The new Formula One (F1) season reaches the start line in Australia on 25 March, so teams and sponsors are revving up car launch campaigns ahead of the green light.
One of the most notably launch initiatives was Renault Sports’ RS18 reveal which was initially teased with a ‘build your own DIY hologram’ spot running across the Renault Sports social channels from 16 February,
before the main launch event and linked reveal campaign in tandem with Microsoft HoloLens on 20/21 February.
This launch work spanned a countdown digital commercial,
and a 3D holographic reveal,
partnership content with Microsoft revolving around its HoloLens product,
plus a 360-degree car view video.
The background behind the campaign leveraging the car build and launch is that improving track performance in F1 happens at ‘lightening speed’.
From earlier cars – such as the Re40 (1983) and the R31 (2011) – to the brand new RS18, the Renault Sport Formula One Team uses decades of data, innovation, and engineering to continuously evolve.
Now the team is working with Microsoft to use mixed reality technology to developed the performance and to connect every element of the car itself to fans and consumers through an immersive experience rather than just a blur on the track.
Something that the new F1 owners will also no doubt be delighted with.
Back in late September 2017 at the Singapore Grand Prix, the Renault Sport chief intelligence officer Pierre d’Imbleval discussed the bigger picture as to how F1 could use mixed reality and outlined the team’s Microsoft HoloLens partnership.
He stated that there was not just team development opportunities (such as in the design and testing stage), but also serious potential for fans to use HoloLens whilst watching an F1 race live so that they can get augmented race relevant live details and data on drivers, cars, positions, speeds and even a flavour of the drivers’ feelings and moods through voice commands and their gestures
Microsoft and Renault Sport F1 have been working closely since 2012, when the team was Lotus F1, with the aim of bringing digital transformation to the team.
With a smaller budget compared to several of its key rivals, the Renault team managed to migrate to cloud successfully last year: leaving behind the days when the Lotus F1 team used to ship its physical servers to every race venue.
The Microsoft partnership has also seen Renault Sport F1 deploy Dynamics 365 with Power BI, Dynamics CRM in cloud and of course, Azure and Office 365.
Last season also saw the team experiment with HoloLens in the viewing area of its pit garage: enabling VIP guests to come in to the garage during races and use HoloLens to get additional information, details and data when they look at the car in the garage.
But perhaps the next, bigger challenge is to take it to the grandstands and living rooms to make the sport itself more popular (building from F1’s self-declared 1.6bn cumulative audience) by leveraging tech trends and devices like HoloLens to provide mixed reality experiences.
Comment:
This HoloLens launch initiative shows that the partnership and the technology remains largely at an experimental level.
Plus, there are also potentially related issues around IP and cybersecurity that may need to be solved.
But it is an interesting and inventive start to bringing HoleLens mixed reality benefits from the Microsoft partnership to the fans.
This tech-focused tease and reveal tactical approach is increasingly common with F1 teams. Renault’s RS18 campaign ran in parallel to McLaren’s own #BeBrave launch campaign for its new MCL33 led by a ‘Night Shift’ tease film
and ‘first fire-up’ film ahead of its 23 February official launch.
For Renault Sport, this tech-led, inventive launch campaign follows in the footsteps of the team’s recent entry into the eSports world.
While for Microsoft, the promotion of Hololens through F1 follows its previous Hololens led vision of the sports experience future for the 2016 Super Bowl as part of its NFL partnership activation (see case study), as well as the tech giant’s ongoing sports tie-ups including further NFL work such as its current programme in partnership with six NFL superstars sharing powerful stories of how they are working to make an impact in their local communities.
Microsoft is also currently rolling out various Hololens partnerships in the arts and culture space.
HoloLens adds mixed reality to a Japanese national treasure https://t.co/MuI8AZbeIp
— Engadget (@engadget) February 21, 2018
Described by Microsoft as a next generation wearable computer, the consensus among many in the augmented reality community is that the Hololens is the best device currenty out there and available – but it is also arguably the most cost-prohibitive option with the development edition costing $3,000.
Links:
Microsoft
https://www.youtube.com/user/Microsoft
https://www.facebook.com/MicrosoftUK
https://www.instagram.com/microsoft/
Renault F1 / Renault Sport
https://www.youtube.com/user/renaultsport
https://www.facebook.com/renaultsport
https://www.flickr.com/photos/renaultsport/
https://twitter.com/RenaultSport
