Many influential brands such as Coca-Cola and IKEA have used VR and AR to create campaigns to enhance the customer experience. Collectively known as XR, these technologies are becoming much more accessible to retailers looking for additional tools to create engaging experiences.

Many influential brands such as Coca-Cola and IKEA have used VR and AR to create campaigns to enhance the customer experience
Share on X

One example of this is the use of technology to create multi-sensory environments, whereby these brands can leverage not only visuals, but also smells, sounds, and touch to heighten those experiences.

The entire StickerYou store is an experiential space designed to surprise and hopefully delight visitors
Share on X

Whiskey brand Diageo has experimented with playing the crackling sound of an open fire at the bar, while a, a pop-up for home fragrance brand Glade designed each room inside the location to match a particular scent, aiming to create an emotional response that resonated with visitors.

StickerYou is a trend-setter in its space, deploying an omnichannel strategy that lets its customers engage with the brand both online and in a physical location
Share on X

Yet immersive experiences don’t necessarily involve the use of XR technologies, however, they can also achieve this by using physical objects and textures.

Take Canadian e-commerce brand StickerYou, for instance. They are global leaders in providing custom-printed, die-cut products that empower businesses and consumers to create professional-grade materials for marketing, packaging, decor and personal expression, which is a fancy way of saying they have been making awesome stickers since they started their business with one machine back in 2008.

Immersive experiences don’t necessarily involve the use of XR technologies. They can also use physical objects and textures
Share on X

Fast forward to today, and StickerYou is a trend-setter in its space, deploying an omnichannel strategy that lets its customers engage with the brand both online and in a physical location. This is why they’ve just opened the world’s largest sticker store in Toronto on August 12. The idea is for the store to serve as a continuation and extension of the online experience, and customers seamlessly switch between the two as an when it’s most convenient, appropriate, or fun to do so.

Most marketers now recognize there is much more value in cultivating a long-term relationship with a customer
Share on X

Below you can check out a time-lapse video showing how the amazing 3-storey tall vinyl graphic (installed in collaboration with applied sciences giant 3M) was put in place for the eye-catching store frontage.

UPDATE: Following the news of @StickerYou setting up shop in Toronto with the world’s largest sticker store, here’s a time-lapse of the building’s exterior vinyl graphic being installed. https://t.co/XqKvZAZ7N9 pic.twitter.com/aEjLupM3SW

— Digital Labels & Packaging (@DigitalLPack) August 7, 2019

The entire store is an experiential space designed to surprise and hopefully delight visitors, giving them something to remember in whether or not they choose to make a purchase at that time.

That last point is also important, as most marketers now recognize there is much more value in cultivating a long-term relationship with a customer, rather than merely trying to cash in on the short term and dealing with people on a purely transactional basis, which builds no loyalty.

Some of the experiential features in the store include:

• Stickerbombed walls

• Custom experience space where customer can see other user-created sticker designs

• Kiosks for creating your own stickers using StickerYou’s online StickerMaker

• Sticker museum (located in the basement) taking visitors through the history of stickers and what has it such a popular art form.

• Sticker art exhibition (slated for the fall) which will feature work from artists from all over the globe, including Shepard Fairey and Matthew Hoffman.

• The brainchild of Toronto e-comm startup and customized die-cut sticker company StickerYou, StickerYou: The Store

“We are proud to open the world’s largest sticker store in Toronto,” says StickerYou founder and CEO Andrew Witkin. “We are excited to give customers the chance to interact with our products and experience the creative potential of stickers for business or personal expression. At StickerYou, we make what matters stick.”

If you happen to be in Toronto, be sure to check out the StickerYou store at 677-679 Queen Street West

Tech Trends offers a broad range of Digital Consultancy services to guide companies, individuals and brands in effectively leveraging existing and emerging technologies in their business strategy.

Alice Bonasio is a VR and Digital Transformation Consultant and Tech Trends’ Editor in Chief. She also regularly writes for Fast Company, Ars Technica, Quartz, Wired and others. Connect with her on LinkedIn and follow @alicebonasio on Twitter.

The post Moving Towards Experiential Marketing appeared first on Tech Trends.

A newly published white paper investigates the pedagogical theory and use cases for deploying mixed reality in the classroom.

It is easy to get excited about the possibilities the Mixed Reality spectrum brings to education. Humans are essentially programmed to learn best through experience, and that is just what immersive technologies enable: we’re not just learning it, we’re living it.

Humans are essentially programmed to learn best through experience, and that is just what immersive technologies enable
Share on X

And exploring a few of those possibilities is what I had the chance to do when I collaborated with Microsoft Education to write the Immersive Experiences in Education white paper we’ve published at the ISTE 2019 conference a few weeks ago.

Methodology

Now, I’m very much a technology enthusiast. I’ve been called a futurist, evangelist, influencer, all those really annoying trendy buzzwords… But at heart I am also an educator. I worked in academia, I taught English as a second language, I’ve mentored people and for many years I worked in the EdTech sector, so I speak truthfully when I say I’m forever in awe of teachers and mindful of the importance of education in society.

Mixed Reality technology is amazing but is it really useful to educators? Does it actually influence learning outcomes, and if so, how?
Share on X

This is why when Microsoft approached me to collaborate with them in researching and writing this white paper, I wanted to take a step back and ensure that we weren’t just flashing a shiny pretty tech trinket around. The technology is amazing, there’s no doubt about that, but is it really useful to educators? Does it actually influence learning outcomes, and if so, how?

When deploying any technology in the classroom, success depends on engaging educators and building a responsive feedback loop that prioritizes learning outcomes rather than the technology itself
Share on X

Through our research and interviews, a picture of the concrete pedagogical benefits of using Mixed Reality in the classroom emerged
Share on X

I was keen to ensure that our methodology really reflected this educator-led focus as much as possible, and was happy to find that the team at Microsoft Education very much shared that vision.

The paper cross-referenced pedagogical theory with case studies obtained through personalized email interviews with teachers, students, researchers, and technologists who have successfully deployed such technology within various learning environments and contexts, and the bulk of my time was indeed spent on an extensive literature review and on gathering and processing the data from those testimonials to try and gleam insights that could be useful for educators.

I will let you judge for yourselves whether we’ve succeeded – you can read and download a free copy of the white paper here –  but our guiding principle was very much that when deploying technology in the classroom, success is dependent on engagement with educators, and on building a responsive feedback loop that prioritizes learning outcomes rather than the technology itself.

The paper cross-referenced pedagogical theory with case studies of teachers, students, researchers, and technologists who have deployed such technology
Share on X

Through our research and interviews, an overall picture of the concrete pedagogical benefits of using Mixed Reality in the classroom did start to emerge, and although further research is certainly needed and I wouldn’t dream to claim that this is the definitive document on the subject, it manages, in my humble opinion, to tease out some really important findings and a lot of interesting questions. I, for one, always think the most successful research is the one where you end up with a lot more questions than when you started, which is why I hope to hear lots of questions from the community (you can always send a tweet my way @alicebonasio or connect on LinkedIn). Below are some of our key research findings:

Immersive digital simulations allow learners to absorb knowledge within a realistic context through experiential learning

Our research indicated that the most effective educational experiences often involve mastering tasks within context of personally relevant, realistic situations. Situated learning in well-designed digital environments actually leads to the replication of those behaviours in the real world.

The key differentiator in using Mixed Reality is that it seems to dramatically increase the rate of transfer – in other words, our ability to apply and adapt learning to different real-world situations.It Mixed Reality facilitates transfer by simulating realistic scenarios within specific pedagogical contests. It literally can bring a curriculum to life for students. This means we not only can create more effective learning experiences, but also expand the range of available experiences, since we can simulate scenarios that would be too difficult, too expensive, or too dangerous for students to experience in real life.

Mixed Reality helps to prevent Cognitive overload.

This second finding probably comes as no surprise to most educators, in that trying to visualize and assimilate large amounts of complex information is HARD. It can literally trigger a bottleneck within the limited working memory of the brain, and we soon become tired of it. Attention and interest lags, and it becomes harder to engage students in the subject.

Our research indicates that the most effective educational experiences involve mastering tasks within personally relevant, realistic context
Share on X

Mixed Reality, however, can help reduce this cognitive load by allowing learners to directly visualize, manipulate, and interact with complex structures, so that the brain is not so busy trying to visualize the data, but instead engaged in understanding, assimilating, recalling, and applying it.

Test scores among students using immersive technologies improved by as much as 22%

Now, those two findings we looked at are crucial in improving learning outcomes such as test scores, increased performance of skills-based tasks, abtract reasoning, and critical thinking. It also had positive effects on retention of knowledge.

Most interestingly, however, we found indications that this technology was particularly helpful in improving learning conditions for learners with conditions such as dyslexia, autism, and ADHD.

Mixed Reality can help reduce the cognitive load on the brain by allowing learners to visualize, manipulate, and interact with complex structures
Share on X

Here, immersive technologies have been shown to assist previously low-achieving students in overcoming learning challenges to the point where there was no longer any statistical difference in test scores between them and high achieving students.

Mixed Reality 
in the classroom fosters self-directed learning

Teachers reported that using MR in the classroom promoted a more inquiry-based environment that maximized learning opportunities by instilling a greater sense of autonomy, encouraging students to creatively engage with the subject beyond the pedagogical task at hand.

“Students report a greater understanding and appreciation for the development of VR content after engaging in 3D animation and/or game design projects. In particular, students are able to see the connection between the engineering of a virtual world, and the virtual world’s role as an element of digital storytelling.” Paul Turnbull 
President Mid-Pacific Institute

Co-created content fosters a more meaningful connection by generating something in which the student has a personal emotional investment. Extended experiences that immerse students in rich contexts with strong narratives, authentic practices, and links to real-world outcomes are what truly unleash the transformational power of immersive experiences.

Co-created content fosters a more meaningful connection by generating something in which the student has a personal emotional investment
Share on X

“We led a lesson with an English class, where students designed a safe and scary space, then were able to experience them both in Virtual Reality. The lesson brought technology in the context of an English lesson by creating a spark for students to translate into their writing exercises.” Cody Karutz
Founder and CEO of Blue Trot

Like all technologies adopted within a pedagogical classroom setting, MR should remain supplementary to in-person academic programming, allowing for human relations and interactions to ultimately guide the social- emotional learning experience.For me, the biggest takeaway from this is that for Mixed Reality to be effectively implemented in the classroom we must ensure that the technology is integrated into pedagogical theory and best practice.

Immersive technologies have been shown to assist previously low-achieving students in overcoming learning challenges
Share on X

Tech Trends offers a broad range of Digital Consultancy services to guide companies, individuals and brands in effectively leveraging existing and emerging technologies in their business strategy.

Alice Bonasio is a VR and Digital Transformation Consultant and Tech Trends’ Editor in Chief. She also regularly writes for Fast Company, Ars Technica, Quartz, Wired and others. Connect with her on LinkedIn and follow @alicebonasio on Twitter.

The post Report: Immersive Experiences in Education appeared first on Tech Trends.

That’s the million-dollar question. Or near enough. There is $750,000 in funding on offer for arts institutions – as well as technologists, companies and artists partnering with arts institutions – looking to answer it.

There is $750,000 in funding on offer by the Knight Foundation for ideas that demonstrate the ability of immersive technologies such as VR and AR to strengthen audience engagement
Share on X

The grants are being put forward by the Knight Foundation for ideas that demonstrate the ability of immersive technologies, such as virtual and mixed reality, to strengthen audience engagement.

“Arts institutions need more knowledge to move beyond just experimenting with these technologies to becoming proficient in leveraging their full potential.”  Says Knight director Chris Barr.

To help them do this, winners will receive a share of the $750,000 in funding, and optional technical support from Microsoft, including mixed-reality coaching, mentorship and technology access and training, as well as the opportunity to be featured across Microsoft marketing channels.

“We’re incredibly excited to support this open call for ways in which technology can help art institutions engage new audiences,” says Mira Lane, Partner Director Ethics & Society at Microsoft.  “We strongly believe that immersive technology can enhance the ability for richer experiences, deeper storytelling, and broader engagement.”

The new call for ideas is part of Knight Foundation’s arts and technology focus, which aims to help arts institutions better meet changing audience expectations and use digital tools to help people better experience and delight in the arts.

“When done right, life-changing experiences can happen at the intersection of arts and technology,” said Victoria Rogers, Knight Foundation vice president for arts speaking at the initiative’s launch at the Gray Area Festival in San Francisco. “Our goal through this call is to help cultural institutions develop informed and refined practices for using new technologies, equipping them to better navigate and thrive in the digital age.”

The Foundation’s goal is to foster informed and engaged communities, something it believes is essential in a healthy democracy. To achieve this, they invest in journalism, in the arts, and in the success of cities where brothers John S. and James L. Knight once published newspapers.

Winners will receive a share of the $750,000 in funding, and optional technical support from Microsoft, including mixed-reality coaching, mentorship and technology access and training
Share on X

Last year, Knight made a $600,000 investment in twelve projects designed to harness the power of technology to engage people with the arts. Most recently, Knight launched the “On View” podcast, which examines how museums and cultural institutions are evolving to keep pace with a changing world.

In the week since the announcement, the call has attracted quite a lot of attention
Share on X

“In just one week’s time, the call for ideas has already garnered immense interest in the arts and technology fields. Our initial informational webinar was booked to capacity – 200 attendees – in just a day,” says Barr. This positive response reflects the momentum around exciting opportunities happening at the intersection of culture and tech. We’re thrilled by this interest and hope to see a wide-range of projects equipping arts institutions to better engage audiences with new technologies.”

Successful projects will address one of the following areas or related concepts:

• Engaging new audiences: How might arts institutions use immersive experiences to better welcome and engage new and diverse audiences?
• Building new service models: How can institutions design pleasant and efficient audience experiences that avoid clunky interactions with technology?
• Expanding beyond walls: In what new ways can arts institutions use immersive immersive technology to reach people beyond their physical space?
• Distribution to multiple institutions: How can immersive experiences become more portable and be presented easily at multiple institutions?

Those interested in applying can do so until August 12 and learn more about it here. Recipients will be announced in late fall 2019.

Those interested in applying can do so until August 12
Share on X

Tech Trends offers a broad range of Digital Consultancy services to guide companies, individuals and brands in effectively leveraging existing and emerging technologies in their business strategy.

Alice Bonasio is a VR and Digital Transformation Consultant and Tech Trends’ Editor in Chief. She also regularly writes for Fast Company, Ars Technica, Quartz, Wired and others. Connect with her on LinkedIn and follow @alicebonasio on Twitter.

The post Engaging Audiences With Immersive Technology appeared first on Tech Trends.