AWESTRUCK's custom built VH1 "Pop Up" Augmented Reality Experience premiering at Music Festivals across the US 2012

NEW YORK, Aug. 9, 2012 /PRNewswire/ -- VH1's beloved Emmy Award-nominated music video franchise "Pop Up Video" returns this summer to our screens. To celebrate the launch of the new season on Monday, August 6 at 12pm ET/PT on VH1, AWESTRUCK was approached to develop an engaging and entertaining real-life experience to tour music festivals for VH1.

For the first time ever, VH1 and AWESTRUCK Marketing Group brought the fun of Pop Up Video through an Augmented Reality Experience to Lollapalooza 2012 by putting attendees in the spotlight as stars of their own videos.

Building off the success of Pop Up Augmented Reality Experience at Lollapalooza, VH1 will be traveling to the Summer MixTape Fest on Aug 17 and 18, 2012 to give attendees there the chance to experience it for themselves too. "The experience has been so successful and well received, we are very excited to be taking the event to a new crowd at MixTape. We are extremely happy with the results and development of the program. It really shows why AWESTRUCK makes a great partner for us at VH1," commented Stephanie Werner, VP VH1 Consumer Marketing Partnerships and Promotions.

"VH1 came to us to help them develop an experiential marketing program to re-launch their Pop Up Video franchise in a big way. Our thought was to offer consumers the opportunity to put themselves into a pop up environment and then to take it a step further by extending the pop up factoids everyone associates with Pop Up Video into mini-experiences to further engage consumers with these core elements, of the franchise," said Joel Arnold, Creative Director and VP, Creative & Client Strategy at AWESTRUCK Marketing Group. "The Pop Up Video Augmented Experience is unlike any other that we've seen to date."

AWESTRUCK custom designed an experience that employs customized tactics that drive consumer awareness and interaction as well as creating an impactful and innovative story to garner buzz with its loyal audience. The experience was designed using dynamic Augmented Reality software and is a first in the USA.  Though other brands have undertaken smaller AR experiences, the VH1 program is the first that allows multiple consumers to engage in Augmented Reality in such a large scale and at a live event. While the technology for this event exists across multiple developers, the difference here is the vast capability of the APP and the activation of more than 100 Augmented Experiences within the program.

A HUGE Pop Up Video branded screen allows consumers to step into the world of Pop Up Video at the festivals this August. The giant branded digital video screen, with an integrated camera and software, catches the action in the footprint in real-time, broadcasting everything in the area live on screen. Consumers are handed 'markers' (a VH1 branded paddle fan for them to keep) that the Augmented Reality uses to identify where they are as they enter the space and interact with elements on the screen in front of them.

There are several different types of Augmented Reality experiences or POPS being used for this campaign - video and photography of the experience are available and can be requested from the contact below. The experiences include location and consumer based POPS, marker replacements, artist animation and video animations.

"The experience is totally multi-user and activates on a large format digital screen making any barriers non-existent, you just need to be there. All a user must do is walk into frame holding a marker.  Our App recognizes markers, tracks users, replaces markers and reacts to their movement's, which makes this experience the most dynamic multi-user augmented reality engagement created to date," added Arnold.

"We cannot thank VH1 and the Pop Up Video Team enough for taking risks and being truly willing to push the boundaries in experiential marketing with us at AWESTRUCK and for the organizers at Lollapalooza for letting us premier it at their festival," said Robin Potash, President of AWESTRUCK Marketing Group.

The Pop Up Video experience will be live at the Summer MixTape Fest on August 17-18 at the Hershey Park Stadium. Hersey PA. Summer MixTape Fest 2012, the major new music festival set to launch this summer, that will be celebrating the mainstream music scene from across the U.S. Featuring two stages over two days and presenting platinum-selling marquee acts, popular acts will include Kelly Clarkson, The Fray, LL Cool J, Carly Rae Jepsen, The Ready Set, New Kids on the Block and highlight the ONLY North American appearance of NKOTBSB in 2012.

About AWESTRUCK Marketing Group:

AWESTRUCK is a full service experiential agency that produces marketing solutions and events that drive measurable results for brands seeking true engagement with their target consumers. And because every experience is an opportunity to connect, they amplify their work via integrated social and digital media.  Based in New York and Los Angeles, they conduct world class operations there and everywhere in between. 

About VH1

VH1 connects viewers to the music, artists and pop culture that matter to them most with TV series, specials, live events, exclusive online content and public affairs initiatives. VH1 is available in 99 million households in the U.S. VH1 also has an array of digital channels and services including VH1Classic, VH1 Soul, VH1 Mobile, and extensive video on VH1.com.  VH1 is a unit of Viacom Inc. (NASDAQ: VIA, VIAB), one of the world's leading creators of programming and content across all media platforms.  For more information visit VH1.com, the VH1 Facebook page and @VH1 on Twitter.

Contact:
Christian Hodgkinson
Press Officer AWESTRUCK Marketing Group      
[email protected]                   
917-497-5714

SOURCE AWESTRUCK