British Land launches augmented reality campaign

British Land, which owns shopping centres including Meadowhall, Drake Circus, Teesside Stockton, and Glasgow Fort, aims to boost footfall in the run up to Christmas with the launch of one of the UK’s largest ever augmented reality games in retail property.

The ‘Freezy’s Christmas Adventure’ allows children to take part in a virtual present hunt, helping snowman Freezy overcome obstacles and gather gifts for Santa, while shopping at one of the 21 shopping centres across British Land’s retail portfolio taking part in the campaign.

Created in partnership with augmented virtual reality specialist Harmony Studios, the game will be the first of a four campaign deal, and is targeting families with children aged between three and nine in the run-up to Christmas.

The aim of the campaign, which runs until December 24, is to drive footfall, dwell time and brand loyalty as well as increase sales for occupiers. Recent research undertaken by British Land shows that events can increase dwell time by 41 percent and a recent enlivenment campaign increased footfall by 180bps ahead of the portfolio average.

Shopping centre aims to drive footfall using augmented reality game

Ben Dimson, head of business development for British Land, said: “Consumers want places where they can shop, eat and be entertained. We put our customers at the heart of our offer and Freezy’s Christmas Adventure will give families visiting our centres a fun and memorable experience. Our scale enables us to invest in innovation and industrialise successful technologies across the business.

“We have a loyal customer base who often shop with their children (18.3 percent compared to the national average of 14.8 percent) so we think a family game that can be safely uploaded and played again and again is perfect for our customers and their children.”

The ‘Freezy’ game will be available to play at: Beaumont, Leicester; Broughton, Chester; Crown Point, Denton; Drake Circus, Plymouth; Ealing Broadway, W5; Eden Walk, Kingston; Fort Kinnaird, Edinburgh; Glasgow Fort; Inverness; Meadowhall, Sheffield; New Mersey, Speke; Nugent, Orpington; Old Market, Hereford; Orbital, Swindon; Serpentine Green, Peterborough; SouthGate, Bath; St Stephen’s, Hull; Surrey Quays, SE16; Teesside, Stockton; Tollgate, Colchester and Whiteley, Hampshire.

The initiative follows app and gamification trials at three centres throughout 2016 as part of British Land’s commitment to embrace technology to enhance the in centre experience.

Image: courtesy of British Land