Tag: iPad App

Volkswagen virtual Golf Cabriolet app

The Golf Cabriolet is back after 9 years of absence, since production was stopped in 2002. Volkswagen together with Paris based agency ‘Agency.V.’ have come up with the worlds first augmented reality car showroom app for the iPad2, iPhone and Android. Here, augmented reality means using the phone or tablet screen as a lightweight showroom for a virtual version of the car.

The app lets you explore the vehicle and play with it’s features like opening the soft-top roof, rotating the car, checking the vehicle’s details, changing the body colour or the style of the rims. You can even take a picture of yourself with the virtual car and share each step of this experience through your social networks.

Why this is a useful AR showroom idea

This is a clean, practical use of augmented reality. It gives people a way to “handle” the car without needing a dealership visit. The experience stays focused on the things people actually want to try first. The roof open and close. The rotation. The color and rim changes. Because the app turns the screen into a hands-on showroom, the product feels easier to explore and share.

Extractable takeaway: AR product demos work best when they compress first-touch exploration into a few obvious actions people already want to try.

In car marketing, that shifts the first product interaction from the dealership to the viewer’s own screen.

What Volkswagen is really demonstrating here

The business intent is not to recreate the full dealership experience. It is to move the first high-interest product interaction into a portable format people can control, personalize, and share.

The real question is whether that kind of lightweight showroom removes enough friction to make early product interest feel immediate and worth passing on.

What to take from this if you are building AR product demos

  1. Prototype “touch” moments first. Opening, rotating, and quick configuration are the behaviors people expect before they care about specs.
  2. Keep the interaction set small and obvious. A few high-intent controls beat a feature dump in early-stage AR.
  3. Make sharing a natural outcome of exploration. A photo-with-the-product moment is a low-friction distribution mechanic.
  4. Use AR to remove the dealership barrier. The value is access and play, not realism for its own sake.

A few fast answers before you act

What is the Volkswagen virtual Golf Cabriolet app?

An augmented reality car showroom app for iPad2, iPhone and Android that lets people explore and customize the Golf Cabriolet.

What can you do inside the app?

Open the soft-top roof, rotate the car, check details, change body colour, change rim styles, and take a photo with the virtual car to share socially.

Who created it with Volkswagen?

Paris based agency ‘Agency.V.’.

Why is this a useful AR showroom idea?

It brings the core product exploration moments onto a personal screen, so people can interact with the car before any dealership visit.

Where could people download it?

From the French iTunes Store for iPhone and iPad 2, and from the Android market for Android devices.

Renault Espace: iPad 360° View

The Renault Espace is a large MPV from French car-maker Renault. With a new iPad app, Renault gives users an onboard view of the Espace like never before.

The application is a 360 degree interactive video. All you need to do is tilt your iPad and explore different angles as if you were right there.

A virtual showroom that behaves like your head

The mechanism is refreshingly direct. The app uses the iPad’s motion sensors to map physical movement to viewpoint changes inside the car. Instead of tapping through static photos, you “look around” by moving the device. It is a smart use of motion sensing because it keeps the interface invisible and the focus on the cabin.

In automotive consideration journeys, anything that increases spatial understanding of the interior helps bridge the gap between online browsing and a test drive.

Why it lands

Interior experience is one of the hardest things to communicate in standard car marketing. This solves that by letting the user control perspective. It also creates a calmer kind of interactivity. No menus, no instructions, no friction. Just tilt and explore.

Extractable takeaway: When your product has a strong spatial component, give people viewer control over perspective. It builds confidence faster than adding more copy.

What Renault is really trying to achieve

The real question is whether this kind of “tilt to explore” experience reduces uncertainty enough to make a showroom visit feel worth it.

This is a digital test-sit, a lightweight simulation of sitting in the cabin so you can judge layout and comfort before a showroom visit. It is designed to make the Espace feel accessible before a showroom visit, and to reduce uncertainty about cabin layout, visibility, and perceived comfort. Done well, it also keeps attention longer than a typical brochure flow.

Steal this for spatial product demos

  • Use motion as navigation. If the device supports it, motion control can feel more natural than UI controls.
  • Keep the interaction single-mode. One behaviour. Tilt to look. That simplicity is the feature.
  • Prioritise the interior. For family vehicles, cabin experience often sells more than exterior styling.
  • Let curiosity drive. Give users freedom to explore, rather than forcing a predetermined tour.
  • Make it fast to load. Interactive video dies when buffering becomes the dominant experience.

A few fast answers before you act

What is this Renault Espace iPad app in one sentence?

It is an iPad experience that uses a 360 degree interactive onboard video so users can tilt the device to explore the Espace interior from different angles.

Why use 360 video instead of a standard photo gallery?

Because it communicates space and layout more effectively. Users can look where they want, which reduces uncertainty faster than scrolling images.

What makes “tilt to explore” feel intuitive?

It mirrors how people look around in real life. Physical movement maps directly to viewpoint changes, so interaction feels natural.

What is the main execution risk?

Performance. If motion tracking feels laggy, or the video quality is poor, users will abandon quickly and the experience will feel like a gimmick.

What should you measure if you ship this type of experience?

Time spent, percentage of users who explore multiple viewpoints, completion rate, repeat sessions, and whether it correlates with test-drive requests or dealer inquiries.

Black Eyed Peas: BEP360 AR music video

The smartest artists in 2011 are starting to behave like brands. Not only by releasing content, but by building experiences around it that fans can actually play with.

BEP360 is a strong example of that thinking. It packages a 360-degree, motion-controlled music video experience around The Black Eyed Peas, designed for iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch.

The core mechanic is simple. You move your device, and the camera view moves with you, giving you viewer control inside the scene. Viewer control here means you choose the camera angle in real time by moving the device. On top of that, BEP360 includes an augmented reality layer triggered by pointing the iPhone camera at the album cover for The Beginning, plus a virtual photo session feature that lets fans stage shots with the band and share them.

In global entertainment marketing, app-based experiences are becoming a practical way to deepen fandom between releases and justify paid content with participation.

The real question is whether you are building a replayable interaction fans control, or just dressing up a single-view clip with novelty features.

It is also an early signal of where “music video” can go when it is treated as a product experience rather than a clip you watch once. The app is billed as a first-of-its-kind 360-degree mobile music video, built under will.i.am’s will.i.apps banner, with augmented reality support via Metaio and 3D360 video technology referenced in early coverage.

Why this is more than a promo gimmick

The best part is the shift from passive viewing to participation. A 360-degree experience creates a reason to replay, because you cannot see everything at once. That replay value is what standard video launches rarely earn.

Extractable takeaway: If the experience gives people control over what they see, replay becomes the point, and that repeat engagement is what turns a launch into something that feels like a product.

What the AR layer adds, and what it does not

The AR trigger is not the main event. It is a novelty layer that extends the universe into the physical world, using the album cover as the marker. The real value is the combination of interactive video plus social output. Fans can create something and share it, which keeps the campaign alive without requiring more media spend.

Fan-first interactive video playbook

  • Give people viewer control. Control creates replay value.
  • Bundle features around one hero action. Here the hero action is “step inside the video”. Everything else supports that.
  • Use AR as an on-ramp, not the whole product. A quick wow moment is fine, but the experience must hold attention afterwards.
  • Design for sharing outputs. Photo sessions and remixable moments extend reach organically.

A few fast answers before you act

What is BEP360?

BEP360 is a Black Eyed Peas iOS app that turns a music video into an interactive 360-degree experience controlled by moving your device, with an added augmented reality layer triggered by the album cover.

What makes the music video “360-degree” in this case?

The camera perspective changes as you rotate or swing the phone, giving you control over where you look inside the scene while the track continues.

How does the augmented reality part work?

You point your iPhone camera at the The Beginning album cover, and the app overlays animated BEP characters and related content on screen.

Why does an app make sense for music marketing?

Because it can bundle interaction, social sharing, and ongoing fan content into one place. It gives people a reason to pay for the experience, not only consume a free clip.

What is the main risk with app-based fan experiences?

Friction. If downloads, device compatibility, or onboarding are annoying, the idea collapses. The experience has to deliver value within seconds.