Warpin Reality, Meta Take ‘Deep Dive’ for IKEA AR App

The hit immersive retail experience has rolled out across 21 IKEA stores in Sweden

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Augmented RealityNews Analysis

Published: February 24, 2023

Demond Cureton

Warpin Reality, a Stokholm, Sweden-based extended reality (XR) firm creating immersive experiences for clients, launched an augmented reality (AR) experience this month in a major partnership with Meta Platforms and IKEA.

The AR initiative, Lilla Äventyret (Swedish: Little Adventure), functions as an app filter on Instagram for people of all ages. IKEA worked with its XR partners to teach children the effects of pollution and litter on the ocean’s delicate ecosystem.

Users can scan QR codes across the store and explore numerous stations to play the immersive game. It additionally allows learners to study and take photos of marine life, such as sea turtles, octopuses, and orcas.

BLÅVINGAD IKEA collection featuring marine life theme. PHOTO IKEA

The game will launch across 21 stores in Sweden and the wintersport holiday season, inspired by IKEA’s BLÅVINGAD design series.

IKEA has leveraged Warpin Reality’s expertise and leveraged Meta’s Spark AR software developer kit (SDK) for large-scale deployment. According to IKEA, the project aims to “increase our understanding of how [AR] can affect a physical shopping environment.”

Comments on Warpin-Meta-IKEA Collaboration

Helena Gouiveia, IKEA Retail Sweden’s Marketing Manager, explained that her firm was “constantly exploring new ways” to meet customers.

She continued,

“Currently, we’re doing so by developing a game for everyone looking for a fun experience for the whole family. The game is based on our collection BLÅVINGAD, as well as children’s interests and curiosity, but also on their concerns related to our oceans. Thanks to the game, children can learn more about marine life and what happens under the surface while they are in our stores”

Lilla Äventyret (Little Adventure), IKEA’s in-store immersive experience. PHOTO: IKEA/ Warpin Reality/ Meta

Josefine Billström Raasakka, Creative Strategist for Meta, explained that as technology evolved, brand opportunities followed to “create more compelling and immersive experiences.”

She added,

“This project is an interesting step in creating a richer customer experience at IKEA by weaving in technologies such as augmented reality as part of the shopping experience.”

Emma Ridderstad, Chief Executive and Co-Founder of Warpin Reality, concluded that developing the AR-based “innovative family experience” with Meta and IKEA had been “great.”

She explained: “Working closely with Meta, we’ve challenged and tested the boundaries of SPARK AR, moving from a simple filter to creating a unique experience for the whole family.”

She stated that it would be “exciting” to see how families with children “play and have fun together” with the IKEA immersive experience. Furthermore, The app proved how people could use AR to “enhance the in-store customer experience.”

Immersive Experience Meets Customer Experiences

The news comes after Ridderstad spoke to XR Today in an interview about the Apple mixed reality (MR) headset delay. In the talks, she discussed some potential causes and challenges leading to the delay, as well as additional influences in the immersive hardware market.

Additional executives from XR consultancy firms like Journey have explored the value of immersive technologies for their brands. Sasha Wallinger, Head of Web3 and Metaverse for the Futures Intelligence Group, said at the time that world-building required transferring the “theoretical into the applied.”

Additionally, it helped plan scenarios to expect the “exciting moment” where Web3 gamification and “internal organisational change” realised immersive experiences.

 

 

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