John Deere Uses AR to Highlight Their Roots in Illinois and their New Technology Center in Chicago
They leaned into AR to tell their high-tech story to help spread the word about John Deere’s new technology center in the Fulton Market area of Chicago, IL. The experience was launched at this year’s Taste of Chicago. Groove Jones worked with EP+Co as part of a consumer activation at the event.
Surprise and Delight Digital Moments Next to the Big Rigs
Behind the company’s most exciting products are a bleeding edge network of data analytics and global positioning satellites allowing John Deere machines to operate at never-before-seen efficiencies with the option in some cases of features like autonomous plowing and seeding.
The onsite activation featured some of these iconic John Deere machines in larger-than-life settings, like turning a John Deere excavator into the world’s largest pizza cutter. (Of course, the pizza was a Chicago-style deep dish.)
Attendees at the Taste of Chicago were treated to a fantastic collection of John Deere applied science moments and company historical site tours by interacting with a large-scale map of the State of Illinois.
The map included QRCode links that would launch AR moments.
To drive the technology message home, John Deere utilized dynamic AR (Augmented Reality) to make the connection.
Interesting facts that tie John Deere to Illinois were integrated into the AR. Groove Jones digitally recreated downtown Chicago and iconic landmarks like – The Bean and The Fountain of Time. Both of which include animated people walking around and taking photos. By exploring the entire vignette, you can find the new John Deere technology center in the Fulton Market, which has created over 150 jobs in the city.
By moving out into the state’s rural areas, you can unlock vignettes highlighting how John Deere is using technology in the farming and agricultural setting, along with exciting facts about the state – like the fact that 75% of the land in Illinois is farmland.
Here, you can see how John Deere uses satellites to control autonomous tractors—the AR experiences with interactive as well. By tapping hotspots, guests can activate the vehicles that will animate and move around the fields.
We even recreated John Deere’s headquarters in Moline, Illinois.
Participants used mobile devices to activate virtual scenes bursting with true-to-life machine animations and jaw-dropping easter eggs. There were also opportunities to view the animated digital machinery juxtaposed with the real-life physical equipment.
Thousands of Chicagoans flooded the event, and friends of all ages and walks of life got a special moment of wonder, peering through their digital lens into the world of John Deere.
Attention To Details
The team paid particular attention to the John Deer Vehicles and the most minor details, like the characters in each scene.
Dozens of tiny people needed to be created and added to their unique story. Below, you can see the John Deere CEO waving hello to employees as they enter the door to the technology center.
We also recreated actual John Deere digital technologies, represented on the mobile devices held by the tiny AR avatars.
Every avatar character had subtle animations to bring them to life.
Groove Jones pushed the limits of web-based augmented reality experiences by combining the best image-based tracking and SLAM tracking with beautiful frame-by-frame cinematic animation.
About the Taste of Chicago
Below are some fun photos of the oversized Chicago-style pizza and John Deere pizza cutter designed and developed by EP+Co. Dave Najarian, our creative director on the production team, took a moment to pose in front of the oversized pie.
As you can see, the pie became a great focal point and picture spot.
