The Drum Awards for Out of Home: who will snap up the Best Use of AR trophy?

A new category to the awards, Best Use of Augmented Reality, looks at the use of augmented reality (AR) to deliver great brand engagement, interacting with audiences in unique and immersive digital ways and deepening customer relationships.

Our stellar panel of judges was looking at entrants’ clear strategic thinking using research and insights, innovation and creativity, tangible results and outcomes, as well as proof of effectiveness.

Below, we look at all the nominated work. And don’t forget, the awards ceremony takes place during our week-long awards festival, which runs from December 5-9.

DOOH.com, Kinetic, MediaCom Edinburgh and Above and Beyond for Subway

To smash Subway’s sales targets, DOOH.com, Kinetic, MediaCom Edinburgh and Above and Beyond used the world’s first markerless motion capture system to create AR worlds, celebrating the TigerPig, a festive favorite pigs-in-blankets sub, with impact.

The agencies needed an idea that could cut through the festive clutter; an idea they could bring to life in the digital and physical environments Subway’s 18-34 audience spent their time. This idea used AR to bring two worlds together – marrying online and OOH in a new way to reach consumers at scale.

Working with TikTok, dance crew Diversity choreographed a unique TigerPig dance. DOOH.com then took this HashTag Challenge into the real world and into the metaverse with TigerPig avatars to bring #TigerPigDance to the audience. A bespoke retro arcade ‘Dance Game’ was back-engineered, enabling the public to join this AR world and score points with every step – competing against Diversity TigerPig avatars on screen and reaching 40,000 visitors.

The game toured UK shopping centers and the hashtag challenge went viral, reaching 14.6 million on TikTok.

Lightbox OOH Video Network for Travel Texas

Lightbox partnered with Travel Texas to drive tourism to the Lone Star State through a custom AR experience. Activated from Lightbox’s nationwide digital video screens, audiences stepped into Texas by entering virtual portals that immersed them in various real-world destinations via 360° sights and sounds – from mouth-watering BBQ joints to vast caverns and breathtaking mountain vistas.

The campaign ran in malls across the US, prompting users to scan an on-screen QR code with their mobile devices to activate the experience. From there, users personalized their itineraries through a trip builder stage before placing AR portals in their in-person environments. After entering the portals, users were virtually transported to their selected locales, with options to learn more or share on social platforms.

Lightbox Studios custom-built the experience by filming and editing 360° footage from over a dozen Texas locations, constructing a multi-layered questionnaire, producing voiceover, designing 3D assets and wrapping it all within a bespoke web app geared toward user engagement and social amplification.

Lightbox triumphed in its first major AR activation, certifying its ability to converge digital and physical spaces for consumers in high-traffic settings. The resulting product brought brand messaging in physical environments to life on digital devices to expand storytelling, enhance discovery and drive engagement – all from a simple scan.

Talon America and Havas Media for Puma

After a stellar NBA season debut, receiving league-wide accolades and winning NBA’s Rookie of the Year Award, LaMelo Ball had another personal accomplishment to announce: his first signature shoe with global sports company Puma.

In October 2021, Puma announced that Ball’s first signature basketball shoe, the MB.01, was set to hit the market in December. The MB.01 also marked another first – it was Puma Hoops’ first signature shoe release since re-launching its basketball category in 2018. Not only was it important to Puma that the promotion surrounding the signature basketball shoe drive results, but it was also crucial that the campaign was as high-tech as the innovations found within the sneaker.

On December 16, Puma – in collaboration with Talon America and Havas Media Group, as well as Grand Visual and Nowadays – unveiled a cutting-edge digital out-of-home (DOOH) campaign to promote the launch of the MB.01. The campaign featured AR experiences on strategically-located JCDecaux bus shelters throughout NYC. The DOOH bus shelters outfitted with AR technology show a live front-facing camera of the street and sky ahead. A wormhole unexpectedly appears in the mystical sky, and something falls from the wormhole and slams into the sidewalk. It’s the sporting star, who then performs basketball tricks that are superimposed on to the street. Pedestrians can then snap a photo with LaMelo and create personalized social content.

Puma was pleased with the first-to-market, AR-infused execution, which was a huge success as the shoes sold out, resulting in the campaign being cut short.

Pixel, Texel and Jack Morton Worldwide for GM

SilveradoEV AR is a native iPad app that allows GM brand ambassadors to use the new 2023 SilveradoEV truck as an AR marker that triggers hotspots. It needed an individualized AR experience for NYIAS 2022 – one that showed not just the exterior, but gave attendees a full experience with the new EV truck.

For the SEV at auto shows nationwide, Pixel and Texel utilized Unity engine and Vuforia for the AR exploration. Pixel and Texel placed 360º skydomes with environmental props, a full interior 360º with interactive dash hotspots and a fully-fledged eTrunk game for users to explore.

Attendees were thrilled by the new experience as well as the 360º displays, which allowed users to visualize how the EV fits into their lives. The experience was rolled out across three auto shows – the New York International Auto Show, the North American International Auto Show and the Los Angeles Auto Show – with approximately 3000 users per show.

For more information about the awards and how you can attend/watch the results, head over to the dedicated site.