Abu Dhabi Tourism Puts AR On 40-Foot Picadilly Lights LED Board

January 3, 2020 by Dave Haynes

This is what has been celebrated as the Largest Augmented Reality Screen media campaign done to date – an AR piece done for the Abu Dhabi Department of Culture and Tourism in London’s Picadilly Circus.

The AR activation was done for two weeks last month on Ocean Outdoor’s 40-foot Picadilly Lights board in that famed intersection and gathering point. The campaign objective was to promote the UAE capital as a world-leading holiday destination.

Ocean says the campaign was designed to allow passers-by to be part of the ad.

 Explains Ali Al Shaiba, acting executive director of tourism and marketing at DCT Abu Dhabi: “By standing near the fountain in the square, people are captured by the hi-tech, on-site audience camera – used specifically for advertising for the first time for this campaign – transporting them to some of Abu Dhabi’s most famous attractions – think family-friendly indoor theme park Ferrari World Abu Dhabi, wildlife haven Sir Bani Yas Island, and the stunning Sheikh Zayed Grand Mosque – on the screen. Each one of the capital’s landmarks has been brought vividly to life in London using innovative 3D augmented-reality overlays.”

The interactive activation played every hour at 10 minutes to the hour. People taking selfies with the screen entered a contest to win a trip to Abu Dhabi with Etihad.

This begs for a video to explain and see what went on, but I could not find.

The campaign got recognition from the Guinness world records people, if you care about that sort of thing (for all the inspiring and genuinely notable things, there’s a whole lot of stupid and irrelevant marked by the Guinness people).

The more important measure, one would think, is how it resonated with consumers. And who knows. A look at the entries to the selfie contest suggests just 25 people put their snapshot and name in – a number one would imagine was disappointing.

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