By: Hrvoje Budin, Kadei 360, Zagreb
The strength of your story depends on how it is perceived, that is why it is important to understand the principles of narrative perception and its impact on your brand. From birth, people understand the world around them through narrative. Anthropologists say that 70 percent of our knowledge comes from stories. Even when we grow up to be stubborn adults we still remain a storytelling species.
Communicating emotion
People don’t buy a product, solution nor idea, what they buy is a story they have emotional relationship with. That’s why storytelling is the here and now of marketing. I would like to point out that in Kadei the popular content marketing is only a segment of the storytelling approach, applied by social or digital-only agencies to social networks, and lately used in native advertising. That’s ok from the narrow point of view of a customer’s journey which only accepts online multimedia channels as content rich platforms. We know that it is not so – for the maximum impact of storytelling- the story has to connect through all channels, throughout the customer journey, when we have a touch point with a consumer the story has to be emotionally and content consistent. That is what we focus our work on the most.
Humanising the technology
A textbook example of good storytelling through the augmented reality technology was our recent project of transforming the Sibenik Barone fort into an immersive experience; our task was to design and realise all the content dominated by augmented reality such as film, interactive and animated elements.
Using technology as a storytelling aide, we were trying to find a way of minimising the technology. Augmented reality was the solution, because the visitor was not tied to the equipment to live the story, they carried the equipment on their person. They were able to walk around the fort and the reality was augmented by computer generated pictures, videos and sounds.
The augmented reality enabled them to experience the past in an authentic location. It is in a true sense an immersive content and story. The technology facilitates a two way communication between the user and the content giving the storytelling better quality.
The visitor to the fort will be transported through augmented reality to the times of the Cretan War. The AR glasses and booths will tell the story of Sibenik’s past, giving a visitor a chance to peep into 17the century.
The story of two battles for the defence of Sibenik was told using a feature film and 3D animation, making it the small scale, Croatian version of the Lord of the Rings. There is also an interactive table for a visitor to explore the history of Sibenik, learn about its historical figures and the cuisine. The combination, interaction, symbiosis and evolution of storytelling using AR technology for the creation of quality storytelling it’s best presented in 3D virtual guide Frane Divinic who talks about life in Sibenik in the past and particularly about two battles for the defence of the city from the Ottoman army. By using the excellent multilingual storytelling integrated into the augmented reality we reconstructed the Barone Fort into a recognisable, distinctive and unique product aimed at all the citizens, tourists and visitors. By using an innovative storytelling concept and AR content we transformed the historic fort Barone into a tool for strengthening the commercial and touristic potential of the city and of the region. Thanks to the unique link of history, storytelling and new technology, Barone Fort has earned place in international market .
The augmented reality and it’s more talked about sibling – the virtual reality – are important tools for storytelling. The industry has only recently recognized them as tools for communicating emotions and feeling. Augmented reality is fluid, you can tell a story on location (e.g. a fort) and let the user discover the story depending on where the storytelling path takes them and of course the location’s reality is thus augmented. Virtual reality is a better solution if there is no reality to be augmented, you are creating a virtual world. There is already a combination of AR and VR headsets (soon to come out Sulon Q by AMD) which bring together best of both worlds.
Graph 1: Popularity of Virtual Reality and Augmented Reality searches from 2004 up until today. The incredible hype about VR started with the biggest players entering the market (Facebook, Sony, Microsoft, HTC, Meta, AMD and others), most of their announced products will be on the market this year…
Update: Worldwide success of Pokemon Go, based on AR, increased AR interest on Google Trends threefold. AR time is yet to come!
The evolution of the storytelling
It is incredibly important to view and see the horizon of storytelling because it expands through media on a daily basis on its way to the final user. (Wikipedia has an excellent entry on Storytelling through history) The story of brand is more than a static and definitive entry. The brand’s identity can develop and change with time just like a person. That’s why the story of a brand is ever evolving, it needs to search for ideas for new chapters, but never forget where it started from. Each story of a brand has to be rooted in its past, with clear views and cultural contribution. They are our narrative anchors. They are not stopping us continuing sailing though. To new project, to new untold story, your story.
Watch the video to see the story we told about Barone Fort, more details on the project’s site. By all means leave your comments on our Facebook page or by email about storytelling, augmented reality or any questions you might have
For the end, read 4 tips for efficient storytelling using augmented reality:
- Minimise the contact with technology to maximise the experience
The AR goggles need to be ready for grab and use, avoid unnecessary menus, downloading and adjustments. The AR goggles are used to dive into the story , you leave the story by taking them of.
- Design a story not an interface
Eliminate use of interface as much as possible, allow the user to lead the story and use space as navigation. The story sequence should be informal, allow the user to “skip” segments ie to freely explore because that is the key element to truly get a feel for the space.
- Use the technology within its means
AR is not VR and VR is not AR. Pushing the technology beyond its limits leads inevitably to nonfunctional product. We all know of failed products and gadgets, enough said!
Listen to the users
Listen to the users and follow their advice – but stay true to your creativity. Listen to the users, not only through complaints or commendations on online channels- sometimes the communication there is not always sincere. You get the best feedback at the location mingling with users anonymously. Start informal discussions if you are looking for a better solution for a problem.
The project Storytelling in Augmented Reality in Barone Fort won the MIXX award in the category of Innovative Use of Technology at Days of Communication in Rovinj in 2016.
