Ford Mustang Mach-E Launch

When working on special projects for live events we are often challenged to ‘create a moment’. Over the years we have broken world records, brought movies to life and designed interactive data installations. These special moments aim to create a high positive emotional capital with the audience. When we are successful it is an extremely powerful way for our clients to build relationships with their customers.

We partnered with Imagination for the launch of the Ford Mustang Mach-E. We were commissioned to develop an augmented reality sequence to showcase the features of the all-new, all-electric SUV.

This event was modelled around a tv show format that included musical performances, special guests, interviews, projection mapped opening sequences and the use of 3D integrated technology in the form of Augmented Reality (AR). The event was successful (watched live by 3.5 million people on Twitter and over a million views on Youtube) as it included several of these special moments - all beautifully designed for camera.

Traditionally with live events we are forced to pinpoint the "sweet spot" from which the content will look its best and will become gradually less effective the further you move from that point. However within this broadcast format, designed to be viewed through a camera, every member of the audience is in the sweet spot and there is no hierarchy as to who gets the best experience.

Our task involved creating a realtime, interactive, 3D environment that would showcase the new features of the new Mustang Mach-E. Using Unreal Engine to create our sequences, these 3D segments were designed to seamlessly fit into a live broadcast. We developed fully-realized, spatial content that could be virtually filmed from any angle. We utilized Stype and the Red Spy system for our camera tracking integration. This fed us the data (including depth of field, focus and xyz position) for the two cameras used during the broadcast. Using this we could match the position and properties of the broadcast camera to the virtual camera in our scene.

In total we created six different content segments to showcase features of the vehicle including demonstrating the car driving in a variety of weather conditions. We then brought climate effects such as snow into the foreground to cover the entire scene.

This virtual approach enabled us to answer and educate the audience about common concerns with electric vehicles namely charging times, availability of charging stations, driving range and how the car performs in different climates. This branded virtual story could all be carried out before the car had even finished production.