McDonald’s SXSW VR Activation
The week-long film, music, and interactive media extravaganza known as South by Southwest is an exciting showcase for brands. Groove Jones premiered an exciting VR pop-up. Event-goers will be treated to keynotes by President Barack Obama and First Lady Michelle Obama. They’ll get to view new film premieres and listen to indie bands with weird names. They’ll also experience stepping into and playing inside a McDonald’s Happy Meal.
Here’s how it works: Users wear HTC Vive virtual reality goggles and enter the “experience.” Using two hand-held controllers, they can then pick their brush or other tool and decorate away. When done, they can share their creation across social media.
“The main driver for our presence [at SXSW] is to demonstrate that we’re open for business with the tech ecosystem,” says Atif Rafiq, McDonald’s first chief digital officer.
Groove Jones is proud of our work on the McDonald’s V-Artist experience for the SXSW Festival in Austin, Texas. Thousands of SXSW attendees had the chance to step into a virtual Happy Meal box and play a series of interactive arcade-style games. The activation was voted the #1 VR experience at this year’s festival, and the results were terrific.
“They exceeded expectations. Our leadership was stunned by what we could do in such a short time with them, and they were highly regarded by my team.”
– DeLu Jackson
McDonald
Vice President of Global Digital
The McDonald’s Loft showcased the V-Artist experience and ran for the duration of the show right outside the front hall of SXSW.
“People lined up to participate. Their amazing work resulted in much press coverage of the Happy Meal VR experience. The number of articles that came out of it, the positive sentiment, and the social sharing tweets were great. It was rated one of the top experiences at South by Southwest.”
– DeLu Jackson, McDonald’s Vice President Global Digital
Participants can access various creative tools: a paintball shooter, a laser-guided color etcher, and a paintbrush that allows you to paint in 3D space. Along with these excellent tools, you have a palette controller, giving you access to various colors to have fun with.
Interactive and Engaging
Below is a video of the activation setup and gameplay.
This experience was designed for VR from the outset, so every element was conceived with that in mind. Our tool designs allow the player to reach out and enact their will on the space, creating an instant loop of gratification feedback. The tracking capabilities allowed us to use opportunities to draw on spatialization, like our 3D brush, to increase the player’s spatial immersion.
Crowd Management and Reservation System
The activation was at maximum capacity. We managed the crowds through a reservation system that allowed our team to text guests when it was their time to participate in the VR experience. This allowed us to regulate the lines that might have occurred at the four stations we created.
Real-Time Social Sharing
How does a person share their VR experience with their friends? Groove Jones integrated components of our “Groove Tech” platform that allow participants to take photos of what they are doing in VR, and we sync them up with cameras filming them in real-time.
Press Coverage
The experience reveived an overwhelming amount of press coverage.
Once they remove the headsets, participants can walk to the kiosks and share them on their social channels.
Below is a sample of the video clip that participants shared.
Kiosk stands allowed guests to preview and select their videos.
Check out how we share the experience on Twitter.
Digital Physical Take Away
The kiosks also allow guests to print out their artwork and take a branded copy for the experience.
VR Art On Display
HD screens display artwork created at the event throughout the physical space at the McDonald’s Loft.
Press Loved It
- AdWeek Magazine – Using VR to Show ‘the Future of Fun’
- CNBC – The Best Brand Experiences of SXSW Interactive
- J. Walter Thompson Intelligence – SXSW 2016: McDonald’s VR Loft
- Fortune – Ever Wondered What it’s Like Inside a McDonald’s Happy Meal?
- TrendHunter – VR Painting Experiences
- USA Today – 5 Awesome Tech Takeaways from SXSW 2016
- ABC News – Virtual Reality Trips Are Everywhere at South by Southwest
