ARTSCIENCE MUSEUM: INTO THE WILD

TitleARTSCIENCE MUSEUM: INTO THE WILD
BrandGOOGLE ZOO SINGAPORE AND WWF
Product/ServiceAR EXPERIENCE
Category A01. Creative Effectiveness
Entrant MEDIAMONKS Hilversum, THE NETHERLANDS
Idea Creation MEDIAMONKS Hilversum, THE NETHERLANDS
Idea Creation 2 GOOGLE ASIA PACIFIC Singapore, SINGAPORE
Idea Creation 3 WWF SINGAPORE, SINGAPORE
Production MEDIAMONKS Hilversum, THE NETHERLANDS
Production 2 GOOGLE ASIA PACIFIC Singapore, SINGAPORE
Production 3 MARINA BAY SANDS Singapore, SINGAPORE
Credits
Name Company Position
Miguel de Andres Google APAC Head of Creative Technology
KC Chung Google APAC Executive Creative Director
Juyn Shea Google APAC Creative business partner
Richard Mayo-Smith Google APAC Executive Producer
MediaMonks MediaMonks MediaMonks Creative production partner

Summary

We set out to create an interactive experience using cutting-edge technology, in order to help rehabilitate the rainforests of Southeast Asia. Our aim was to create an accessible, fun and insightful experience where the user would feel like a ranger learning about and protecting the rainforest, as well as to provide some actual, tangible relief for the said rainforest. Using the latest Google Tango AR technology (what is currently known as ARCore), we created a Mixed Reality experience that transformed over 10,000 square feet of the Singapore ArtScience Museum into a virtual, interactive rainforest. This way visitors could experience first-hand the devastating effects of deforestation on local and endangered species. Because the tech allows the phones used to recognize objects, we were able to leverage the magic of markerless tracking to realistically map the experience locked at the actual architecture. This is what makes Augmented Reality become Mixed Reality: the virtual world you’re seeing through your device is built on top of the world around you. This virtual space was then filled with virtual endangered animals in their natural habitat, that users could interact with. By giving the user the sense they were physically present in the virtual forest we aimed to create a connection between the two separate but connected spaces of the museum and the rainforest. When users would reach the end of the hallway, the experience took a dramatic turn, with the forest catching fire. To link the experience back to reality users could plant a virtual tree to symbolically rehabilitate the forest. Each virtual tree was then translated into a real tree that was donated to WFF by the project’s sponsors on Sumatra. The effectiveness of the campaign can be measured by the following metrics: 116.000 visitors spent 279 days in the experience, walking a total of 8932 kilometres through the virtual rainforest. Combined, users saved more than 96.000 virtual mouse deer, put out 75.000 virtual forest fires, and planted 40.000 virtual trees – which translated to 12.000 actual trees being planted, 500.000 dollars raised to replant previously lost acres of forest, and close to 55.000 email submissions from people committing to help save the rainforest.