Augmented reality turns breakfast cereal into a 3D games console

by Jennifer Whitehead, revolutionmagazine.com 19-Oct-09, 15:40

LONDON - A breakfast cereal box is transformed in to a three-dimensional games console in the latest augmented reality campaign, to promote the animated film 'Arthur and the Revenge of Maltazard'.

The game has been designed by Dessault Systemes, a company that specialises in software for 3D simulation, including product design.

The AR campaign is running on boxes of Nestle’s Chocopic cereal. The game itself is fairly simple – a variation of the hand-held maze games requiring the player to manoeuver ballbearings in to a hole. Achieving that has a rather spectacular effect in the AR version, as shown off in this video released by Dessault:

The film 'Arthur and the Revenge of Maltazard' is directed by Luc Besson and will roll out in cinemas across Europe, starting in France next month. It is produced by Europacorp, a film company co-founded by Besson that works with Dessault Systemes to develop 3D cinema and marketing experiences.

Mehdi Tayoubi, Dessault's director of interactive strategy, said of the partnership: "The future of marketing in all sectors and naturally also in the entertainment industry is about brand experiences or what we call experiential marketing. Our 3D tools are very well positioned to serve this new vision for our client or even for ourselves."

Comments

Sharmee Mavadia - 19/10/2009

AR really is the way forward...Check out Intel's 3D Ultra-Thin site showing augmented reality in action – which turns an A4 sheet of paper into the thinnest virtual laptop on Earth

dano - 19/10/2009

Its the way forward in digital/new media circles, and if you read the NMA probably believe its going to be bigger than a cure for cancer. Sadly though, for those outside this little circle, its irrelevant and will be ignored by Joe Public. See also: Virtual Reality, Barcode Scanners for consumers and 3D cinema

Rob Sellers - 19/10/2009

Sorry, but it's got too many barriers to set up properly. If you want consumers to do something, you need to make it as accessible as possible, and preferably pretty impulsive. What %age of the target market have got a webcam set up? How many are going to bother leaving the breakfast table with the box? At the moment, this is more of a PR stunt than a brand experience. AR does have a role to play, but not on pack just yet.

Jack Wallington - 21/10/2009

I don't know, not everyone is going to play it, but this is so cool that there will be a lot of people that would go out of their way to play and it would become a discussion point. As it happens, most laptops now have webcams built in so there are probably more people equipped to play than you'd expect. I can imagine kids playing this.

John Gallen - 21/10/2009

This is an ad and there is obviously some tinkering with the visuals and so misleading. I'm all for more cool new developments but to dress them up like this will just make people say 'get lost' when they realise they are being had.