Museums + Heritage Show 2024: Thanks :0)

Thank you!

A huge shout out to everyone who organised and attended the Museums + Heritage Show last week (15 + 16 May 2024). We attended for the first time, and it was a truly inspiring and rewarding experience. We had over 80 conversations with amazing people representing museums and heritage settings across the UK and beyond, from Edinburgh Zoo and Kew Gardens early on the first day to London Fire Brigade Museum, our last conversation on the second day.

We demonstrated how augmented reality rewards (these are digital images, 3d objects, films and animations that are overlaid on a camera view so it appears as if they exist in the real world) can captivate, entertain, and delight audiences. Once shown, attendees quickly recognised how an AR tour could operate successfully in their setting and the engagement benefits they could achieve. This was great because it highlighted how AR tours could be deployed in ways we had never imagined. 

What attendees really wanted to know 

Through conversations with attendees, we became better at explaining our engagement solution. In addition to capturing people's attention with the offer to 'meet a dragon' (which went down very well), we focused on describing the basic format of an AR tour and associated the business impacts. 

What is an AR tour?

The format is simple. An AR tour combines the challenge and fun of a treasure trail with the magic of augmented reality. For example, players (visitors, app users) follow clues to find hidden artefacts that you have added to exhibits or sites you want visitors to discover. Players are rewarded with an AR reward when they find, clean, and save found artefacts. Players are encouraged to take and share amazing photos celebrating their AR reward. 

Visitors must be onsite to collect AR rewards. AR tours use trigger images, GPS or Bluetooth beacon signals to activate the presentation of hidden artefacts at precise locations. This means visitors must be in the right physical location to unlock specific AR rewards.   

Is Wi-Fi required?

AR tours are individual, fully branded, customised apps that visitors download from the App Store and Google Play. QR codes with links to the app stores on digital tickets and at Font of House are great for making this process easy. Once downloaded, no Wi-Fi is required!

What business impacts can be gained?

• Attract new audiences - AR rewards are stored in the player's collection area and can be accessed anywhere, even at home after the visit. This is an excellent way for visitors to share their experiences with family and friends and encourage them to visit.
• Increase onsite revenues - In-app messaging, geo-fenced to individual settings, can be used to drive increased cafe and shop revenues. One of our customers recorded an increase of 12% in AR tour app users' expenditure onsite compared to non-app users. 
• Increase social media presence - Photos with AR rewards shared on social media generate positive responses and are great for increasing social media presence. 
• Increase the number of GDPR compliant contacts - The 'Claim a certificate' feature, which is activated when players achieve predetermined collection goals, enables teams to grow GDPR-compliant contacts. 
• More frequent visits  - Once connected teams can encourage more frequent visits with the announcement of new AR reward releases.