There’s nothing like seeing an augmented reality (AR) pop star dancing next to your sofa, albeit through your phone screen, to bring the possibilities of new technology to life.

And interacting with world-famous artists who seem to be right in front of us, through a virtual reality (VR) headset, has really got us wondering about the meaningful, connected experiences we could create next.

We’re talking about jumping into the online world of immersive content. As fast-developing tech makes it easier, the popularity of entering virtual and augmented realities is exploding. Experiences are quickly becoming more sophisticated and, according to those in the know, we’re just scratching the surface.

“This technology is so new, most people don’t know what it’s capable of yet,” says Nick Fellingham, CEO of Bristol-based tech company Condense, which specialises in capturing live events and streaming them as photo-realistic 3D video.

“These kinds of events aren’t a replacement for in-person events,” he continues, “but one of the benefits they bring is that people anywhere in the world can access them.

“For audiences, the feeling of connection is one of the things they rate highly about our tech.  As we see more and more people using it in the next couple of years, more people and organisations will start to understand the ability tech like this has to create connections and meaningful experiences.”

It’s food for thought for forward-thinking companies, keen to join the metaverse in a meaningful way, and wondering how.  

“Diageo and Johnnie Walker came to us with the challenge of reframing how they engage with their customers,” says Deloitte director of unlimited reality, Ed Plaskow.

For Ed, balancing creativity and value was at the heart of his role on the project.  “When it comes to innovation, it’s crucial to have a goal in mind that tracks back to value,” he says. 

“We knew from working with Diageo what the goals were around marketing, new customers and brand positioning, and we worked backwards from those.” 

Designed to be repeatable and scalable, Diageo has already learned from Walk Beyond and can build on the experience by re-running the event anywhere in the world.

“We’re piloting exciting projects in the Filipino market. My vision is to widen the ambition to Southeast Asia and even globally,” says Celine.

“This is just the start.”

“There’s so much going on in the space of 3D video and immersive technology,” continues Dan.  “We have clients asking us how they should use tech like this and we’re also identifying opportunities where 3D could help a client engage with its customers better.” 

As this was a first, casting the net wide to find the right collaborators, stitching different tech elements together seamlessly and problem solving were among the team’s challenges. 

Specifically, we brought one piece of Condense’s tech – the ability to live-stream real world events as 3D photorealistic video - together with an online experience we built specifically for this campaign, that allowed people to watch the live stream.  

“Condense is a start up, so its tech was adaptable enough to meet this project’s bespoke needs,” Dan continues. “And because it’s a growing company, we hope the project can support its trajectory, with experience it can take to new markets.” 

“Having relationships with collaborators at the forefront of this tech means we can link them up with the right clients, be the glue that holds it together, and create something really exciting.”