GE's do-it-yourself hologram is electrifying
Here's a really stellar bit of creativity that might have gotten overlooked amid the frenzy of Super Bowl ad gimmicks. To promote its "Smart Grid technology," GE created a sort of Webcam hologram. Just follow these instructions to make your own "augmented reality," as seen above. (You'll need a printer, Webcam and microphone.) I just dare you to show this trick to co-workers without blowing their fragile minds. Oh, and the Smart Grid Web site's pretty slick, too. Thanks to Gregory Ng for pointing this out. —Posted by David Griner |
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This is a great ad! Augmented reality has been done before, but I love how GE added in a bit of interactivity so that the user gets involved in the experience from the start.
My full review: http://thefutureofads.com/2009/02/27/ge-plugs-into-the-smart-grid-with-augmented-reality/
Posted by: Cory O'Brien | Mar 6, 2009 4:36:36 PM
That was totally awesome and even worked on my low-res monitor and somewhat slow computer. Totally cool. That kind of thing could be a hellaciously big viral marketing tool.
Posted by: J | Mar 6, 2009 4:42:57 PM
Go Goodby, Silverstein & Partners! Another ace!
Posted by: JMoney | Mar 6, 2009 5:22:37 PM
Certainly a way to put you closer to the GE brand connecting art, science and technology.
www.allisinc.com
Posted by: Remy Allis | Mar 6, 2009 7:06:27 PM
Goodby's name is all over it but they usually don't give proper credit for all of the work they farm out. North Kingdom actually created the site.
Posted by: Joker | Mar 7, 2009 6:41:30 PM
Yeah, nice original thinking GE / Goodby. It only came a year after Infiniti & Nissan (Agency cred: TEQUILA\) first introduced the use of Augmented Reality in advertising to the U.S. market.
http://www.mediapost.com/publications/index.cfm?fa=Articles.showArticle&art_aid=83178
Posted by: whtbst | Mar 7, 2009 9:48:35 PM
Note to whtbst-
Absolutely people besides us (us being Goodby, Silverstein & Partners) have used Total Immersion's amazing Augment Reality tool before. But the use Tequila put it to for Infiniti was limited to a handful of kiosks and a total audience of some 50,000 people. What we and our good friends at North Kingdom did with AR for GE was to make it work on the web, for anyone and everyone, with no requirement to download any special software. I would be happy to be proven wrong about this, but I'm pretty sure we were the first to do this.
Posted by: Harold Sogard | Mar 8, 2009 11:18:37 PM
GREAT application. I've been forced to show it to about 20 people so far at my office as word has spread...a steady parade of people wanting to check it out. Everyone's been mind-blown.
Posted by: A Writer | Mar 9, 2009 10:33:41 AM
@harold:
an agency in germany did this in 2008, so i believe you're not the first.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HTYeuo6pIjY
but, it's still a great use, and makes sense conceptually.
Posted by: kbulo | Mar 9, 2009 11:11:39 AM
Reply to kbulo-
Don't mean to split hairs here, but I still think we were the first to use AR in a way that did not require the viewer to download a plugin or anything. The Mini example (which is very nice) required the viewer to download ActiveX Control first. You can read more about this on the blog done by Jack Nack from Adobe (coincidentally, another Goodby Silverstein client): http://blogs.adobe.com/jnack/2009/03/fun_with_augmen.html#comments
Anyway, who's first doesn't matter. What matters is that AR is a cool tool and I look forward to seeing other people put it to good use.
Posted by: Harold Sogard | Mar 9, 2009 6:53:58 PM
Harold, did you guys actually come up with the idea to use augmented reality or did north kingdom? I'd put money on it that it was north kingdoms idea.
Posted by: Jen | Mar 10, 2009 12:18:54 AM
@Harold
No disrespect intended but you are blowing a little too hard here. No need to get so defensive either. First you diminish the pioneering work done by TEQUILA\ with Infiniti & Nissan. Then you shamelessly name drop another "Client" of yours. And to top it off you suggest that being "first doesn't matter" but in both of your posts you trumpet how "we (you) were the first" to do it without software. All you did was repurpose a great use of technology and get lucky with a big budget to promote the story. The sad thing is that news sites, blogs, etc. are just now learning about augmented reality and are promoting the advertiser of the moment (GE) as the thought leader. So forgive us for attempting to give credit to the companies that led the charge (Mini, Nissan, Infiniti, etc).
Posted by: whtbst | Mar 10, 2009 11:32:07 AM
Reply to Jen-
We came up with the idea to do this and we designed it (as a part of our overall idea for the full plugintothesmartgrid.com site). What North Kingdom did was to make it so it would work in flash.
Reply to whtbst-
Geez, lighten up. Again, all of these uses of AR are cool, and I look forward to seeing more.
Posted by: Harold Sogard | Mar 10, 2009 1:02:31 PM
