Dyson Tiny World AR

Augmented reality explores the tiny world of toxins for Dyson.

  • Sydney, Australia
  • London, United Kingdom
  • Woman scans a custom 2D augmented reality marker as part of the Dyson Tiny World AR digital marketing experience.
  • Screenshot from the Dyson Tiny World AR digital marketing experience.
  • 2D black and white augmented reality marker created for Dyson Tiny World AR.
  • 3D model of a collection of green bacteria particles.
  • Woman interacts with bacteria data visualisation from the Dyson Tiny World AR digital marketing experience.
  • Man holds a tablet with the Dyson Tiny World AR experiential marketing.
  • 2D model of a lime green bacteria particle.

When Dyson reached out to us to help promote their new air purifier and fan – the Dyson Pure Cool Link – we saw an opportunity to develop a cutting-edge, scalable augmented reality experience. Built for use on a tablet, Dyson Tiny World AR was a gamified experiential marketing tool that let customers interact with and learn about the different sources of toxins and bacteria in a room. Triggered through custom-designed augmented reality markers, particle stream data visualisations helped audiences see the invisible world of toxins and understand the power of Dyson’s products.

Visualising the invisible

The Story

Famous for their design-centric approach, Dyson was launching an innovation in air purification. In the lead up to the release of this air purifier, they needed an engaging way to tell the story of how, according to the EPA, the air inside your house is up to 5 times more polluted than the air outdoors – thanks to things like bacteria, pollen, pet dander and mould.

Dyson digital marketing expert talks media and social influencers through the Dyson Tiny World AR experiential marketing tool.

Unlike dust or food stains, these pollutants are microscopic and invisible to the human eye. The idea for Dyson Tiny World AR was to take an audience of media representatives and social influencers on a journey through a real household environment. In this environment, they would be able to use augmented reality to scan for and learn about tiny yet common pollutants – and how the Dyson air purifier is able to protect us from them.

Scaled pollen.

Invisible augmented reality

AR Markers
Dyson AR markers.

When, like in this digital marketing activation, the story is about a new technology, you don’t want any other technology to steal the limelight. Although this was an extremely early implementation of real-time augmented reality, we took care to seamlessly integrate the technology behind the experience through AR markers hidden in the decor of a home environment.

Each room in the experiential marketing activation had a specific product designed with a high contrast AR trigger to anchor the data visualisations. An olive oil container in the kitchen, a vase in the bedroom, a toothbrush holder in the bathroom. This essentially helped visitors freely scan the 3D space in front of them without drawing attention to the augmented reality marker technology.

Encouraging suspension of disbelief

Interactivity

The story and creative for Dyson Tiny World AR  effectively hung on the believability that invisible particles are being visualised. Essentially, we are asking the audience to understand that, though invisible, these particles are real, and can have a real effect on our health.

Woman interacts with bacteria data visualisation from the Dyson Tiny World AR digital marketing experience.

We knew from the outset that the visual effects representing the molecules needed to be identifiable to the audience. But it was the interactive behaviour of these particles that allowed audiences to fully accept them as part of the world they were exploring. Giving visitors the ability to swipe through the particles, and click to learn more, helped create a more active, participatory digital marketing experience.

3D model of a bacteria particle created for real-time experiential marketing tool Dyson Tiny World AR.
Scaled allergen.

Gradually building residue

Gamification

Through a tablet device, audiences were invited to scan room after room in search for invisible pollutants. Once a source of toxins was found, users could interact with them directly by triggering a particle from the cloud to levitate on the screen, alongside a breakdown of information about it.

As audiences moved from room to room discovering pollutants, they were able to observe and play with the behaviour of these particles. However, the effects of all these toxins would build up over time, restricting vision and interaction – until the Dyson Pure Cool Link sucked all the pollutants from the air.

Screenshot of the loading screen in Dyson Tiny World AR experiential marketing tool.
Screenshot of pollutant residue building up over time in the Dyson Tiny World AR experience by digital marketing agency S1T2.

PR ready + internationally scaleable

Results

Dyson Tiny World AR was unveiled to select media and social influencers at a stakeholder event in Sydney, before being packaged for international digital marketing teams and rolled out around the world. Met with widespread interest and publicity, the experiential marketing tool heralded not only Dyson’s innovation in the industry, but their innovation in communication.

Man uses tablet device with Dyson Tiny World AR experiential marketing tool to explain the functionality of the company’s new air purifier.
Screenshot from the Dyson Tiny World AR digital marketing experience.

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3D render of germs.

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