Google Cardboard x Abbey Road
Amplify help commuters experience the magic of Abbey Road using their phones...
Challenge:
Amplify were briefed by Google Creative Lab to help bring their Inside Abbey Road app to life in physical form. We were challenged to get Google’s affordable Cardboard viewers into the hands of young people, showing them how easy it is to experience virtual reality in everyday life.
Insight
Most people have never had a VR experience and see the technology as inaccessible, but we know one of the most powerful things about VR is seeing others enjoy the experience and trying it for yourself – especially when it’s mobile!
Strategy:
We worked together with Google Creative Lab to create a larger-than-life experience that heroed their Inside Abbey Road app - and the iconic studio. This mix of real-world and virtual reality showed those unfamiliar with this kind of tech how easily they could experience VR at their fingertips.
At the heart of the campaign Google and NME distributed Google Cardboard viewers in 10 locations around the UK, creating ‘mini moments’ in high footfall locations. To support this, Amplify supported this activation by creating bespoke boxes seeded to over 200 influencers to introduce them to Google Cardboard and the Inside Abbey Road app. They included a Google Cardboard viewer, headphones and information on the project, and were beautifully designed to encourage social sharing.
We complimented this nationwide activity by creating a centerpiece and taking over part of Kings Cross Station for three days. Working with the team from Google Creative Lab - we built a replica of Abbey Road’s world-famous Studio 2, where guests were given the chance to demo the app inside a giant Google Cardboard structure. This allowed commuters to feel as if they had entered the legendary studio both physically and virtually.
We invited fans to take part and share an iconic moment at the end of the experience, by having their picture captured on the steps of Abbey Road Studios or on the crossing made famous by The Beatles. Guests were given an exclusive NME magazine and Google Cardboard viewer so they could take the experience home.
Results:
80k Google Cardboards and special edition copies of NME distributed across 10 cities, supported by large-scale focused OOH media.
200 key influencers were gifted with exclusive Inside Abbey Road x Google Cardboard boxes.
450k people saw our larger-than-life Google Cardboard headset, slap-bang inside one of the UK’s busiest stations
2,000 people got hands-on with a 15-minute physical and virtual Abbey Road experience in the station, with 867 social shares from our newfound VR experts.