Augmented Reality Getting innovation covered

For the 2017 Innovation Issue, the Idealog team wanted to try something new. Innovative, even. We talked to our friends at digital solutions agency One Fat Sheep to see if we could harness their augmented reality (AR) expertise. Then together, with the support of Chorus, we created a cover that brought the main sections and stories to life and blended the power of print with the practicality of digital.

When the cover was scanned with a bespoke Idealog AR app, it came to life:

• Illustrations popped up, with page numbers showing where to find them in the magazine
• Readers could click through to websites and video content
• A video of the publisher filmed on a green screen talked the reader through issue highlights
• We filmed a Chorus representative to show how the company is using AR
• We created an interactive map showing some statistics about fibre uptake around New Zealand

Chorus received premium advertising space that was used to point people towards the AR experience. In addition to a description in print, we pushed it through stories online and on social media.