.

Outcomes 

The augmented reality markers were scanned approximately 8,300 times, resulting in the capture of around 5,150 photos. Shoppers shared about 2,900 photos in total. The most favorable outcomes were observed on Thursday, December 21, and Sunday, December 17.