Adrian Soto
Experiential
Marketing
Toyota VR Experience
As you can see from the use of an Oculus DK2 headset, this is an old one!
The challenge was: how can you get as many people as possible into the car without having to take it outside for a test drive? The answer was a Virtual Reality simulation using the actual car as the controller!
We placed various sensors on the car's pedals and steering column to collect user input, which was then sent to the headset so people could use the car to navigate the virtual track.
Even by today’s standards, this was a very innovative project!
There is a video of the prototype of the steering wheel sensor (using a can of Pringles) here:
Movistar - Keylor Navas penalty
At the time of the project, Movistar was sponsoring the famous Costa Rican goalkeeper Keylor Navas. They wanted to create an interactive game where participants could try to score him a penalty kick.
For this project, we equipped a soccer ball with a sensor that detected when it was kicked and its general direction. A digital version of Keylor would then attempt to block the virtual ball.
To keep the real ball in place, we attached it to a soccer training device.
You can find more information about this project here:
Claro - Soccer
This was probably one of the most popular games we created. It was used hundreds of times throughout the entire soccer season. Typically, we would set it up at the entrances of soccer stadiums, where people would line up for a chance to win various prizes.
The game featured a hexagon with sensors on each side. Players would step inside the hexagon and pass the ball to the side that lit up. At the same time, a screen displayed the game’s instructions, timing, and directions for where to pass the ball. Prizes were awarded based on how many successful passes the player made in under a minute.
You can find more information about this project here:
FIFCO - Spinning race
Using similar technology to what I used for the virtual reality cycling experience, we transformed a regular spinning bike into a fun and competitive game. The objective was simple: be the fastest! Players competed against the top time of the day. They were given a 30-second warm-up, followed by an intense 1-minute sprint to give it their all. If a player beats the fastest time, their score becomes the new benchmark to beat.
An unexpected but fun outcome was that people kept returning to the booth to see if anyone had outperformed them. The competition became so intense that we eventually had to provide drinks and snacks to help participants recover from the physical effort.
You can see a video of the game here:
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Kolbi - Christmas sled
This two-player game was an endless sled gift-collecting experience with a fun twist. The controls worked like this: one player was responsible for steering the sled left, while the second player controlled the right. Each player had their own button to press for turning. To jump over obstacles, both players had to slap their hands together.
We detected the hand slap using a clever, custom-built capacitive sensor.
You can see a video of the game here:
My journey through experiential marketing
Before joining SweetRush, I had a startup that provided engineering services to advertising agencies. We offered consulting for creative directors, but we also developed a wide range of experiential marketing games. While some were fully digital, many required us to build custom hardware to interact with the games—those were my favorites! The examples mentioned above are just a few highlights.