The defending World Cup champ and the world number one ranked team for the greater part of 30 years, the US Women’s National Team can make it look easy.
A new media partnership with USA Today offered fans a chance to find out whether it really is.
Early June saw the newspaper publisher launch a pair of augmented reality interactive experiences prior to the 2019 FIFA Women’s World Cup kick-off.
‘Meet the Team’ and ‘Make the Save’ offer supporters a chance to learn all about the squad and the game through the USA Today app – the initiatives are available on both iOS and Android.
Set within a virtual footie pitch, ‘Meet the Team will’ enables readers/users find out all about the stars of US national team’s players: including player and position information, as well as statistics such as scores, standings and schedules.
While ‘Make the Save’ offers a gaming AR experience where users try and save penalty kicks by stepping into the boots of US national team goalkeeper Alyssa Naeher.
The virtual actions of Naeher, who will also speak to the user about her experiences in goal, were captured using photogrammetry to incorporate a 3D visual.
USA Today has experimented with the technique previously – perhaps most notably with an AR interactive offering earlier this year that focused on the Oscar-nominated costumes at the Academy Awards.
In April, the company’s ‘New Heights: Groundbreaking skyscrapers’ AR experience delved into some of the world’s tallest buildings. USA Today also created an AR feature about John Carlson, a defenseman at the Washington Capitals NHL ice hockey team.
“We wanted to provide an immersive way to learn more about the US Women’s team throughout the lifecycle of this year’s World Cup,” said Ray Soto, Director of Emerging Technology at USA Today.
“We have seen how much AR informs and entertains users so it’s a natural fit for brands to want to be a part of these engaging experiences as well, and keeping consumers engaged throughout the World Cup experience really builds excitement.”
Comment:
“Make the Save” and “Meet the Team” is USA TODAY’s latest AR interactive, following the popular “Oscars AR: The costumes and creators” and “The City,” an investigative storytelling podcast.
To see the World Cup experiences, download the latest version of the USA TODAY mobile app and click from mobile devices to view on Android and iOS, or find it within the USA TODAY Sports section.
Another fun piece of leading edge AR activation.
But is it genuinely trying to achieve anything
more than generating some consumer buzz and media PR?
Links:
USA Today
https://www.usatoday.com
https://twitter.com/USATODAY
USWNT
https://www.ussoccer.com/womens-national-team
https://www.instagram.com/ussoccer/
https://www.facebook.com/officialussoccer
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