Toyota takes marketing beyond fiction
TOYOTA Australia has become one of the first companies in the world to use a Minority Report-style 3D interactive presentation powered by an Xbox to show off a new car to dealers.
Sydney-based transmedia production company The Project Factory created the demonstration unit for Toyota, linking the virtual reality controller to a PC, allowing users to manipulate a 3D model of the new Toyota FJ four-wheel-drive.
The car company wanted to demonstrate the capabilities of the car months before an actual model reached these shores and opted for the virtual reality demonstrator that allowed dealers to zoom around the car using an Xbox Kinect controller.
The system also allowed them to "explode" the car and look at individual elements, change colours and examine technological specifications.
Media understands Toyota has been using the unit to quietly demonstrate the model to dealers nationally in the past few weeks.
Guy Gadney, head of The Project Factory, said he believed it was the first commercial exploitation of a Kinect controller for a major corporation.
"this really is the Minority Report come to life," Mr Gadney said, referring to the 2002 Steven Spielberg movie that features Tom Cruise manipulating digital images with the flick of a hand.
Toyota does not plan to use the system with consumers, but Mr Gadney said the trial of the kiosks proved the concept worked and could be used in many fields, including architecture.
The system allows direct input of complex engineering or computer design data and makes it consumer friendly.
The development of the Kinect-based system is part of the "gameification" of marketing communications, as the popularity of the Xbox, Playstation and Wii accustoms consumers to advertising that works like a computer game.
"We have given a lot of thought to the interface," Mr Gadney said. "Such as using a clap as a way to expand the car. People clap differently, so we dropped that.
"None of the rules are really set yet, but we are trying to put a bit of gaming and fun into it.
"While the system had been developed using a Kinect attached to a computer, it may also be developed to the point where people could replicate an in-store experience with a virtual reality demonstration."
Since its launch in October last year, the Kinect controller has gone into the Guinness Book of World Records as the fastest selling consumer electronics device in history, with more than 10 million sold up to March.
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