Celebrities use holograms and WebAR to connect with fans no matter where they are

Augmented reality can bring musicians and actors directly to their fans, to create an authentic and memorable experience akin to an intimate concert venue or a live performance. By transforming themselves into interactive holograms, celebrities are connecting with fans across the globe. Using WebAR powered by 8th Wall, these experiences can be immediately accessed with no app required.

19 Crimes Snoop Cali Red Lets You Ask a Holographic Snoop Dogg Anything

Ask the Doggfather anything and get an answer by scanning a bottle of 19 Crimes Snoop Cali Red. Created by augmented reality studio Tactic in collaboration with agency Cashmere, the latest experience from 19 Crimes works in the browser and features a hologram of entertainment icon Snoop Dogg. Simply grab a bottle of Snoop Cali Red and scan it with your smartphone. Ask a question and a hologram Snoop Dogg appears with your answer!

This is the first consumer-facing experience to leverage 8th Wall’s new Curved Image Target technology which makes it possible to activate and track augmented reality using cylindrical image targets.

“Our app-based Snoop Cali Red AR experience performed beyond our wildest dreams, so this time we re-engaged with the 19 Crimes team with the ambition to hit an even wider audience,” says Tactic President Peter Oberdorfer.

“At the same time, we were already blown away by what we were seeing from 8th Wall’s technology. In a way, this was the perfect use case — we knew that both 19 Crimes and Snoop Cali Red had huge augmented reality audiences from the native app, so what better venue to launch to an even wider audience? Alongside the team at Cashmere, we came up with an experience that emulates a Magic 8-Ball, allowing a hologram of Snoop Dogg to respond to a host of questions.”

Grab a bottle and get answers from the Doggfather using this link.

Spotify and POWSTER Show the Future of Album Art With Sam Smith’s “Diamonds”

Watch and interact with Sam Smith as they perform their new single “Diamonds” in a Spotify-first augmented reality experience which showcases the future of album art using WebAR.

Creative agency, POWSTER, used innovative volumetric capture technology from Dimension to bring the vision to life, and is the first to use 8th Wall’s image target augmented reality technology to trigger and track multiple volumetric video captures to create a truly holographic experience. Now with this innovation, fans can be fully immersed in the world of Sam Smith, viewing and interacting with a miniature augmented reality-version of the superstar dancing on their mobile device screen, replacing a traditional music video set with the viewer’s immediate location, whether it be a work desk, kitchen table, or living room.

This breakthrough activation reflects the evolution of album artwork that previously only featured static images and looping videos, encouraging Sam Smith fans to play the song on Spotify and scan the album art to unlock their own personal concert. Once the mobile phone camera scans the Spotify image marker, AR technology initiates an interactive “Diamonds” experience with a miniature dancing Sam Smith hologram. Fans can also interact with the experience by pressing on the screen to release a shower of on-screen diamonds timed to the chorus of the song.

Read about the Sam Smith “Diamonds” WebAR experience on Rolling Stone.

Try the “Diamonds” experience yourself by finding “Diamonds” on Spotify and using this link to bring the album art alive.

EE Brings Rita Ora to Fans With a 5G WebAR Experience

EE, the UK’s leading mobile network and internet service provider, teamed up with Rita Ora and WebXR agency Aircards to surprise fans with Mini AR Rita, a lifelike AR avatar of the singer-songwriter that performs a live-shot concert in your home. The Web AR experience was created as a part of EE’s latest 5G campaign, demonstrating the speed and reliability of the network.

Upon tapping a link, Rita Ora appears in front of you and performs to her hit single ‘Let You Love Me’. At the end of the performance, a button to “Discover the Power of 5G” appears which takes you to learn more on the EE website.

In response to the EE campaign, Rita Ora said:

“As an artist, you’re forever looking at new ways to give back to your fans. Things that get them genuinely excited… Filming the live AR gig over EE 5G was unlike anything I’d done before, and it allowed me to push myself and enter a whole new world of performance. I wanted my fans to be able to experience that for real too, so I hope they love mini AR Rita as much as I do.”

Read about this experience in Mobile Marketing Magazine.

Try the Rita Ora experience here.

Lil’ Yachty Teamed Up With Burger King to Bring the 2020 MTV VMAs Into People’s Homes

Burger King’s iconic mascot and rapper Lil’ Yachty took over the 2020 MTV Video Music Awards with a sea of QR codes which unlocked a virtual performance viewers could watch in their home. Throughout the broadcast, QR codes were displayed for those watching at home to scan to be sent to the BK Fire WebAR experience which featured the duo performing to Lil Yachty’s latest single “Top Down”.

Created by agency COFFEE Labs, the Web AR experience allowed users to interact with the performance by turning up the heat before watching The King award Lil’ Yachty with the Burger Fire Medallion. They were also given the chance to enter to win a series of prizes including a year of free Whoppers along with tickets to the 2021 Video Music Awards.

Read how this dynamic duo took over the 2020 VMAs on Mobile Marketer.

Craig David and KSI Turn Themselves Into Holograms to Perform Their New Single “Really Love”

Craig David and KSI transformed themselves into WebAR holograms to perform their new single “Really Love” for their fans—wherever they are. This exclusive hologram performance was a first of its kind for the duo.

This immersive experience, pioneered by LADbible, was created by HoloMe, and was made possible in partnership with Proper Loud Music and MBA Live. LADbible, a UK-based social media and entertainment publisher, challenged its Twitter followers to use the Web AR experience to “put KSI and Craig David in the weirdest place possible” to win £100. Twitter users were up for the challenge and delivered.

 — @philipaharvey

 — @Its_Tsukuyomi

Read about this holographic performance and watch behind the scenes footage of how it came together here on LADbible.

Did you try out some of these star-studded WebAR experiences? Drop us a comment below or tweet us @the8thwall to show us! ?

A Week in WebAR–Celebrity Edition: Snoop Dogg, Sam Smith, Rita Ora, Craig David and More was originally published in 8th Wall on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.

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