Building engaging WebAR experiences to delight audiences and create memorable brand interactions.
- Augmented Reality
- Web Engineering
- User Experience Design
- User Interface Design
The
Background
Pacifico approached CXR Agency to create innovative experiences to promote their sweepstakes. Keen to do something different and experiment with Augmented Reality, they trusted the CXR Agency team to explore the possibilities and take the lead on concept development.
The
Background
The
Challenge
- Emerging technology – Persuading the client to explore WebXR (a platform allowing in-browser AR experiences) was the easy part. While exciting to play with, newer platforms such as WebXR have a learning curve that required patience and creativity as the team built out not just the concept, but their understanding of the technology.
- Details – Because the platform was run out of a browser and not an app, it was a challenge to build it exactly as required. Visual elements, such as the cooler’s frost effect and the skater’s head, were difficult to render and tweak as development progressed. With the whole experience being pulled in from “the cloud,” a small amount of control was ceded in the name of keeping the experience as accessible as possible.
The
Challenge
The
Solutions
- Cooler – Featuring a cooler that materializes out of thin air and spins around, this amusing experience is quick fun, as the cooler pops open and expels a show of sparkling ice cubes that fog up the user’s screen. Wiping the screen clears away the layer of frost, bringing the journey to its main call to action: signing up for the sweepstakes.
- Skate game – Another take on WebAR, this experience employs the phone’s front-facing camera to superimpose the user’s face on the body of a skateboarder. Quickly transported into a truly virtual reality, the experience is a game in which users must steer their skater down a path, avoiding potholes and collecting rings. Upon collecting 25 rings, the user is rewarded with the chance to enter the sweepstakes.
The
Solutions
Features + Process
Before diving into development on the actual experiences, the CXR Agency team had to be sure their ideas were possible. With just a couple of weeks to prove various concepts, the team worked at light-speed to show feasibility and convince the client that this was the way to go.
After demonstrating the viability of the concept, it was time to flesh out the ideas. While Pacifico had ideas for the cooler experience, the CXR Agency team brainstormed a different way to engage users: an in-browser AR game. Making a strong case for the skate game, CXR Agency was comfortable with developing the idea in its entirety and pacing development to meet the client’s needs.
Serving as an endcap in stores, the CXR Agency team devised a smooth process for driving customers online. In-store users could access the experience by scanning a QR code, taking them to the age validation portal, and then on to the actual platform. While in-browser AR may be new on the web scene, the team made sure the whole journey was exciting and straightforward.
Results
The two experiences were both hits with the client and with audiences, garnering thousands of entries to the sweepstakes and adding Pacifico to the ranks of brands embracing AR marketing.
Results
