For its 53rd Annual Congress, the AIJA – the International Association of Young Lawyers – employed the services of Drive Creative Studio Ltd to help add some digital excitement to the event, which was given a Harry Potter-inspired wizardry and magic theme.

To make something truly magical, Drive used Layar’s Augmented Reality technology to make special print items jump to life with digital content. Various materials were conceptualized and produced for the event such as a commemorative wizardry newspaper, banners in support of two Quidditch teams, Wanted Wizard posters, directional signage, village fête game posters and a special entry ticket.

Layar’s technology was used to bring the posters and newspaper to life, revealing hidden, secret content such as videos, polling widgets to vote on your favorite Quidditch team, or the solution to a head-scratching riddle.

“We put lots of love and attention into our work and are always looking to push the boundaries of the brief,” says Jon Price, Creative Director at Drive. “We brought the idea of incorporating Augmented Reality to the client by creating some test examples. The final campaign had multiple AR elements but the Wanted Wizard poster in particular used it to great effect, mimicking the moving posters in the Harry Potter films. This was used to answer a riddle hidden in the vintage-style newspaper.”

“The event was a tremendous success and everyone loved the newspaper and Drive’s creative work,” said Jennifer Maxwell of the AIJA Congress Organizing Committee. “We distributed the newspaper at London Waterloo Station and found it hard to keep the general public from getting their hands on it! It was great to see over 500 people waiting for their train while engrossed in our newspaper and experiencing the hidden AR secrets.”

To try it out yourself, head over to our Client Examples page and scan the images with Layar!

This weekend, a group of adventurers in London will take part in AdventureRace.London, a multi-team scavenger hunt contest to benefit charity. But this hunt will be much more unique than any other, as contestants will need to unlock some clues with the help of the Layar App and augmented reality.

Read more »

Earlier this month, the Vodafone Institute hosted a one-day summit in Berlin called “digitising europe – Opportunities for the Next Generation,” which included interactive elements built with Layar’s Augmented Reality technology.

The goal of the event was to discuss and debate how the continued digitization of the business, work and education fields can spur growth in Europe, and featured a keynote by German Chancellor Angela Merkel. The invite-only event featured 350 business leaders, politicians, innovators, entrepreneurs, academics and students.

Creative agency TRIAD, which was responsible for the organization and guest management of the event, made use of Layar to bring certain aspects of the event to life with AR. Attendees were surrounded with opportunities to experience AR from the very start as the event’s invitations featured scannable content.

Additionally, the event program, wall banners and table displays could be scanned with Layar to reveal extra content, including videos of speakers and social media links. TRIAD made a strong effort to inform attendees with multiple calls-to-action, including artwork on the invitation, program, attendee name tags, interactive displays and even a mention by the moderator during the event.

This weekend marks the launch of a new and unique festival.

This Saturday, Amsterdam will see the first ever virtual reality festival. Named “Zo Niet, Dan Toch” (Dutch for “If not, then anyway”), the festival promises to put “augmented reality and location-based virtual projects on the map.”

“The festival allows visitors a new way of experiencing visual arts, entertainment, film, architecture, theatre, dance and music,” the event says. “The festival explores the virtual stage where nothing is impossible and everyone has access. The ticket is already in your pocket: your mobile phone.”

Visitors can wander around the festival area in the north of Amsterdam and view various VR and AR works with their mobile phone. There are even guided iPad tours for those without a smartphone.

The festival was started by former Layar employee Klasien van de Zandschulp in collaboration with artist Sander Veenhof, whose Layar artwork you may have seen here on the blog before. Many of the festival’s projects have been built using the Layar Creator or Geo Layers.

One of the featured projects is “Pont,” a fun boat docking game developed by Layar developer Blaise Kal. Layar’s R&D lead Ronald van der Lingen will also be at the festival giving tours and demos of Google Glass.

The program for the event has been enhanced with Layar as well, including a special final page which allows for additional content, so the reader can keep reading. In one case, an exhibitor changed the location of her project, so the program was updated with the Layar Creator to show the correct information.

Looking to attend? Here’s everything you need to know…

DATE: September 7th, 2013
TIME: 13:00 to 21:00
SPECIAL EVENING PROGRAM: 18:00 to 21:00
LOCATION: Various locations in Amsterdam Noord - Info desk : Tolhuisweg 5

Make sure your bring your phone, charger and headphones!

Last week we hosted our second (the first being in Amsterdam this summer) Activate Print event in Toronto, Canada. Dozens of creative and publishing professionals - from ad agencies, newspapers, magazines, book publishers, printing companies, etc. - came together to hear all about Layar, the Creator and some very positive results from successful campaigns. 

As we shared with you last week, the reactions from attendees were outstanding! We wanted to take this opportunity to give you a look inside the event, to hear some of the panelists speak about Layar and their campaigns. 

The video above features clips from our panel discussion with: Maggie Greyson (Integrated Program Manager at PostMedia), Neal Bouwmeester (Senior Marketing Manager at Nissan), Rimi Singh (Brand Director at TBWA), Karena Phidd (Group Director of Strategy at OMD), Sean Dixon (Associate Director of Strategy at OMD) and moderator Nigel Newton (Layar Partner).

In the video, the panelists, all part of an innovative and extensive Nissan campaign, discuss using Layar nationwide in PostMedia’s Canadian newspapers to promote sales and test-drives of a new Nissan model. They all have some great things to say about Layar.

“At a bare minimum, to have them be able to look at the ad, then just engage with it - even for 30 more seconds, even for 20 more seconds - that’s golden,” said Bouwmeester. “You can’t buy that. Well, you can buy it now.”

The campaign was a big success - so big, in fact, that Nissan is submitting the campaign for an advertisement innovation award. Next month, after the campaign awards, we’ll have more we can share on this project, so keep an eye out for that. Nissan also announced that they intend to use Layar in a new upcoming campaign, but they were very “hush hush” about that as well.

Thanks again to the Dutch Embassy and the Netherlands Ambassador to Canada, Wim Geerts, for supporting and opening the event by talking about the rich history of Dutch technology innovation.

“We’re one of the world’s largest exporters of IT products and services, ranking fourth, behind the US, UK and Germany. Quite a feat, when you consider that these other three countries have significantly larger economies and populations,” said Geerts. “If you’ve ever listened to music, enjoyed wireless internet or used a wireless headset with your mobile phone, the chances are that you have been using technology that was developed by the Dutch.”