Team Arilyn, wonder women Emmi and Katri, travelled the globe to showcase augmented reality and Arilyn to the visitors at Slush Singapore. The adventure was full of hot encounters and furry surprises. Read on!
Team Arilyn landed at Changi airport on the 12th of September, 2018. First thought: Hot. Really hot. Second thought: Valtteri Bottas! Finnish Formula 1 driver, standing next to us in a queue to the passport control. Finland never follows far behind. It looks like we're not going to be the only Finns in Singapore next weekend.
We headed straight to Marina Bay the first night, more specifically to the Gardens with the magical supertrees. Accidentally, we arrived just as the light show was about to start. And WHOA! The music came out, and the magnificent trees began to turn from one colour to another and twinkle with tiny lights. We were dazzled by the beauty of it all. The whole garden was full of fascinating light installations, and it was like walking inside a fairytale.
The next day was full of networking events, arranged by Business Finland and the local partner Next Twenty. We had a chance to demo our product to over 100 people, and the reception was just brilliant. With the generic app and the web-based manager, Arilyn was a welcome innovation that would help the local brands engage their customers more memorably and interactively.
This time the Slush venue was at Zepp@BigBox. Business Finland, the City of Helsinki, and Zoan had designed and built our joint booth. There was a positive vibe from the beginning, and it got better and better throughout the day.
We had created a VR experience called Virtual Helsinki. With Zoan equipment, we took the visitors to the Virtual Senate Square in Helsinki. There you could visit the VR booths of the Finnish companies. This VR experience was very popular with a constant flow of intrigued users.
When demonstrating Arilyn to the visitors, it became evident that AR has not quite landed in Singapore yet. Our AR business cards gained much interest, and our other demos and client campaigns blew them away.
The Slush day ended with a Finnish delegation venturing through the nightlife of Singapore. It was an absolute pleasure to spend the week with such joyful and innovative people!
Singapore was impressive in many ways, not least due to the delicious food and beautiful scenery. We left with the thought that the people were energetic and eager to learn and try new technologies. Arilyn being among the top AR providers in the world, we see massive potential in this market. A visit worthwhile!