LOS ANGELES (January 20, 2010) – In what may herald a new benchmark in entertainment marketing, augmented reality is beginning to transform the way key brand assets of hot film and music properties – performers, characters, scenes, and more – migrate from the original medium to the consumer’s world.

The just-concluded holiday season affirms the trend.  With the DVD launch an increasingly important coda to tentpole titles, Total Immersion (www.t-immersion.com) has infused augmented reality (AR) into three of this season’s hottest home entertainment packages – for Paramount’s Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen and Star Trek (designed by Picture Production Company), and Fox’s Night at the Museum: Battle of the Smithsonian.

At the same time, the company has executed its first campaign for the music industry, for Universal Music TV/All Around The World artists N-Dubz.   As part of its latest release, the platinum-selling band interacts with viewers – and performs in AR.

Total Immersion’s latest applications reveal an evolution in marketing that merges multiple channels and uses the latest in AR technology to engage consumers in the brand experience as never before.  The company supplied AR applications to Paramount and Fox to promote the theatrical release of all three titles.

Among this past holiday season’s biggest movers, Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen “went AR” in two-disc Blu-ray and DVD sets.   Fans can give life to an augmented reality incarnation of robotic character Optimus Prime by simply displaying DVD or Blu-ray boxes before a webcam.  Viewers can also access a special website, which asks that they assemble the Matrix of Leadership to bring Optimus Prime back to life, fix his armor and calibrate his weapons by controlling his aim during target practice.

Paramount Home Entertainment’s DVD and Blu-ray Disc releases of Star Trek deploy AR to take consumers on a self-guided tour of the U.S.S. Enterprise.  Showing the disc box to a webcam triggers an AR journey of five cabins on the Enterprise — and even enables consumers to fire on foes from the ship’s deck.

20^th Century Fox’s Night at the Museum: Battle of the Smithsonian likewise enables consumers to enter the movie experience. Just as museum wonders come to life in the film, so the DVD and Blu-ray Disc packaging (abetted by a webcam) unleashes Rex the Dinosaur, the giant squid and Amelia Earhart’s plane, among other snippets.  All seemingly pop off the box — and put the consumer at the center of the action.

N-Dubz’ new album, Against All Odds – released on Universal Music TV/All Around the World — features an augmented reality performance by the band, triggered from data embedded within the album artwork.  When displayed before a webcam, the artwork reveals 3-D images of the band chatting with the viewer and then giving an impromptu performance of the hit new single, “I Need You” — all within the palm of the viewer’s hand.  Consumers can turn the sleeve artwork around to view the band from alternative angles.   Band members move as fluidly as they would if they were physically standing on the paper held aloft.

“We’re helping home entertainment marketers engage their audiences on an entirely new level, with experiences from each film crossing from cinematic ‘reality’ to theirs, ” said Bruno Uzzan, CEO and co-founder, Total Immersion.  “After more than a decade in development, augmented reality has moved into prime-time.  Some of the world’s largest brands are using AR to enhance both brand loyalty and the customer experience, by propelling consumers into a unique 3D interaction with their film.   Hollywood is embracing the opportunity to enable fans to explore their handiwork through a process that blends the physical and digital worlds.

“AR is a major technical achievement,” Uzzan said.  “But it’s just as compelling a marketing milestone.  Through AR, we’re taking the equity of the franchise – key assets like characters and scenes – and giving them to consumers.  AR adds value by enabling consumers to explore and experience what amounts to a new entertainment ecosystem.  And this is just the beginning.”

About Total Immersion

Total Immersion (www.t-immersion.com) is the global leader in augmented reality. Through its patented D’Fusion® technology, Total Immersion blurs the line between the virtual world and the real world by integrating real time interactive 3D graphics into a live video stream. Leading the augmented reality category since 1999, the company maintains offices in Europe (France and the UK), Asia and in the U.S., and supports a network of more than 50 partners worldwide.  Find the latest news concerning Total Immersion projects at: http://augmented-reality-news.com.

Video here !

Experience here !

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Please find an extract from this blog article : We Are Autobots Best Augmented Reality so far

“The facial recognition software is so powerful that it recognizes print faces LOL, early today I was with my COO exploring the site and it occurred to him try to make the software detect a printed face we have an Electronic Arts calendar that has a Harry Potter photograph, so we put it in front of the web cam and it was recognized! Here is a screen capture!”

The software company, which specialises in blurring the real and virtual worlds to create new consumer experiences,  has been working with several big brand names since opening in the UK three months ago and has just unveiled its latest campaign to promote the launch of Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen.

The www.weareautobots.com experience, which uses face-tracking software to superimpose Optimus Prime’s helmet on to user’s heads, is the second movie launch for Total Immersion following its work with London-based creative marketing agency Picture Production Company (PPC) to create one of the first ever augmented reality (AR) movie marketing campaigns, www.experience-the-enterprise.com, earlier this year.

The five-minute long 3D experience was developed for Paramount Pictures International to promote Star Trek, bringing a computer generated model of the Starship Enterprise to life in the palm of the user’s hand, allowing them to test the ship’s weapon systems, impulse engines and warp drives in real-time.

Dan Light, Head of Interactive at Picture Production Company, said: “We are always looking for new ways to engage with movie fans; however, augmented reality has exceeded all our expectations; it has allowed us to take fan interaction to a new level, creating an engaging movie marketing experience that has never been seen before.”

Other groundbreaking projects for Total Immersion include the opening of the UK’s first augmented reality exhibition this week at Nokia’s flagship Regent Street store in London to launch the new N97.  The pioneering exhibition features six N97 shaped kiosks, each displaying a different augmented reality experience to showcase the phone’s new features.

Total Immersion UK sales director, Myles Peyton, explains:  “Augmented reality is really starting to take off in the UK and revolutionise the way that firms market themselves,” Myles explains.  “As well as projects for Paramount Pictures International and Nokia, we are already in talks with several other global brands, as well as international celebrities, about the new technology.

“As a marketing tool, augmented reality is extremely powerful, not only in terms of creating compelling new brand experiences, but also in terms of its undeniable ‘wow factor’,” he said.

“Consumers nowadays are extremely technology savvy and companies which are using the newest innovations, such as AR, are really starting to stand out,” Myles adds.

“Although Total Immersion is still in its infancy in the UK, in France and the US, we are already working in a number of other different markets, from exhibitions and trade shows, to museums and tourist attractions,” he said.  “We have also developed a number of applications for company presentations, as well as for retail, publishing and consumer products.”

It’s pretty easy to set up if you already have a web camera attached to your computer setup. The Optimus Mask requires no extra set-up. The website recognizes your face in the video using some form of facial recognition and virtually inserts the mask, tracking the movements of your head. If you’ve never seen this kind of augmented reality in action, its fun for a few quick minutes.

‘We Are Autobots’ has been developed using the original 3D models of Optimus Prime and Bumblebee that appear in the film. It was developed for PPI by creative marketing agency Picture Production Company (PPC), working in conjunction with augmented reality specialists Total Immersion. Check out a video demo after the jump or head on over to the website WeAreAutobots.com.