Exhibition News February 2019 | Page 49

Bringing brands to life EN learns more about the growing world of augmented reality from Engine Creative’s client services director, Andy Wise What are the origins of Engine Creative? As a company established in 1997, we have well and truly grown up in the digital age, as such we have always embraced digital progression to stay ahead of the curve. We created the first fully augmented magazine for Top Gear in 2011 and saw the amazing potential of AR from the get-go – we have been committed to bringing it to our clients ever since! Augmented reality gives brands the opportunity to bring their products to life – by combining real world elements with high quality digital assets we are able to create immersive brand experiences that pave the way for deeper engagement. What are services does Engine Creative offer? Engine Creative is a full service creative and digital products agency, we work with a strong client base which includes global brands such as Argos, Facebook and Travis Perkins. As a Design Week Top 100 agency, we are passionate about bringing brands to life online, on mobile devices and through augmented and virtual experiences. How is the technology currently being used at exhibitions and what is its future potential? AR provides an invaluable opportunity for audiences to connect with event spaces in a new way, the possibilities are endless really! Your exhibition stand could become a trigger, launching highly engaging content when scanned with a mobile device; it could even be turned into a game or video player. AR is also really great for companies that produce large or immobile items, such as aeroplanes. Through AR they are able to travel with their products digitally, showcasing their features and assets without needing to make extravagant and expensive travel arrangements – broadening the event horizons hugely. Have you found that customers are becoming more knowledgeable about AR? AR has rightfully taken off recently and begun to fully integrate itself into our daily lives, as more people experience the possibilities of the technology the demand will only keep increasing. The possibilities are really only limited by the imagination and we are always looking for inventive and unique new solutions that push the boundaries of the tech, over the next few years we see a lot of room for growth and progression within the industry, we are really excited to be on the front line of such exciting developments. This is especially true in the event and exhibition market, where space is limited and competition is high. You want to catch visitors’ attention fully and create a lasting impression that goes far beyond the exhibition space; AR provides a flexible and adaptable way to do this. How do you see Engine Creative evolving in the future? We hope to stay at the forefront of developing technology and continue to create amazing experiences for our clients, utilising the best and most innovative technology to get the results they want for their brand for many years to come. We see huge areas for development within the exhibition sector specifically and we’re very excited to delve further into this as we go forward with new advances along the way. There is often a perception that new technologies like AR are prohibitively expensive, why should clients make the investment? AR opens up so many potential doors that the ROI can be extraordinary – we all know that brands who achieve the highest engagement get the most rewards. We believe that the most valuable brand engagement is driven by emotion and brought to life by technology – brands come to life when audiences interact on a deeper level and become involved in who you are and what you do – this is the key to brand engagement, and we believe AR provides it. exhibitionnews.co.uk | February 2019 49