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HoloLens Cannes Lions Technology

'The biggest advancement since man created fire' a look at Microsoft's HoloLens

By Tom Thomas, Chief creative officer

June 23, 2017 | 4 min read

“I believe this device is the biggest technology advancement since we invented fire.”

holoLens talk cannes

Even by the standards of Cannes Lions – a place where bombast is as ubiquitous as free giveaway sunglasses – this assertion by Sol Rogers, chief executive and founder of immersive content creation studio Rewind, will take some beating.

Rogers took to the stage with Microsoft ‘evangelist’ Michel Rousseau to discuss the tech company’s HoloLen’s ‘mixed reality’ device in a session entitled ‘Step into the Future’ on the Cannes Lions Discovery Stage. Opening the discussion, Rousseau reiterated his belief that two-dimensional entertainment ultimately fails to connect with human beings’ sensory make-up. Certainly as a creative palette MR offers the ability to integrate more traditional comms with genuine customer experiences in a way that we’ve never managed before.

“The Moon landing was a milestone in human history. One billion people watched the Opening Ceremony of the Beijing Olympics [in 2008]. But we are still missing something. We sit down in front of a flat square, and watch events that are not related to what we feel,” argued Rousseau.

While the sight of a fully-grown and fully-bearded man – Rewind’s creative director Tom Fenwick-Smith, in this case – stumbling back and forth pinching the air proved as distracting as ever, the aim of the presentation was to demonstrate the tangible progress made by brands in this field.

A slick Microsoft video made mention of client projects with advertisers including Audi and Japan Airlines, and showed how consumers may use devices like HoloLens in retail environments, from digitally interacting with kitchen showrooms to building three-dimensional car models from engines through to chassis. On a domestic level, I remember the look on my four-year-old sons face when he used HoloLens to interact with his favourite subject – dinosaurs. As a T-Rex ran towards him he elicited the delight that brands can only hope to emulate.

Unlike virtual reality (VR) headsets, which offer an immersive but impractical experience, advocates for mixed reality argue that this technology has the power to permanently augment and digitally enhance our experience of the world around us. This has profound long-term implications for brands.

HoloLens users can utilise the device for all manner of tasks traditionally associated with desktop computers and mobile phones, from opening emails to video-calling friends and family via Skype.

The benefits from an entertainment perspective are self-evident. Rogers relayed a project carried out for Red Bull, augmenting the soft drinks brand’s Air Race series, where derring-do pilots fly planes at incredible speeds and with breath-taking accuracy before adoring fans. Head-set users at home and on location could summon performance statistics and compare the flight paths of rival racers, making a “distant” sport feel more intimate.

However, and in spite of the obvious potential of mixed reality, it is unlikely to revolutionise marketing communications any time soon. A single HoloLens headset will set you back thousands of pounds, and the product has not yet been made available to consumers, restricting its usage to one-off experiential campaigns.

“We’re in a really early stage of what this technology can do. It can augment human intelligence in real time. Everything is up for grabs,” insists Rogers. “Mixed reality is going to become the digital layer overlaid on our reality. It will have a profound impact on how we live. Everything is about to change.”

He is almost certainly correct. Judging by the snaking queues of delegates desperate to trial HoloLens, the technology retains the ability to delight users. Yet, recalling the failure of Google’s Glass project to gain widespread acceptance, the advertising industry may have to wait for several rounds of technological development before the concept gains mass appeal.

In the meantime, brands wishing to connect with an audience of any meaningful size will have to stick with just the two-dimensions, and the augmented reality applications offered via smartphones. Less bombastic, but far more likely to develop relationships with consumers.

Tom Thomas is chief creative officer at LIDA

HoloLens Cannes Lions Technology

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