The Game of Thrones mobile web AR experience for Johnnie Walker is designed to bring the character to life in the customer's own home. Visitors simply hold their phone up towards the bottle and place the bottle within the silhouette, this will start the augmented reality experience.
Originally we built an entire 3D environment around the bottle, which would unfold once the label is recognized. This was later on removed to focus more on the Wolf and Dragon. Increasing the 3D models in size, while also adding more behavioural animations.
All the ambient visual effects, character models and texture were an extension of the original bottle design, to make sure that the AR experience acts as a continuation and not something completely different.
Background
Johnnie Walker wanted to bring its special edition Game of Thrones whiskeys to life in an exciting, memorable way. So we created an exploratory WebAR experience that lets fans show allegiance to their favourite house and unleash a direwolf or a dragon in the comfort of their own homes.
Technology
Our team used 8th Wall, web-based image recognition software, to track and map the AR experience to the marker on the Johnnie Walker bottles. We also used spatialized audio to make use of the device’s motion sensors. This produced an image the user could save, send to friends, and share on social.
We ran into some unexpected technical hurdles, like not being able to mask the bottle and not having support for certain special effects. Our team had to act fast and find quick fixes to keep the project moving on its already-tight timeline. It required some long nights, but we made it happen.
The Approach
Johnnie Walker’s limited-edition “A Song of Ice” and “A Song of Fire” whiskeys were the ultimate collectibles for Game of Thrones fans. I worked with the brand to make them even more engaging and add cutting-edge AR technology to the bottles.
Each bottle came equipped with a QR code. When scanned, an animated 3D AR
experience with characters from the show burst out of the packaging. “A Song of Ice,” inspired by House Stark, featured a direwolf on the prowl amidst a blizzard. “A Song of Fire,” inspired by House Targaryen, summoned an epic flying fire-breathing dragon. The activations perfectly matched the flavour profiles of their whiskeys: one was crisp and clean, the other spicy with a subtle smoke.
experience with characters from the show burst out of the packaging. “A Song of Ice,” inspired by House Stark, featured a direwolf on the prowl amidst a blizzard. “A Song of Fire,” inspired by House Targaryen, summoned an epic flying fire-breathing dragon. The activations perfectly matched the flavour profiles of their whiskeys: one was crisp and clean, the other spicy with a subtle smoke.
Press
