The client: Australia Fair is the shopping hub of the Gold Coast CBD, providing an appealing mix of retail, leisure, and entertainment.

Challenge

As a major sponsor of the Gold Coast Marathon 2024, how can Australia Fair create an engaging marathon-themed interactive activation that enhances the city's major event and integrates seamlessly with the school holidays?

Goals

- Design an interactive marathon-themed experience that enhances attendee engagement and highlights the significance of the Gold Coast Marathon 2024 for the city.

- Provide an activation integrated with school holidays to attract families and participants, enhancing shopper experience and fostering community involvement.

Solution

Among the ten innovative solutions—augmented reality, virtual reality, projection-based, and robotic—that we proposed to the shopping centre, our custom marathon-themed augmented reality activation stood out as a favourite. This gamified, personalised, and shareable experience had the necessary features to engage and entertain people of all ages and was brandable for the centre and adaptable for the Gold Coast marathon. Participants could play a marathon-themed game on their mobile phones, where they competed in a virtual marathon, dodging obstacles to achieve higher scores. Each player's face was integrated onto a virtual runner using augmented reality technology. Players could compete against each other on-site, with the gameplay broadcasted on large screens to engage and entertain onlookers.

From the early stage of the project, we collaborated closely with the client to understand their objectives and branding requirements. CreativiTek worked hand-in-hand with the centre's marketing team to develop the personalised augmented reality experience.

During the development of the augmented reality game, the centre provided valuable feedback to create a digital twin of the marathon environment, capturing the energetic vibe of the Gold Coast marathon. The duration of the game was chosen to ensure players had enough time to enjoy while minimising wait times for others. Players participated in the game at least twice. The first round served as a practice session, followed by the second round, which was the main competition between two competitors. Participants were awarded branded wristbands by the centre's marketing team: a blue wristband for the winner and yellow for the runner-up. The finish line was designed to include a medal presentation, allowing players a memorable five seconds to celebrate completing the marathon—an ideal Instagram-worthy moment for participants and spectators alike.

The physical setup was co-designed and co-developed in collaboration with the centre and other partners to create a marathon-themed environment that aligned seamlessly with the client's branding. The centre provided marathon-themed and branded T-shirts for our staff. This carefully chosen blend of digital and physical experiences and items enhanced the overall participant experience.

Outcome

Over a 7-day period from 1st to 7th July 2024 (4 hours each day), the game was played over 2,000 times by shoppers. Some participants returned the same day or on another day to play again, further highlighting the game's popularity among the target audience. Nearly all participants captured videos and photos to share with their contacts.