Welcome to the future

TAB Worldmedia‘s Augmented Media Experience Centre has opened its doors three weeks ago and already more then 30 companies visited the center. The Augmented Media Experience is a unique location in Citymall Almere that is only open until the end of March, where companies and consumers are welcome to experience and learn about the most impactful media of today using augmented reality.

The Bigger Picture.

Remco Vroom, Augmented Realtiy Director of TAB Worldmedia: “We are very proud that we’re part of the front runners group in the AR industry when it comes to content creation. Contrary to most AR agencies we completely focus on creating content from a consumer perspective and not from a technological point of view. We do not create AR browsers but immersive content and that’s what makes us unique. We make use of the best mobile augmented reality browsers out there like Layar, Junaio & Wikitude. We’ve created The Augmented Media Experience because we want to show companies and consumers that media that make use of augmented reality, we call this Augmented Media, have a huge impact on people who come in contact with it. Over the course of 6 intense weeks, we’ll be at the centre talking to consumers and companies about this new media phenomenon.”

Introducing Augmented Media

In the course of our many many talks with marketeers and consumers we have found that the term Augmented Reality causes a lot of confusion. Because different people associated with different and narrow fields of application (e.g. webcam and marker based campaigns vs mobile, location based applications). Or it doesn’t ring a bell at all and the term is just conceived as something from a specific scientific or even science fiction area.

In order to break through this confusion and to make clear that this is all about media interacting with it’s environment we came up with the term Augmented Media. In short: all kinds of media which adapts itself to local conditions, by using image recognition, location or both.

Look mom, the computer sees what’s in the Lego box!

Because “Augmented Media” goes beyond mobile augmented reality, TAB Worldmedia decided to show the whole media spectrum. When entering the Centre you walk across a huge interactive floor. You immediately feel the real and digital word colliding and melting into a very intuitive playground. Johannes la Poutre, Augmented Realtiy Director of TAB Worldmedia explains:”This interactive floor by Vision2Watch is one of the eye-catchers of Augmented Media. You immediately get what this new media phenomenon is about.”

When you look to your right you see one of the icons in Augmented Media Kiosks: the digital Lego box by Metaio. When you hold the Lego box in front of the webcam the interactive 3 dimensional Lego world is showing up on the box. La Poutre: “I was showing this to a family who walked in and the little girl said to her mother: ‘Look mom, the computer sees what’s in the Lego box!’. That’s natural consumer insights that we’re looking for.”

The Augmented Media Experience Centre is filled with iconic examples that most people know from Youtube or AR blogs. From the Adidas shoe that turns into an augmented game controller to JC Penny’s virtual dressingroom to Be yond Reality‘s augmented collecting cards for the WWF and TAB Worldmedia‘s Augmented Outdoor campaign for Walt Disney’s Prince of Persia. Visitors also get the chance to view numerous examples of mobile augmented reality services like Junaio’s augmented Lego boxes, Galileo augmented TV programmes and the amazing Wikitude Drive video showing how augmented reality integrates with our car navigation system right on your smartphone!

The first retail ecosystem on mobile augmented reality.

Vroom: “For Unibail-Rodamco, the owner of more then 100 shopping centres including Citymall Almere, we have created a complete AR ecosystem on Layar. All 120 retail stores are integrated on the independent AR publishing platform that we’ve designed especially for shopping area’s. Visitors of Citymall Almere are able to scan the centre for the best offers, look for stores, follow specially selected shopping tours, play AR games and more. With our specially designed platform we’ve managed to create a stable environment that enables us to use GPS techniques even under difficult circumstances. Our first step was to publish the AR channel on Layar but we’re also investigating the option to do the same on Junaio and Wikitude in the near future.”

You’re welcome to visit.

Everyone who is interested can freely visit The Augmented Media Experience Centre from Wednesday to Sunday, from 1 to 5 pm. Because it can be crowded from time to time it is wise to reserve a guided visit when you’re planning a visit with a marketing team for example. Vroom: “We host free guided visits for marketing companies with groups up to 20 people. These visits usually take up to 2 hours when a small workshop is included.”

Book your free guided visit to The Augmented Media Experience Centre. (upon availability)

Info@TABworldmedia.com

Address:

Citymall-Almere.nl

Traverse 8

Almere, The Netherlands

Open from Wednesday to Sunday from 13h to 17h.

UNTILL THE 27th of MARCH 2011.