[2014]
Target
Mobile web & AR games
Turning Target stores into winter wonderlands with emerging Google technologies.
Problem
Target was facing rapidly increasing competition from online ecommerce platforms, especially Amazon. Their advantage was their in-store experience — it’s where they made the most money and where they could differentiate from online-only marketplaces. They needed to find a way to incentivize customers to come in-store for their holiday shopping.
Summary
In 2014 Target was facing growing competition from Amazon and other online e-commerce platforms. To drive holiday shopping traffic and demonstrate digital innovation, Target partnered with Google’s Art, Copy & Code team to use first-of-a-kind mobile and augmented reality (AR) technologies.
Google’s reality-bending tablet turned my Target into an icy playground. – Gizmodo
Our team at 72andSunny was asked by Target to serve as UX and creative leads on their behalf for a collaboration with Google’s Art Copy Code team. Our job was to oversee the company’s holistic online/offline customer experience and . Working with Google and production partners from STINK Studios and Psyop, we collectively planned, designed, prototyped and launched an immersive omnichannel 3D mobile gaming and augmented reality experience across the Target customer ecosystem.
The multi-week digital and in-store experience included 5 mobile games (each with multiple levels and characters), an in-store Project TANGO augmented reality experience, in-store mobile game content bonuses, Target website and media takeover, and featured paid media placement across Google.com, Youtube.com, and more.
Target donated $1.00 for each game played by customers during the holiday season, giving up to $1 million to St. Judes.
Outcomes
- 500,000+ game plays
- 41,589 hours played
- Awarded FWA Mobile Site of the Day (Christmas Day)
- Launched mobile game world with 5 games and 1 in-store AR game experience
- First ever public implementation of Google’s Project TANGO AR technology
- Received Target’s annual corporate innovation award
- Games ran 12 months past planned sunset date due to ongoing gameplay
