Excitement around James Cameron’s “Avatar” created opportunities for several AR tie-ins to the movie. McDonald’s launched a site called “Experience Pandora” that users can tap via a “Thrill Card,” which can be cut out from McDonald’s boxes or printed out at home. According to Variety, Coca-Cola also placed Avatar related content on 140 million cans, while Mattel created action figures with special AR tags that provide additional content. more
James Cameron’s new movie, “Avatar,” attacks theaters this week, and for select members of the family that means play opportunities, both real and virtual, based on the sci-fi epic.
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Now, there’s an exhaustive line of 3 3/4-inch action figures and in-scale creatures and vehicles based on the Avatar universe that deliver a magical, high-tech upgrade for those with a computer, webcam and broadband Internet connection.
Junior first must make purchasing decisions based on a wide assortment of characters from the PG-13-rated movie. The figures have limited articulation and the occasional accessory, such as Pandorian Tsu’Tey with his double bow or human Col. Mile Quaritch, who packs a pistol.
Parents may find themselves involved in the assembly process for the vehicles and creatures, including building the AMP Suit, six-legged Thanator and butterfly-winged Leonopteryx. (That exercise might lead to some unavoidable loose joints and frustrated offspring. At least there are no stickers to apply.)
Following some real playtime, children will want to visit the Avatar i-Tag Web site (www.avataritag.com). After downloading and installing the Total Immersion D’Fusion Web plug-in, they now can match a plaque (which is included with all toys and doubles as a display base for the figures) with one of 40 on-screen entries.
Once a Web page showing live visuals from the user’s webcam is online, a user takes the corresponding plaque and holds it in front of the camera. A three-dimensional, animated representation of the figure will appear above the plaque on the screen.
As the owner shifts the base or moves it farther from the camera, the size and perspective of the virtual entity also changes.
Adding to the experience, when a child covers one of the icons printed on the plaque, more information is revealed, or the elaborate onscreen creation is set in motion. For example, the Thanator rears back and then jumps forward with a ferocious growl and owners learn in a pop-up fact card that the creature has a massive, distensible armored jaw.
The character figures offer 3-D imagery such as maps of Pandora or a C-21 Dragon Assualt Ship or an irritable Viperwolf.
The great news is the concept is amazing, works every time and requires no lengthy registration or computer-befuddling installations. The not so good news is it’s a one-trick pony. There is no way to get multiple plaques to interact, no way to download vital information to use in some type of online multiplayer fighting game (take a look at Mattel’s Xtractaurs) and they must exit the program and choose another toy icon for the second toy to appear.
Maybe some of these possibilities will be incorporated into the next licensed property, but for the time being, it still is an impressive visual that extends the fun for a youngster playing with a traditional action figure.
The new James Cameron movie, Avatar, is a next generation film that truly blurs the line between animation and reality. Add to that mix the elements of new 3D technology, and you see why Cameron waited for the technology to catch up to his vision of the planet world Pandora.
The movie is not only pushing the boundaries of progressive movie making, but the marketing effort associated with the movie is tremendous. The movie has a full array of cross brand promotions with major food outlets, as well as a line of augmented reality action figures.
These action figures are not the ones you might remember, in fact, they are nothing like you have seen before. These actions figures look deceiving at first, as they seem similar to a small remote control. However, once the devices are placed in front of a webcam, the action begins. In addition to the control of the figure that we have seen in other AR demos, this goes further by adding controls directly on the physical device. Press a button, and the figure takes flight; press another, and the guns begin to fire.
“Mattel’s Jason Horowitz talks to the L.A. Times about how the Avatar AR-enabled line of iTag action figures weds augmented reality and the fantastic reality of James Cameron’s blockbuster. In this interview, Horowitz discusses how augmented reality expands upon the remarkable experience of the film.” More
The Coca-Cola Company today announced its Coca-Cola Zero brand has partnered with Twentieth Century Fox on a major global promotional campaign for James Cameron’s epic-adventure film AVATAR.
Set to be activated in over 30 countries, the partnership centers on bringing consumers unique access to exclusive and authentic content from the world of AVATAR in a variety of exciting ways.
Chip York, Worldwide Entertainment Marketing Director, The Coca-Cola Company, said: “AVATAR shares the same aspirational, edgy and unconventional brand values as Coca-Cola Zero. Working so closely with the studio and filmmakers has allowed us to create authentic and exclusive content that provides fans’ unique access into the world, deepening their AVATAR experience.”
In an effort to provide consumers with the most compelling information about the movie, the digital team at Coca-Cola Zero collaborated directly with studio and filmmakers to create http://www.AVTR.com, a must-visit destination for AVATAR fans. The site will feature regular “live” journalist reports from the moon of Pandora, providing fans exclusive views and insights into this spectacular world.
Stafford Green, Group Director, Interactive for The Coca-Cola Company said: “Accessing AVTR.com is one of the best ways to prepare to go and see AVATAR. Through our partnership with the studio and filmmakers, Coke Zero makes it possible to delve deep into this exciting film before you get to the movie theater.”
Visitors to AVTR.com will be able to access exclusive AVATAR imagery, wallpapers, games and applications as well as regularly updated, real-time AVATAR news.
AVATAR Producer Jon Landau explains: “AVATAR will provide a unique immersive experience for moviegoers, and this promotion with Coca-Cola Zero will bring fans even deeper into the amazing world of Pandora and James Cameron’s vision.”
TV Commercial
In a second exclusive coup, the Coca-Cola Zero team has collaborated with Twentieth Century Fox to create a TV commercial and cinema spot, featuring footage and promoting the brand’s partnership with AVATAR.
The spot shows a young man unwinding at the end of the day in front of his computer. He takes a drink of Coke Zero from a special AVATAR branded pack. The motion of the pack stimulates the webcam into action. Focusing in on the AVTR mark, the webcam unlocks an incredible, immersive movie experience. In a flash, he is transported to the world of Pandora, which comes alive in footage from the movie. The experience intensifies as an arrow, shot from the hands of the movie’s main character, flies out from the computer, past the ear of the guy and into the wall behind him. As he walks over to investigate, another arrow flies through, narrowly missing him. Pinned against the wall, his experience is suddenly interrupted as his flatmate enters the apartment. The scene closes “It’s Possible. Coca-Cola Zero. Real Coca-Cola Taste. Zero Sugar.”
The commercial launched globally in cinema in the US on October 31st and on TV on November 14th.
Augmented Reality (AR) Experience
Special AR enabled Coke Zero packaging featuring the AVTR mark will provide consumers with an immersive AVATAR related experience. Through the use of AR technology – a web based application that enables the user to interact with 3D motion graphics – Coke Zero consumers will be able to maneuver a Samson helicopter, a vehicle featured in the movie.
Users can unlock the AR experience in a number of ways including holding a promotional pack in front of a webcam, accessing the experience at AVTR.com or taking a picture of the AVTR mark or Coca-Cola Zero logo from some camera phones.
Once unlocked, consumers can use a computer keyboard to trigger different actions including; shooting a missile, maneuvering the rotors of the helicopter and shooting its guns. AVTR.com will include a call-to-action telling the visitor to use one of the activating symbols against their webcam to initiate the experience.
During the month and into January, product packaging in the U.S. for Big Macs will feature an AR Thrill Card on the side of each box, delivering an up-close experience with the rich environments of Pandora, and revealing insights into the characters, fauna and flora from the movie. Displayed before a webcam, the perforated Thrill Card becomes a portal into three unique, immersive Pandora environments the Pandoran Rainforest, the Hallelujah Mountains and the Tree of Souls.
Players control their AR experiences by moving and tilting the Thrill Cards through the world of Pandora. They are invited to Touch the Mysterious Anemonids where they watch the Pandoran Rainforest light up as they touch the bioluminescent Anemonids. Players are then beckoned to Navigate Across Ancient Vine Bridges, where they can show their balancing skills by crossing the shaky vines to reach the Hallelujah Mountains. In the third scenario, Find Mystical Woodsprites, players explore the willow tree in search of the mystical Woodsprites, and watch them come to life.
AR Experiences Connect Film and Filmgoers Worldwide, In Biggest Mass Deployment of Augmented Reality to Date.
LOS ANGELES (Dec. 17, 2009) – You’ve seen the trailer — now grab a bite of augmented reality to accompany your Big Mac as you gear up for the Dec. 18 opening of 20th Century Fox’s “Avatar.”
Augmented reality pioneer Total Immersion (www.t-immersion.com) today announced that it has teamed up with McDonald’s on a global promotion for the film at its restaurants in 40 markets around the world – the most extensive deployment of AR technology to date. The promotion kicked off earlier this month, on hundreds of millions of McDonald’s boxes — and, on Dec. 18, on the web, at http://www.mcdonalds.com/avatar.
During the month and into January, product packaging in the U.S. for Big Macs will feature an AR “Thrill Card” on the side of each box, delivering an up-close experience with the rich environments of Pandora, and revealing insights into the characters, fauna and flora from the movie. Displayed before a webcam, the perforated “Thrill Card” becomes a portal into three unique, immersive Pandora environments – the Pandoran Rainforest, the Hallelujah Mountains and the Tree of Souls.
Players control their AR experiences by moving and tilting the “Thrill Cards” through the world of Pandora. They are invited to “Touch the Mysterious Anemonids” where they watch the Pandoran Rainforest light up as they touch the bioluminescent Anemonids. Players are then beckoned to “Navigate Across Ancient Vine Bridges,” where they can show their balancing skills by crossing the shaky vines to reach the Hallelujah Mountains. In the third scenario, “Find Mystical Woodsprites,” players explore the willow tree in search of the mystical Woodsprites, and watch them come to life.
“The McDonald’s/Avatar promotion delivers augmented reality on an unprecedented global scale,” said Bruno Uzzan, CEO, Total Immersion. “It’s by far the widest use of AR we’ve ever seen, potentially touching hundreds of millions worldwide. At the same time, it signals the arrival of digital experiences, to complement durable goods in the marketplace – a trend we expect will accelerate in the months and years ahead.
“Augmented reality does more than engage customers – it enlightens and entertains as well,” he said. “We’re as excited about the upcoming release of ‘Avatar’ as moviegoers worldwide, and this promotion with McDonald’s extends both the trailer and the energy building around the film. We’re absolutely thrilled to be part of this, and to offer a technology that conveys to consumers the magic of the movie.”
Note : Big Mac promotion is in US only. Not worldwide.
User statistics published this week are proof of the growing impact of augmented reality (AR) marketing on consumers, according to market leading specialists, Total Immersion.
The figures, compiled from AR website campaigns for Paramount Picture films Star Trek and Transformers, show that the experiences generated ‘hundreds of thousands of visitors’ during the first launch week alone, with an average viewing time of four minutes.
According to Total Immersion’s COO, Eric Gehl, the statistics demonstrate a growing consumer appetite for augmented reality, which marketers cannot afford to ignore.
“This technology is only just starting to take hold in the UK, so we are delighted to be generating these types of user numbers this early on,” Gehl explains. “The length of time people are staying on our clients’ websites is a key indicator of the influence that augmented reality is having already. This is also reflected in the number of YouTube hits that both campaigns have generated, which totalled more than 90,000 in the first launch week,” he adds.
Other high profile campaigns for Total Immersion this year have included the opening of the UK’s first augmented reality exhibition at Nokia’s flagship Regent Street store in London to launch the new N97 and the eagerly awaited Mattel range of AR toys for James Cameron’s new film, Avatar.
The firm’s patented markerless technology will also feature in the new Michael Jackson Opus book, due to be published in December. In France, an augmented reality book published with the famous French editor, Nathan, dedicated to 8 to 12-year-olds, was out of print in only three days.
“Total Immersion and its network of 50 partners has delivered more than 150 projects to the marketplace in the first nine months of this year and 75% of these have been for marketing campaigns,” Eric said.
“It is one of the fastest growing areas of our business and this looks set to continue in the future, especially with the growth of our mobile phone technology, which now works on Symbian and Windows mobile, with Android and the iPhone soon to follow,” he explains.
“Only with the ability to access AR on the move will the technology really start to come of age, or become accepted in our daily lives as a typical media type . Taking into account the success of recent campaigns, we anticipate that AR will be widespread on the high street and in outdoor advertising as early as late 2010,” Eric continues.
“Everyone has seen the ‘Star Wars’ holograms scene in the movie blockbuster. This will be reality, Augmented reality in 2013, where the need for video processing will be redundant,” he states.
“Beyond that, there is the potential for the technology to be built into glasses and for new forms of mass communication using personal AR projector systems…this technology has the potential to literally transform the way we live.”
I have seen the future of toys, and it is augmented reality.
That was my conclusion Monday after seeing Mattel’s i-Tags, new technology that will be included with action figures the company will make for “Titanic” director James Cameron’s new film, “Avatar.”
For those not familiar with augmented reality, it’s an overlay of digital information or imagery on top of real-world objects. AR, as it’s known, “is a field of computer research that deals with the combination of real-world and computer-generated data (virtual reality), where computer graphics objects are blended into real footage in real time,” according to Wikipedia.
Or, as Sean McGowan, a toy industry analyst with Needham & Company in New York called it, AR is “jet fuel for the imagination.”
In the case of the “Avatar” action figures, AR is being implemented in the form of small plastic cards–the i-Tags–that kids can hold up in front of any Webcam. When they do, a fully 3D digital image is superimposed over the card on the screen. This can be anything from a simple set of information about a character from the film to a full-on, five-on-five shooting battle involving large military helicopters and flying dinosaur-like creatures called Leonopteryx.
The i-Tags, along with the “Avatar” action figures they’re based on, will be released in October in advance of the December 18 release of Cameron’s film.
There are five levels of i-TAGs, each of which corresponds to a specific level of interactivity with the AR. At level one–which will cost $8.95 per toy–kids who hold the card up to their Webcam will see some information on their computer screen about the character. At higher levels, though, they’ll be able to “push” buttons on the card, allowing them to manipulate the digital character or vehicle that pops up (see video below).
While AR is beginning to show up in many arenas, from video games to movie advertising to baseball cards to exploratory toys, Mattel said that the i-Tag is the first-ever retail toy implementation of the technology. more
James Cameron has waited more than 14 years to get his latest creation, AVATAR, into theaters. The director of Terminator, Alien, and The Abyss, Cameron is no stranger to science fiction, and the recent Comic Con previews in San Diego revealed that Cameron has spared no expense in creating the next scifi epic that will redefine the movie-making process. AVATAR utilized a new technique to merge recorded and synthetic images, allowing Cameron to alter and edit a blend of the two in real-time. The results? AVATAR is a mind-blowing 3-D experience of a futuristic war on a distant alien planet, full of lush environments and unparalleled special effects.
Cameron’s new filming technique works something like a video game. In traditional CGI scenes, motion capture is used on actors, and the images are blended into synthetic environments in post-production. In AVATAR, Cameron uses a virtual camera to explore how characters look in the environment as they are being filmed. In other words, the director can see and manipulate the final product while he is still shooting the movie. Cameron isn’t just aiming for the next billion dollar grossing movie, he’s also out to set a standard for how digitalized movies will be recorded.
Of course, blending recorded and synthetic environments in real-time isn’t a completely new concept. Augmented Reality from Total Immersion has done similar work for baseball cards, business presentations, and advertisements. In fact, AVATAR and Total Immersion are teaming up for an interactive movie marketing campaign, similar to the online AR demonstrations for the latest Star Trek movie. AVATAR is certainly the first full-length feature film to use this technology during main production, post-production, and advertising.
AVATAR is likely to be another great step into the next stage of movie-evolution. Not only will it have an incredible alien world for audiences to experience, it will forever change how directors use digital animation. By giving directors another tool to help create more realistic digital scenes, James Cameron has edged us closer to science fiction that seems completely real. Whether or not AVATAR is ultimately a success though, Cameron’s changes to the industry will likely be titanic.
The figures, compiled from AR website campaigns for Paramount Picture films Star Trek and Transformers, show that the experiences generated ‘hundreds of thousands of visitors’ during the first launch week alone, with an average viewing time of four minutes.
