Cherrypicks - Explore the West Kowloon Cultural District (WKCD) with innovative AR digital features

Company Name: Cherrypicks

Project Name: Explore the West Kowloon Cultural District (WKCD) with innovative AR digital features

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Project Summary

Cherrypicks has created an app for the West Kowloon Cultural District (WKCD) to explore all the venues and facilities with innovative AR digital features and artwork through the West Kowloon Cultural District App launched on 9 Aug 2021. Users can create their own AR video using the fun AR filters, and can even interact with the adorable AR pet dog Linus. The videos taken can be shared with the users’ family and friends through social media platforms, and if they tag WKCD, it can be discoverable by other WKCD users through the app’s social wall. A showcase video is also made available on Cherrypicks’ Youtube channel to demonstrate the features from our product ARwiz to other business partners, bringing in more future AR opportunities. 

Other notable features on the app include registering for events and purchasing e-tickets, sending personalized recommendations and ticket-on-sale alerts to help create a unique user experience, and providing details on transport and car park availability. All users can also enjoy unlimited free District-wide Wi-Fi service courtesy of WKCD.

Background

Other than fun and branding, the IG AR filters were made to increase interaction with WKCD’s users. Also, through these 4 different AR filters, namely WK neon, flower crown, classic HK neon and Corgi Linus, it is hoped to bring different Hong Kong traditional cultural signatures into the AR world at WKCD. The IG filters are not location-based, so users are encouraged to try out the filters by setting different points of interest (POI) at different locations at WKCD. Users can trigger the use of AR filters and can have a real-time view of the filter icons in the app’s AR view all around WKCD. The photos or videos taken with the AR filters can be saved to users’ mobile phones, or shared to their favorite social media platforms in order to create some talking points among their peers. It is also hoped to help users to discover some POI which may not be so common to visitors of the district.

Objective

The IG AR filter is an interactive way to attract people visiting WKCD. It can allow users to have fun on their own or with their friends, saving the video for private enjoyment or sharing with others through their favorite social media platforms. Through these filters, it is hoped to bring Hong Kong’s classic neon light signs to WKCD AR world. Some of the AR filter POI were placed in locations that are not the most popular among WKCD, with the objective for visitors to explore more throughout the district. These are also shared through the showcase video in order to drive more future business opportunities in AR.

Execution

Other than the design team’s effort in creating the AR avatars and IG filters, picking the right location to place the filter POIs were also very tactical decisions. Since users may stop by and take videos with the AR filters, which can be time consuming, it was not preferred to place the POIs along the main road for safety and traffic reasons, the background view also needed to match with the AR filters, and we found it would be best to help users explore some lesser known locations around WKCD, therefore quite a number of site visits were been done to choose the most advantageous locations to place the IG filters. 

On the other hand, IG has some policies on submitting AR filters to their platform, which previously strictly banned including any brand names on the AR filter, but the policy was just removed after the app launched. The changing of policies also affects the execution of the AR effects to be published.

Result

Though the app was launched in Aug, the official announcements were still awaiting the opening of M+ in Nov 2021. Under not much publicity, the IG AR filters with video recording function got a total of almost 5,000 engagements. For the showcase video, it was produced and uploaded very recently, more engagement or feedback is expected in future.