For new video game franchise, Microsoft re-engineers out-of-home advertising
What’s on your bus stop shelter wall? A mangled schedule, or torn map? Perhaps you, like many commuters, only venture inside when the wind is howling, rain pouring, or you’re desperately looking for a seat.
Microsoft is ready to change the bus stop from inclement weather coverage into a digital experience. To promote its newest shooter video game Sunset Overdrive, Microsoft has outfitted three bus stops in San Francisco, London and Melbourne with augmented reality technology that immerses viewers in the game’s digital environment.
The advertisements look like regular digital screens from a distance, but at close-range, the augmented reality display manipulates figures move across the screen and look as if they are about to jump offscreen.
The ads, which are supported by Clear Channel Outdoor and media agency Empowering Media, will run for one month. Their augmented reality displays were produced by Grand Visual, a digital out-of-home agency that has previously incorporated augmented reality, motion graphics, and color recognition technology in outdoor advertising campaigns for Heineken, Pepsi, and Tropicana.
Sunset Overdrive, which was developed by Insomniac Games for Xbox One, is the first installment of a new fast-action shooting game franchise that pits players against mutant attackers. The outdoor innovation reflects Microsoft’s attempt to make a splash in a saturated video game market. Hoping to cut through the noise of video game advertising, as well as the noise of the hectic external environment, Microsoft’s augmented reality billboard is likely to not only establish a new franchise, but also herald in a new era of re-engineered outdoor advertising.
PhillyAR 