In the times of digitalisation, comic books, or books in general, are losing their audience. Physical entertainment providers need to find new ways to engage their audience, and augmented reality is one way to do so.
In an August 2018 number of Aku Ankka, the Finnish equivalent to Donald Duck revealed a story featuring a cartoon look-alike of Finnish superstar Sanni. The story also featured augmented panels hiding a real-life Sanni and a competition to win tickets to her upcoming Arena show.
| Client | Aku Ankka |
| Production | Warner Music Finland, Arilyn |
Childhood dream coming to life with AR
This issue of Donald Duck was released on 8.8.2018 and was part of a theme year carried out by the magazine. Throughout the year, Aku Ankka published stories featuring cartoon look-alikes of well-known Finnish people. A superstar loved and appreciated nationwide, Sanni fulfilled a childhood dream of being part of the comic.
Warner Music Finland and Arilyn came together to create a first of its kind AR experience.
Within the magazine's pages, the readers could look for hidden augmented panels in the Sanni story, with real-life Sanni popping out of the magazine and one of the panels containing a chance to win tickets to her "Tähden Areena" show. This was the first time we used a comic as a base for an augmented adventure engaging both new and existing Sanni fans.
Cartoon magazines and arena shows sold out with the help of AR
Thanks to the augmented reality campaign, the magazines quickly sold out all over the country, and the Aku Ankka readers scanned the augmented panels over 40 000 times in just a week. Positive messages and fan videos filled Sanni's social media, and her arena show sold out completely.
