By Danny Burzlaff, UNIT9
In 2022, the concept of ‘footfall’ has taken on a whole new meaning. The pandemic opened our eyes to a world where presence and engagement no longer have to be tied to a physical time and place – and digital innovation is to thank.
For destination-makers this is huge. Instead of being restricted by geographic location or capacity limits, brands, venues and institutions now have the power to break those boundaries and welcome a new wave of audiences virtually.
The key to so many of these opportunities for extension come via a trusty smartphone screen. Mobile experiences are a favourite amongst Gen Z and Alpha audiences. However, they have also become a familiar habit for visitors of all ages. This places the gateway to discovery, education and entertainment quite literally in people’s palms.
Key examples of virtual experiences
The Metropolitan Museum of Art’s mobile innovation allowed it to connect its worldwide audience with the exhibits they love. This is thanks to a gamified 360° digital reimagination of its world-famous galleries, welcoming hoards of remote visitors.
The experience saw virtual footfall overtake pre-pandemic in-person visits with over a billion impressions. Thus proving that interactive mobile tours and activations can open up previously unexplored visitor streams.
But as well as drawing visitors into a virtual world on screen, mobile technology has the power to bring attractions into our everyday lives. Combining augmented reality (AR) with cutting-edge geolocation technology can create some really powerful, localised results
The Science Museum recently capitalised on this with its Wonderland AR app. The location-based play experience extends learning ‘beyond the museum walls’. It allows kids to explore science phenomena by scanning objects in their everyday lives. This large-scale treasure hunt approach is a super fun way to engage young audiences and immerse them in the real world around them without site-specific limitations.
Using new tech to boost visitor numbers
This feeling of immersion can be a powerful device to connect with audiences. But whilst activations such as the Van Gogh experience in London have done an amazing job of surrounding in-person visitors with 360° projections and virtual reality, they’ve perhaps missed a trick by not offering a remote accompaniment to extend the experience.
Goodwood Festival of Speed, the JFK Museum and Library, and the Mauritshuis Museum in the Netherlands have all successfully explored how AR can help their events and exhibitions reach new audiences, using a variety of methods ranging from AR replicas of astounding physical features to an augmented portal that transports viewers into the heart of the art.
Extending a physical experience into the virtual space in this way is surely a no-brainer when you consider the expanded audience numbers. Mobile and AR have fast become staples within visitor experience, and a must-have for venues looking to increase footfall. But as we enter the Web 3.0 era, what will the maturity of the metaverse mean for visitor experiences of the future?
Virtual experiences and the metaverse
A new ecosystem of fully immersive, always-on virtual destinations is opening up. This provides amazing potential for an industry dedicated to entertainment, education and discovery. Key players such as Disney are already planning their moves and exploring what their offer could look like in the next evolution of the internet.
Leading metaverse gaming platforms such as Roblox, Fortnite and Decentraland offer surreal world-building options for destinations wanting to create mind-blowing virtual environments for their guests to explore. And with combined monthly users of over 370 million, that’s a lot of potential eyeballs.
The National Gallery has secured its spot as a first-mover in the space. The metaverse adaptation of its AR art-curation experience allows users to play at home. Meanwhile, South Korean attraction Lotte World is leading the way in the theme park market. Its virtual world on Zepeto taps into the avatar-centric app’s 200 million-strong teenage user base.
For those wishing to exercise full creative control, building their own metaverse platform from scratch would offer complete visual freedom, unbounded storytelling options, and lucrative commercial opportunities such as the sale of digital merchandise. Imagine a virtual reimagination of an attraction without limitations where guests from all over the world can connect with each other and explore rides or exhibits, as well as interacting with original IP and buying souvenirs.
So – as well as attracting visitors in, we can now bring the attraction to them with virtual experiences. Future-facing venues, brands and institutions should be embracing and exploring mobile, AR and metaverse activations. This can help to catapult their footfall to dizzying new heights and secure their place in a fast-evolving experience landscape.
Top image: Beat Challenge app & virtual experience, created by UNIT9 in partnership with PortAventura World and LaLiga
