Social Wavelength creates AR Andriod Bot game for Reliance Mobile

Building on its 'Be Blue' campaign, Reliance terms augmented reality game as the next phase of its marketing strategy to make people aware of Reliance 3G and the Google Android tie-up

Ananya Saha | Delhi | June 5, 2012

Reliance Mobile, which recently collaborated with Google Android and is doing a campaign called 'Be Blue', is leaving no stone unturned to create maximum buzz around its Bot. Claiming it to be India's first augmented reality game, Social Wavelength has created an application as a path-breaking step in the world of apps on Facebook.

Augmented reality (AR) is a live, direct or indirect, view of a physical, real-world environment whose elements are augmented by computer-generated sensory inputs such as sound, video, graphics or GPS data. It is related to a more general concept called 'mediated reality', in which a view of reality is modified by a computer. As a result, the technology functions by enhancing one's current perception of reality.

Reliance Mobile terms this augmented reality game as the next phase of its marketing strategy to announce Reliance 3G and Google Android tie-up.

Hence, in the game, the Blue Groove asks a user to match the dancing steps of the Blue Bot on the computer screen with the help of the arrow keys, shift key and space bar on the keyboard. If the user can match the keys correctly, they have a chance to win Samsung Galaxy Ace Plus Smartphones every week and lots of merchandise from Reliance.

Social Wavelength says it wanted to do something “really creative, exciting and out-of-the-box” for users to feel and experience. Hence, augmented reality was an obvious choice. Shivani Suri Dhanda, Deputy GM, Brand & Marketing for Reliance Communications, said, “The singular brief to the team was to create an experience of celebrating the Blue Bot world via a never-done-before online engagement that befits the largeness of the Reliance-Google association. We wanted users to have fun engaging with the Blue Bot in a way which users have never experienced before on Facebook.”

How does the AR game work? The user needs a webcam as well as a Reliance logo that he/she can download and print or get by giving out his/her number so as to receive an SMS that has an image with Blue Bot and Reliance logo over it. Fans have to hold the Reliance logo in front of their cam so that after five seconds the Blue Bot and the panel screen gets auto-locked. The user can readjust the panel by clicking the screen once and pressing the 'L' letter on the keyboard and try adjusting it again. Once done, users are also given an option to go through a demo and practice mode so that they get well acquainted with the keys one needs to press to match the steps with the Blue Bot while dancing.

There are three levels: Hot-Stepper, Groover, and Dancing Star. On clearing each level the user gets a badge. After crossing the three levels, the user is asked the qualifying question, upon submitting which he/she is eligible for the prize.

The game, of course, is turning popular on Facebook. Sanjay Mehta, CEO, Social Wavelength, said, “Given the unique positioning and approach, we are witnessing tremendous amount of viral push. The game also acts as a stage where player gets to interact with the brand.”

“The coming together of Reliance 3G and Google in this exclusive partnership to promote Android was in itself a giant alliance meriting a larger-than-life marketing campaign. The social leg of the campaign included some very exciting and innovative engagements that brought to life the sequential theme of our TV campaign. We started off with the 'Be Blue' app where our Facebook fans could join in turning the Android bot from green to blue and followed it up with the 'Blue Groove' app where the Blue Bot comes alive on their webcams. The 'Blue Groove' merges the real and virtual worlds together in an AR based game that has been never done before on Facebook,” elaborated Dhanda.

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