Augmented reality campaign from DKNY brings art and tech together

DKNY Augmented reality

The technology has been added to a massive New York City billboard at Houston and Broadway.

DKNY had held the massively coveted billboard location in New York City at Houston Street and Broadway for 16 years until it was taken over by Abercrombie & Fitch in 2008, but now it is back with a vengeance and with augmented reality, to boot.

The DKNY billboard had previously been a black and white bold statement on the southern Manhattan side.

The building that supported the billboard was purchased by Abercrombie & Fitch in 2008 and removed the DKNY advertising, bringing about a negative reaction from a considerable number of New Yorkers. Five years later, DKNY is bringing back its advertising efforts and is expanding them through the use of a number of installations worldwide, including the use of augmented reality.

DKNY Augmented realityThese augmented reality billboards will be installed in a number of major cities around the world.

In fact, DKNY has commissioned ten artists from ten different cities in order to create the outdoor interpretations of New York City in those various cities. The cities include New York City, Paris, London, Dubai, Paris, Hong Kong, Kuwait City, Seoul, Shanghai, and Tokyo. The context of the interpretation will need to include the New York theme into the actual city into which the billboard will be installed. The works will go beyond billboards and will also include projected media, sculpture, and kiosks.

DKNY has brought a number of photos together of many of the various works combined with interviews of the artists and other behind the scenes content at its own website. The site has also posted over several social media sites.

Furthermore, the design house has gone beyond its micro-site and has also released an augmented reality application for both Android and iOS that allows its users to aim their mobile devices at each of the pieces of artwork in order to be able to view a contextual video. The goal is to generate a much larger level of engagement that would be produced by traditional billboards. Moreover, to encourage more participation and interaction from consumers, the large pieces will be moved to various undisclosed locations that are revealed only through clues on Facebook and Twitter.

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