Meta’s Reality Labs has unveiled its disruptive, fully immersive, ‘Halloween Thrillboards’ in the heart of Shoreditch, to mark the launch of the Meta Quest 3 and as part of the ‘Expand Your World’ consumer campaign running until the end of the year. Flipping the script on traditional 2D content, and the traditional 2D OOH that promotes it, this exciting activation offers people the chance to step into a billboard and experience the worlds of two huge entertainment franchises available as games on the headset: Ghostbusters and The Walking Dead, blurring the lines between the real and the virtual. Just like the new mixed-reality headset.
Running between 27th - 29th October at Protein Studios, London, these chilling billboards, created by AMV BBDO and Unit9, may appear normal at first glance, but offer an experience that transcends traditional boundaries. Members of the public will have the opportunity to enter the world of the games, stepping directly into specially crafted billboards of their favourite horror titles before enjoying an exclusive demo of Meta Quest 3.
The ambition of the activation is to showcase Meta Quest 3’s groundbreaking technology and make it the most requested and gifted item this holiday season. Demonstrating the next level of immersive technology, it aims to engage consumers with spine-tingling adventures of exclusive content from Ghostbusters: Rise of the Ghostlord and The Walking Dead: Saints & Sinners, broadening virtual reality’s appeal beyond gaming audiences and showing the extraordinary experiences available with Quest 3.
The Thrillboards employ a mixture of set design and special effects to create an appearance of a two-dimensional poster, before guests cross the boundary, the illusion is broken and the two realities blur. They are then transported through an immersive theatre experience, emulating game play culminating in a trial of the new headset.
Jason Miller, EMEA integrated marketing lead, said, “With these unique Thrillboards and the Meta Quest 3, we wanted to expand the reality of what's possible for consumers to experience this Halloween. We’re excited for people to get hands-on with the exclusive demos available and fully immerse themselves in the scares and thrills of this IRL experience. People can see first-hand what's so amazing about mixed-reality and the Meta Quest 3, with a wide range of experiences available for everybody.”
AMV BBDO creative directors Michael Jones and Thomas Hazledine said, “Unlike most Halloween launches, games on the new Meta Quest 3 is a world-expanding experience that blurs the lines between gaming and reality. Thrillboards activates this experience, casting our visitors not as spectators, as typical billboards do, but as active participants, both in real life and on the Quest, launching them straight into a reality bending immersive journey”.
This campaign was led by Meta Reality Labs Marcom & in-house creative agency Creative X , in partnership with AMV BBDO and Unit9, who managed creative and production respectively.