For its 53rd Annual Congress, the AIJA – the International Association of Young Lawyers – employed the services of Drive Creative Studio Ltd to help add some digital excitement to the event, which was given a Harry Potter-inspired wizardry and magic theme.

To make something truly magical, Drive used Layar’s Augmented Reality technology to make special print items jump to life with digital content. Various materials were conceptualized and produced for the event such as a commemorative wizardry newspaper, banners in support of two Quidditch teams, Wanted Wizard posters, directional signage, village fête game posters and a special entry ticket.

Layar’s technology was used to bring the posters and newspaper to life, revealing hidden, secret content such as videos, polling widgets to vote on your favorite Quidditch team, or the solution to a head-scratching riddle.

“We put lots of love and attention into our work and are always looking to push the boundaries of the brief,” says Jon Price, Creative Director at Drive. “We brought the idea of incorporating Augmented Reality to the client by creating some test examples. The final campaign had multiple AR elements but the Wanted Wizard poster in particular used it to great effect, mimicking the moving posters in the Harry Potter films. This was used to answer a riddle hidden in the vintage-style newspaper.”

“The event was a tremendous success and everyone loved the newspaper and Drive’s creative work,” said Jennifer Maxwell of the AIJA Congress Organizing Committee. “We distributed the newspaper at London Waterloo Station and found it hard to keep the general public from getting their hands on it! It was great to see over 500 people waiting for their train while engrossed in our newspaper and experiencing the hidden AR secrets.”

To try it out yourself, head over to our Client Examples page and scan the images with Layar!

This weekend, a group of adventurers in London will take part in AdventureRace.London, a multi-team scavenger hunt contest to benefit charity. But this hunt will be much more unique than any other, as contestants will need to unlock some clues with the help of the Layar App and augmented reality.

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Earlier this month, the Vodafone Institute hosted a one-day summit in Berlin called “digitising europe – Opportunities for the Next Generation,” which included interactive elements built with Layar’s Augmented Reality technology.

The goal of the event was to discuss and debate how the continued digitization of the business, work and education fields can spur growth in Europe, and featured a keynote by German Chancellor Angela Merkel. The invite-only event featured 350 business leaders, politicians, innovators, entrepreneurs, academics and students.

Creative agency TRIAD, which was responsible for the organization and guest management of the event, made use of Layar to bring certain aspects of the event to life with AR. Attendees were surrounded with opportunities to experience AR from the very start as the event’s invitations featured scannable content.

Additionally, the event program, wall banners and table displays could be scanned with Layar to reveal extra content, including videos of speakers and social media links. TRIAD made a strong effort to inform attendees with multiple calls-to-action, including artwork on the invitation, program, attendee name tags, interactive displays and even a mention by the moderator during the event.

Rogers, Canada’s largest provider of TV, Internet and wireless services, has teamed up with Canadian marketing agency Newad and Parisian street artist KASHINK to create a truly unique interactive experience to promote the Rogers Cup tennis tournament – all with scannable Layar content.

KASHINK is a unique French street artist who paints large, four-eyed creatures with bright colors and thick lines. As her website describes her work, “she only paints men, preferably fat and hairy, looking like badass yet sensitive gangsters, alien-looking ogres, or shamans from ancient tribes. Some of them are gay, some of them are killers, some others are both.”

For the campaign, named “A Creative Exchange” KASHINK was commissioned to paint one of her signature creations on the side of a building on the streets of Montreal, but with a tennis and mobile phone twist.

“Our goal is to have a new interpretation of tennis, and make it more accessible by bringing it closer to Montrealers,” said Lizianne Fortier, Sponsorships and Events Manager at Rogers. “It was important for us to let the artist express herself and interpret the sport of tennis in her own way, without limitations.”

The creature wears a headband and holds a mobile phone to its ear in one hand and a tennis ball between its giant fingers in the other, all while saying “FOUND IT!” over the phone.

Near the ground of the four story artwork is a call-to-action urging those walking by on the sidewalk to download the Layar App and scan the painting to see more. Scanning the artwork reveals a timelapse video of KASHINK working on the giant artwork from start to finish over the course of a few days.

“As the character I created has a very retro feel, applying technology to the mural and merging the two worlds is quite interesting artistically,” said KASHINK.

Click on the image at the top and scan it with the Layar App to watch the time-lapse video of KASHINK at work!

This weekend marks the launch of a new and unique festival.

This Saturday, Amsterdam will see the first ever virtual reality festival. Named “Zo Niet, Dan Toch” (Dutch for “If not, then anyway”), the festival promises to put “augmented reality and location-based virtual projects on the map.”

“The festival allows visitors a new way of experiencing visual arts, entertainment, film, architecture, theatre, dance and music,” the event says. “The festival explores the virtual stage where nothing is impossible and everyone has access. The ticket is already in your pocket: your mobile phone.”

Visitors can wander around the festival area in the north of Amsterdam and view various VR and AR works with their mobile phone. There are even guided iPad tours for those without a smartphone.

The festival was started by former Layar employee Klasien van de Zandschulp in collaboration with artist Sander Veenhof, whose Layar artwork you may have seen here on the blog before. Many of the festival’s projects have been built using the Layar Creator or Geo Layers.

One of the featured projects is “Pont,” a fun boat docking game developed by Layar developer Blaise Kal. Layar’s R&D lead Ronald van der Lingen will also be at the festival giving tours and demos of Google Glass.

The program for the event has been enhanced with Layar as well, including a special final page which allows for additional content, so the reader can keep reading. In one case, an exhibitor changed the location of her project, so the program was updated with the Layar Creator to show the correct information.

Looking to attend? Here’s everything you need to know…

DATE: September 7th, 2013
TIME: 13:00 to 21:00
SPECIAL EVENING PROGRAM: 18:00 to 21:00
LOCATION: Various locations in Amsterdam Noord - Info desk : Tolhuisweg 5

Make sure your bring your phone, charger and headphones!