Earlier this year, we featured Layar Partner Network member Magnetic London in our Partner Spotlight, showcasing some of the amazing campaigns the agency had launched in 2014. So far, 2015 is turning out to be a big year for them as well.

In February, Magnetic London was appointed as the official designers for Istanbul Chamber of Commerce’s “Istanbul Pavilion” at MIPIM (The International Market for Real Estate Professionals) by THEPARTNERS, the executive producer of the campaign. MIPIM is the world’s most prestigious real estate exposition, held in Cannes, France. To help advance the event’s theme of “Digital Revolution,” the agency heavily incorporated Augmented Reality with Layar into the pavilion experience.

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If you’ve noticed all of the Augmented Reality and Layar activity coming out of South Africa over the last year or so, you can probably thank one of our Layar Partner Network members, Digital Narrative.

2014 was busy year for Digital Narrative, as the creative agency helped several brands and publishers add Interactive Print to their marketing strategies. This includes a travel contest with vida e caffè, and several issues of Food & Home Entertaining from Caxton Magazines.

Both were widely successful campaigns, and in 2015, the agency doesn’t show signs of slowing. Here’s a look at what Digital Narrative already has cooking this year.

Sea-Change Exhibition
The Sea-Change Exhibition in Cape Town, South Africa, is a multimedia project that tells the story of the birth of humanity and the ancient relationship we all have with the sea. Displaying large format photographs along the sea wall on the promenade, a selection of these panels are transformed into high-definition videos through Augmented Reality when scanned with the Layar App.

Online retailer and exhibit sponsor Pick n Pay also invited the exhibit to participate in their Cape Town Cycle Tour expo stand earlier this month. A selection of the panels were on display where staff with iPads showed off the interactive AR videos to the public, helping to generate over 5,000 views in 3 days.

“I have been amazed at the power of AR (and specifically the LAYAR app) to add an exciting new dimension to our exhibition,” said Ross Frylinck, co-director of the Sea-Change Foundation. “It’s a very easy app to use and the feedback from the public has been really positive. To see our photographs come to life in HD video has been very rewarding.”

Interactive Wall at IAB Summit
Digital Narrative also created another type of “wall” exhibit, this time at the recently held IAB Summit. The concept was a large 4m x 5m Pinterest board-style wall, and each item could be scanned with Layar to reveal the exciting possibilities of Augmented Reality.

“Layar’s Augmented Reality is a QR Code on steroids! No wait, even a great QR Code is still a QR Code and Layar is a whole new ball game,” said one attendee. “Watching a wall, a document or even a business card come to life in front of you is mind altering.”

MINI 5 Door
And finally, Digital Narrative was recently employed to help showcase some of the new features of the MINI 5 Door at The Design Indaba expo in Cape Town. Users could scan displays and parts of the car to hear the engine sounds on specially provided headphones, watch the latest television commercial, view a 360º panorama of the car or enter a contest to win an iPad Mini.

“The augmented reality on the MINI Design Indaba expo stand was great! It helped communicate the essence of the stand by taking the 5 senses to the next level,” said Carmen Slade, Marketing Manager MINI. “This tie into the MINI 5 Door hatch on the expo floor was a great brand fit and one enjoyed by all who interacted with it.”

London-based design and communications agency Magnetic London, a member of the Layar Partner Network, has seen a recent flurry of activity with Augmented Reality. The agency has helped numerous companies from various parts of the world discover how Layar can help bring print and digital together, so here’s an overview of some of their most recent projects.

Khan Academy Turkce
Working together with STFA Holding, one of the largest Turkish conglomerates, and its corporate social responsibility project Khan Academy Turkce, Magnetic London created the first book cover with AR in Turkey. Together they added interactive AR content to the recently published Turkish translation of Salman Khan’s education reform manifesto, “The One World Schoolhouse.”

Scanning the cover with the Layar App reveals videos about the academy in Turkish, as well as links to the Khan Academy Turkce website and social media pages. Magnetic London designed custom calls-to-action which were printed on the inside jacket flaps of the book.

“Readers who downloaded the app and scanned the cover were impressed with how easy it was to use the app,” said Kaan Aydogmus, Creative Director of Magnetic London. “They said such an innovative technology fits very well with this book of Salman Khan. Readers were excited about the AR technology and curious about how it could be used in other areas.”

New Economics Foundation
Magnetic London also recently worked with the New Economics Foundation (NEF), the UK’s leading think tank for promoting social, economic and environmental justice. Together they produced interactive Community Currencies in Action flyers to excite policy makers and academics about local currencies with Augmented Reality.

“The interactive element serves as a great talking point to start up conversations with people we want to collaborate with,” the NEF said. “We are glad we used AR. It takes some explaining to get people to download the app, but this can serve as a useful way to get people to really look at the flyer.”

British Tech Summit
The agency also recently attended the one-day British Tech Summit in Istanbul, which convenes high profile British and Turkish technology and telecom businesses. Magnetic London had it’s own stand at the event to showcase its business, and even Blippar founder and CEO Ambarish Mitra showed up to say hello!

“People were queueing in front of our augmented exhibition stands to experience this technology with our Discover London in 360 campaign,” said Aydogmus. “We had three panoramic photo spheres of Big Ben, Trafalgar Square, and St.Paul’s Cathedral. People who scanned our stands were taken into these spheres where they had to move and turn around themselves with their phones in the air to look up and down to discover those places. We had the most attention at the event.”

BakuTel
Magnetic London even made a trip to Baku, Azerbaijan to participate in the BakuTel exhibition, one of the largest design, technology and telecommunications expos in the region. The agency was excited to show off Layar’s Augmented Reality technology to many of the event’s high-profile attendees, and even made the evening news.

“We had a chance to present all of our design services including Augmented Reality to the President of Azerbaijan, Mr. Ilham Aliyev, to the British Ambassador Mr. Irfan Siddiq, and the UK’s Trade Envoy Mr. Charles Hendry,” said Aydogmus. “The president experienced Augmented Reality himself, and he was amazed with it.”

AR in Travel and Hospitality
And finally, similar to our own series of webinars and overview documents, Magnetic London has been creating animated slideshow videos detailing the benefits of Augmented Reality for specific industries. The latest animation is about the Travel and Hospitality Business, we’ve embedded it below!

Layar certified partner Benet from Taipei, Taiwan has collaborated with Taipei’s Deptartment of Information and Tourism (TPEDOIT) to bring a unique interactive art experience to passengers on the city’s subway system.

To help promote the launch of a brand new line of service, Benet and TPEDOIT have invited several artists to create interactive artworks which are displayed on the walls, windows and floors of a special train on the new line. Lucky passengers that board this train can use the Layar App to scan the artworks to see them come to life with videos, animations and more.

“When I first scanned some of the images it felt like I was on a holiday, almost like going into the water, having it around me. It reminded me of my holiday,” said one passenger after experiencing the interactive art.

The augmented subway cars have earned the attention of the local press. The video below is a news report from a Taipei news station (in Taiwanese of course) that takes a look at some of the art and interviews passengers for their reactions. Have a look at the art-covered trains and to see what happens when riders scan with the Layar App.

To give it a try yourself, click here and scan some the artworks with Layar.

^{This following is from Arjen de Vries, Director of Creative Services at Layar.}

Today at Layar, we’re launching a whole new way for brands, advertisers, publishers and agencies to plan, create and execute Augmented Reality and Interactive Print solutions. We call it Layar Creative Studio, but before I get into the details, let me tell you a bit about myself.

My name is Arjen de Vries, and I’m relatively new to the Layar Team as the Director of Creative Services. I’ve previously worked in marketing, communications and advertising at various types of companies, including digital and creative agencies and leading publishers. I have years of experience developing strategies and concepts, as well as brand activation projects, often with strong digital components present.

In the current fragmented media landscape, the consumer has become an active communication recipient and initiator, and we have 24/7 access to information, social relationships and purchases. In order to properly connect with your audience in this new landscape, an approach completely different from that of 10 years ago is needed.

I joined Layar and the exciting world of Augmented Reality because I truly believe that AR has the power to add value to all kinds of businesses and industries, fundamentally changing the way consumers interact with brands in ways unlike anything seen before. Thanks to the growing adoption of smartphones, tablets and technological innovations like Google Glass, AR has quickly grown from something very technical to a basic technology of the masses. The “science fiction” future of AR is becoming more and more real each day.

With AR, it’s possible to instantly activate and engage with your audience. By making the most of the possibilities of their most personal device (camera, GPS, motion sensors, etc.), you can connect with your audience for branding, advertising, marketing and m-commerce purposes.

I joined Layar in March to head up a team dedicated to providing end-to-end service for companies looking to benefit from the possibilities AR has to offer. After a few months of preparation, we’re very proud to introduce the Layar Creative Studio today. The team is based in Amsterdam, but we will likely be expanding it to our offices in the U.S. and Canada soon.

The Layar Creative Studio team is here to help businesses create marketing and advertising solutions based in Augmented Reality to achieve clear objectives. We take the hassles and complications away with end-to-end service, advanced solutions, as well as professional consulting and training to help you get the most out of our tools.

Starting from your needs and objectives, our team of expert strategists, marketers, developers, designers and project managers will work with you to create the best possible AR experience and results. Whether it’s for magazine or newspaper content, print or outdoor advertisements, promotions, packaging or any other marketing and advertising venture – we’ve got you covered.

As founders of the world’s leading mobile AR platform, we know how to get the most out of our technology in order to create and execute outstanding solutions. With the insights we’ve gained from hundreds of thousands of AR campaigns, we’ve developed a deep, fact-based understanding of what does and does not work with AR.

Many of the world’s biggest names – Jaguar, Heineken, Vogue, Reebok, Elle, BMW, Inc., Glamour, Kraft, Walmart, Pepsi – are already making use of AR with Layar, so why not join them?

Let’s talk! If you’re looking for a distinctive way to activate and engage your audience while standing out from your competitors, contact the Layar Creative Studio today or reach out to me directly at arjen@layar.com.

Read our Layar Creative Studio press release.