August was our birthday month - we’re SIX! We wouldn't be where we are today without our amazing partners, so this blog celebrates them and some of our favorite projects. Check out our LinkedIn for a deeper dive into each project and a compilation video of the last six years!
Under Armour: Augmented Reality in Retail, Virtual Reality in Retail
Balti Virtual and Under Armour have been working together to produce augmented and virtual reality experiences from the beginning! We first partnered in 2016 to create UA Play - a custom augmented reality app that brought six athletes (Stephen Curry, Tom Brady, The Rock, Jordan Spieth, Misty Copeland, and Cam Newton) and their personalized shoes to life in augmented reality.
The app expanded over the years to showcase products in their team uniform brochures and AR campus tours of their HQ. For many years, the annual Armour Day celebration has included an augmented reality element - one year, we helped create AR shirts for the event! In 2018, Balti Virtual worked with Under Armour to make an in-store virtual reality quarterback game for their ARMOURY locations within Champs Sports stores.
Under Armour is built on innovation, and we’re thrilled that we’ve been able to work with a Baltimore-based powerhouse.
Wilmer Eye Institute: Virtual Reality in Healthcare
Our work with Johns Hopkins Wilmer Eye Institute over the last few years has not only been incredibly impactful to healthcare professionals, but it’s also shown the Balti virtual team how virtual reality can be applied to the healthcare space. It’s the perfect industry for our technology!
We started working with the Wilmer Eye Institute in 2019. Our goal was to create an immersive virtual reality assessment for patients with ultra-low vision. Once the participant puts on a VR headset, they are taken through a series of tasks that show high contrast and simple 3-D scenes to simulate real-life situations that a person with low vision would encounter daily. These tasks include counting the number of pills on a plate, making pancakes, or even crossing a street. By researching the patient’s effectiveness with these tasks, the doctors at JHU can better serve their low-vision patients.
Northrop Grumman: Mixed Reality in Sales & Training
Northrop Grumman has tackled some big problems over the years, and we’re thrilled that we’ve had the opportunity to help. When we first met NGC back in 2019, the company was looking for a way to explain the technical details of new products to key stakeholders in an engaging and innovative way - 2D PowerPoint wasn’t going to cut it!
The Balti Virtual team developed Immersion Labs, a portable and immersive presentation by networking mixed reality headsets (Magic Leap) with tablets (iPad). This platform gave instructors the ability to lead customers through an animated three-dimensional experience demonstrating NG’s unique technical offering.
We were so happy to hear that the NGC team not only saw more engaged customers, but the team also drastically reduced their costs of these presentations - as the Immersion Labs platform enables them to demonstrate large and complex systems using equipment that can fit into a suitcase.
Monumental Sports: Augmented Reality and Fan Engagement
We’ve launched not one, not two, but THREE amazing augmented reality campaigns with Monumental Sports over the years! Our first two projects were with the Washington Capitals team, and the third was a partnership with the Washington Wizards. #teamwork
Tilt the Ice: During the week between the regular season and the playoffs, the Washington Capitals always want to give back to their loyal fans. In 2019, they decided to give fans a chance to win prizes by playing an augmented reality game! We created a coaster-based AR game that received 10-12 repeat plays per fan and got the recognition of Bud Light (the Caps were named NHL Partner of the year!).
Ovi O’s: After buying a special-edition box of Ovi O’s, fans could unlock an augmented reality game on Snapchat. The goal of the game was to hit as many moving targets as possible with the honey-nut Ovi O’s puck before the time ran out. Ovi O’s received coverage from the NHL, Ad Week, NBS Sports, and the Washington Post!
2020 NBA All-Star: In an effort to increase awareness and engagement about the team’s top All-Star candidate Bradley Beal, we created a custom AR Snapchat lens to urge fans to vote for Beal. Fans could either scan the permanent, larger-than-life signage outside of Capital One Arena or find one of the many vinyl signs placed within the arena on game days to see the augmented reality experience.
Here’s to the next six (hundred) years; we hope they’re filled with just as many (if not more) brave brands and opportunities for creative collaboration.
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