The Department of Culture and Tourism – Abu Dhabi (DCT Abu Dhabi) has been awarded with the Guinness World Records (GWR) title for the ‘Largest Augmented Reality (AR) Screen’. This was part of an augmented reality advertising campaign to promote the UAE capital as a world-leading holiday destination.
The latest marketing campaign utilised the famous 40ft digital billboard known as Piccadilly Lights in the heart of London, transforming the screen into an interactive AR experience, showcasing some of Abu Dhabi’s most iconic landmarks.
Ali Al Shaiba, acting executive director of tourism and marketing at DCT – Abu Dhabi, said: “The world record breaking augmented reality experience took over Piccadilly Lights for two weeks, showcasing the UAE capital’s most famous landmarks in a pioneering way. When conceptualising the campaign, we knew we wanted to do more than just bring Abu Dhabi’s famous sights to life at one of London’s most iconic landmarks. We also wanted to capitalise on the scale of the experience by breaking a GWR title for the ‘World’s Largest Augmented Reality (AR) Screen.”
Aside from breaking a GWR title, the augmented reality screen has also been designed to allow passers-by to play a starring role in the experience. Al Shaiba explained: “By standing near the fountain in the square, people are captured by the hi-tech, on-site audience camera – used specifically for advertising for the first time for this campaign – transporting them to some of Abu Dhabi’s most famous attractions – think family-friendly indoor theme park Ferrari World Abu Dhabi, wildlife haven Sir Bani Yas Island, and the stunning Sheikh Zayed Grand Mosque – on the screen. Each one of the capital’s landmarks has been brought vividly to life in London using innovative 3D augmented reality overlays.”
The interactive activation played at 10 minutes to the hour, every hour, for two weeks in early December – also provided people with a chance to win a trip to Abu Dhabi. To win a trip, people were required to take a selfie of themselves enjoying the augmented reality experience, share it at competition.visitabudhabi.ae, and ask family and friends to vote for the photo.
No personal audience data was collected or stored during the making or activation of this campaign.
