The latest campaign of the American shoes and fashion accessories brand, Steve Madden, is an invitation to meet the stars of MADDENWOOD, an alternate reality where dreams come true. Giving Lo-Fi 90’s vibes and featuring influencers: Chloe Cherry, Bella Poarch and Latto, the video clip of the campaign opens with an audition of the girls for the roles of Paloma (Chloe), Fantsie (Bella) and Cypress (Latto).
Challenge: Build the best creatives for the best context
The commercial television campaign was conceived by ArtSide and produced by Parisian Multimedia Studio Mathematic. Inspired by the look-at-me attitude and unapologetic desire for stardom of the Gen-Z, the campaign’s manifesto translates the spirit of a generation that navigates between analogue and virtual worlds with swag and glamour.
For this campaign, the client wanted to use augmented reality without having their customers go through an app. We introduced them to the Niantic 8th Wall WebAR solution, a technology that enables access to rich augmented reality experiences directly from a mobile web browser.
The campaign's creatives were undoubtedly eye-catching though we had to build them for the desired placement: in-store print displays and storefront posters. Understanding how customers engage with the brand using this time, a print placement, allowed us to optimise the assets to best suit the context.
Our approach: Looking to engage in-store customers and outside passerbys
A rich set of 3D and 2D assets were collected, assembled and adapted to trigger real-size animation through image tracking, here a QR code, in respect of processing power and data bandwidth.
As a brand, you want to consider every step of the customer journey to optimise conversions. To do so, continuity across the different campaign assets is critical: the imagery for the AR experience should feel like a seamless next step from the TV Commercial.
Displayed in three major US cities, New York, Los Angeles and Atlanta (coming soon to Europe), the augmented posters allowed customers to unlock three virtual doors to the MADDENWOOD. The first AR experience showcases a nonchalant Bella with a sky filled with chrome-lidded eyes and a winding highway to fame. The second lens portrays Latto as a serpentine feminine queen, and the third experience opens with the sweet and sexy Chloe taking a chick out for a hi-fi walk.
The result
Using the 8th Wall webAR platform to create this innovative communication campaign that leveraged print allowed ArtSide and Steve Madden to make the offline marketing campaign more intriguing and engaging, with a total of 1,2k+ views in less than 3 weeks days since the campaign launch.
Want to see another example of AR applied to offline marketing? Read our article about the AR experience we created for Dior last Christmas.
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