Augmented reality is a powerful tool for advertising and marketing. From in-app advertising in Pokémon GO to the now 1,800+ in-market branded WebAR experiences powered by 8th Wall, Niantic has been equipping brands and marketers with new ways to reach and engage consumers wherever they are. To celebrate this, and to inspire even more brands and marketers to tap into the power of AR, Niantic is headed to the Cannes Lions Festival as an official partner for the very first time.
Cannes Lions, a five-day International Festival of Creativity from June 20-24, 2022, is the largest gathering in the creative marketing community. The festival has been championing creative excellence since 1954, with the goal of providing a global destination and the definitive benchmark for creativity that drives progress.
At Niantic, we are on a mission to inspire people to explore the world together, and use technology to enhance the human experience. For this year’s Cannes Lions, we are working with a select group of partners to augment the festival with a number of new and inspiring AR experiences, powered by the 8th Wall and the Lightship platforms. Using both our native and web development tools, our partners are bringing Cannes Lions 2022 into the real-world metaverse.
Go on a WebAR scavenger hunt with Captain Doty
To inspire brands on how to use AR for marketing, we have teamed up with WebAR agency, Aircards, and Emodo, Ericsson’s mobile advertising solution business, to debut an AR-enabled scavenger hunt at the festival. Situated on the Terrace at the event, “Doty’s Metaverse Trek ‘’ is a five-item challenge which asks delegates to help Niantic’s adorable yeti, Captain Doty, collect camping gear around the festival. Enabled by 8th Wall’s Image Target technology, delegates will locate five signs featuring Captain Doty and will use their smartphones to trigger the WebAR experience where they will uncover a portal within the sign where they will navigate Doty to collect items. At any time, users can also place Captain Doty in the world in front of them and take them for a walk around the festival.
See Cannes like never before with the Niantic Viewfinder
Delegates will be able to view Cannes through the lens of augmented reality using the Niantic Viewfinder. Found on the Terrace, the AR Viewfinder layers digital information and AR experiences on the city of Cannes using the Niantic Lightship VPS (visual positioning system). Simply pull the lever to activate the Cannes in AR channel. We have layered in information about the City, animations, and content specific to this amazing event. Aim the Viewfinder at that mega yacht in the harbor to layer in marine traffic data about the crafts, such as last port, current speed, and country of origin. Pull the lever again to activate a special Cannes Photo Mode, and get your picture memorializing your time at Cannes with a special themed shot. FInally, pull the lever once more to see a Niantic Lightship tech channel, explaining how our platform sees the world, interprets what it is looking at, deconstructs and reconstructs with centimeter-level precision. It’s a great way to visually understand the technical concepts that make AR feel even more real including occlusion, segmentation and VPS.
Fly the Niantic ARship around the Cannes Lions Festival
Take a flight on the Niantic ARship using the power of web-based augmented reality. Created by Wonderment by Design using 8th Wall’s World Effects technology, delegates will be able to place a tiny model of the Niantic ARship anywhere at the festival and navigate it around the event by tapping on the ground. Once the ARship arrives at the perfect location, delegates can take a picture or record a video to share this extraordinary moment with their friends, colleagues, and network.
Bring an NFT art exhibit into the real world using WebAR
On June 23, Niantic is hosting the official Happy Hour for the festival on the Terrace Stage. As part of this event, we have teamed up with decentralized WebAR gallery, Lucify.io, to showcase an NFT AR Exhibition at the Happy Hour. Curated by NFT agency, Turboslow, delegates will use their smartphones to select from a variety of image and video NFTs to place them on the walls of the Terrace in AR. The exhibit includes an exclusive NFT created for Cannes as part of the “Breathe with Me - Earth Air Can” collection and uses the 8th Wall platform to bring all NFTs into the real world using WebAR.
Challenge fellow delegates to an AR game of Tic-Tac-Toe
To help delegates connect and break the ice during the Happy Hour, we are challenging them to a game of Tic-Tac-Toe in AR. This multiplayer experience created by Orb Amsterdam, takes the classic two-person game into the next dimension using the 8th Wall platform. Triggered from QR code stickers found on tables around the Terrace, delegates will join a game and place a virtual board on the tabletop to take turns placing 3D X’s and O’s until someone wins.
Share your experience at Cannes by sending an AR postcard
With all the excitement going on at the festival, we are sure delegates will want to share their experience. To help them do this, we teamed up with Orb Amsterdam on an AR postcard. Using WebAR powered by 8th Wall, delegates can personalize their AR postcard by taking a picture at the festival and can send the postcard as a link on social media, email or any popular messaging app. The recipient will simply click on the link to place the animated AR postcard in their own world space. The AR postcard features the adorable yeti, Captain Doty, who is holding the photo taken at the event and celebrates the moment with a shower of confetti.
We can’t wait for delegates at the Cannes Lions Festival to experience the event in a brand new way. If you will be in Cannes, we invite you to meet with the Niantic and 8th Wall teams, and experience first-hand the variety of AR activations featured at the event. For those not at the event, keep an eye out on the Niantic social channels for video and links for you to participate remotely.
-The Niantic Brand Partnerships & 8th Wall teams