Augmented reality ads attack Vienna with a zombie invasion

the walking dead zombies augmented reality marketing

A digital signage campaign in the city is helping to launch the fifth season of “The Walking Dead”.

The hit television show called “The Walking Dead” has started its fifth season in the United States, but when the zombie focused series prepared to air in Austria, its marketing campaign included a unique augmented reality element that added a gory boost to its signage campaign in Vienna.

For two days, the city featured a “Scary Shelter” in a frightening experimental mobile marketing campaign.

Sky Austria, a television network, and Gewista, an out of home Austrian ad firm (which is a part of the JCDecaux Group) added augmented reality components to a tram stop in order to create a Scary Shelter. That structure included digital signage that used AR technology to make it look as though the capital of the country was suddenly experiencing a zombie apocalypse. This brought an entirely new level to the experience associated with the TV show.

The augmented reality marketing installation brought a real time feed of the street with zombie footage.

The AR experience makes it appear as though the street is being viewed as it normally is in Vienna. However, those using the transit shelter were suddenly surprised with the appearance of zombies that started to make their way into the view of the street. This was quite startling and attention grabbing for those who were waiting in the shelter, but soon attracted attention as it allowed people to be able to “participate” in the zombie invasion.

According to the Fox International Channels senior marketing manager, Karin Zipperling, when posting on the Gewista website, a new tradition is starting to form around the world that involves “spectacular happenings” in order to launch the beginning of new television seasons. Also using this style of marketing was the “Morphing Billboard” campaign that occurred last year in Berlin. Zipperling expressed that “We hope that we can repeat this success with the Scary Shelter.”

Other campaigns that have used augmented reality in bus shelters have included one that was run in London in March of this year, by Pepsi. It amused transit users as it made it appear as though aliens had landed, giant tigers were running loose, and other exciting and quite startling events.

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