Case Study RICHEMONT
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Client
Project
Augmented Reality experiences for The Maisons of Richemont
Disciplines Used
THE BACKGROUND
Richemont, parent company of world-famous luxury brands like Piaget, Montblanc, Jaeger-LeCoultre and Panerai, wanted to create an innovative experience for their Arcadium exhibit, a popup at Hudson Yards in NYC. This would be their first multi-brand popup for consumers, so it was important it went off without a hitch. Working with the CXR Agency team, they arrived at an idea of an immersive magic room that would showcase several brands and become the central exhibit to their popup experience.
THE BACKGROUND
THE CHALLENGE
The Richemont project had several challenges we gladly tackled:
- Break-neck turnaround time of 11 weeks
- They needed seven unique AR experiences for their brand
- Numerous 3D models
- Complex interrelated sound design
- Showcasing multiple unique brands while maintaining corporate branding
- Needed a unique way to feature products without any physical product
THE CHALLENGE
Feature + Process
Creating Concepts that Respect the Brands
CXR Agency quickly met with each brand to define the story of each AR experience. It was important that we captured the essence of each brand in their story while keeping the experience as a whole unified under the Richemont brand. After a few brainstorming sessions, we moved into storyboarding.
Storyboarding: Bringing the Concepts to Life
Once the initial brainstorming sessions were complete, we brought each brand’s story to life through intricate storyboarding. We were still facing our tight deadline, so we worked rapidly to produce numerous storyboards in just a couple of weeks. Thanks to the detailed brainstorming sessions, most storyboards were approved on the first turn, allowing the project to quickly to move into development.
Sound Design
For sound design, we needed to balance the shared experience within the room with the unique visitor experiences as they navigated the space.
To solve that challenge, each story is comprised of its own ambient music along with spatial sound effects that correspond with a user’s interaction with the story. The ambient music would play from the main speakers within the magic room, while the spatial sound effects would play from the user’s iPad.
Due to the rapid turnaround time, we began creating sound design late in the storyboarding stage. Once the development matured, our sound design team refined the assets to ensure a perfect match with the experience.
Shaping the Backbone of the Experience
Our architects had to shape a complex, interrelated backend to ensure users had a consistent shared experience. We created a powerful infrastructure that ensured the scenes and music would always stay synced, emailed selfies to visitors, and gave the Richemont team control over the overall session with a custom session controller.
Feature + Process
3D MODELS & ANIMATIONS
Once the storyboards were largely approved, our 3D team began modelling. We started with the central component of each story – the products. We received detailed images from the brands for our modelling team to create.Next, we began modelling the rest of the elements from the stories. Each brand had very unique stories and products to feature. We animated planes flying through the air, underwater scenes, jaw-dropping landscapes and equestrian adventures—to name a few.
3D MODELS & ANIMATIONS
The modelling team would send bi-weekly builds for the brands to review so we could maintain full transparency and adaptability as we progressed towards the Arcadium launch date.
RESULTS:
A WILDLY POPULAR AND
ENGAGING AR EXPERIENCE
We were able to create all the AR experiences in under 11 weeks, bringing the whole thing to life in time for the launch of Arcadium. The experience went off without a hitch: over 7000 people visited over the course of two weeks, resulting in 2000 magic selfies along with overwhelming praise from visitors. The Richemont team was overjoyed at the reception and grateful for the unprecedented turnaround time to bring their project into reality.
RESULTS:
A WILDLY POPULAR AND
ENGAGING AR EXPERIENCE
