INTERNATIONAL. Harding Retail is aiming to “revolutionise” retail design and guest experiences onboard cruise ships after partnering with Holovis, a specialist in employing immersive virtual and augmented reality solutions.
The partnership was announced in the Digital Village at the TFWA Exhibition in Cannes through an augmented reality take on a ceremonial ship launching, with a vessel bursting through the Holovis exhibition stand (pictured below).
The companies will use emerging technologies to “bring products and brands to life” and create memorable instore, onscreen and live event experiences under the new Harding IXRTM (immersive xperiential retail) banner.
“By harnessing the power of virtual, mixed and augmented reality, multisensory immersion and apps, we will revolutionise retail design and onboard guest experiences,” said Harding Retail Managing Director James Prescott. “This starts during the design phase by visualising environments in 1:1 scale, allowing stakeholders to review in real-time and make adjustments as they go.
“For passengers, the whole guest experience will be wrapped up into one app, so their journey begins from the moment they book their trip with personalisation options, itinerary planning and interactive content to inform and entertain at every possible touchpoint.”
Once onboard, the app will be used to bring to life a range of content rich media and other forms of entertainment. These can be tailored to different guest demographics and connected to the specific cruise brand and culture, the companies said. Examples include ship-wide augmented reality treasure hunts, augmented reality video experiences where the guests become part of the story, and interactive mini games and day trip trivia.
Holovis originally developed the ‘Extended Experience’ concept for the theme park and entertainment industry. Company CEO Stuart Hetherington commented: “There are no limits to what can be achieved through Extended Experience solutions and personalisation of guest journeys is now an essential requirement for our clients and the experiences we deliver.
“Through creative experience design coupled with incentives, achievements and leaderboard status for the guests to find, unlock or win, this plays well to the desire to enter competition with family, friends and other passengers and helps operators find non-intrusive ways of extending their passengers’ experience while driving increased revenues. We are very excited to be partnering with Harding on this exciting new venture.”
