Stockmann is a department store heavily investing in its Christmas season. It has for years delighted customers and passers-by with a collection of holiday decorations, creating a warm and fuzzy atmosphere all throughout and inside-out the store.
This year, Stockmann department stores in Helsinki, Vantaa, Espoo, Tampere and Turku, Finland, and Riga, Latvia, and Tallinn, Estonia, launch an AR Christmas adventure to delight customers and bring in that holiday vibe.
Fairytale gone virtual
As a part of Stockmann's 160-year celebration, the department store launched a Christmas fairytale to inspire the traditional Stockmann Christmas window in Helsinki.
"Once upon a time, there was a Christmas party to which all the animals were invited. A cake was to be baked – a cake of such splendour that no creature had seen something like it before. Each animal was to make a contribution.
The squirrel had found an assortment of nuts, and the elephant helped him crush them. The lemurs brought bananas, carried by their curly tails. The fox had made a jam out of rowanberries. The penguins smoothed the sides of the cake with their flippers, and the hummingbird arranged 160 candles on top of the cake, and everything looked just perfect.
But wait! Something very important was still missing.
Who would light the candles?"
The adventure begins from Stockmann's Christmas window, where the forest animals are having the most wonderful Christmas party. The story continues inside the department stores through an augmented reality mobile game.
Once Stockmann's visitors launch the game, they notice that the animals' Christmas cake is in trouble - all the ingredients are scattered around the department store! Can you help the animals find everything needed for the cake and save the celebration in an augmented reality game?
Once the cake is finished, there is a surprise prize for you!
Connecting the real and the virtual
Stockmann's AR adventure connects the virtual storyline with the physical shopping environment. Stockmann guides its audience to the virtual story from their customer magazine and newsletter, social media and at the entrances of the department stores.
The AR Christmas adventure aims to bring fairytale magic to children and families and delight all Christmas lovers.
"It is essential for us to be accessible, both in the real and the virtual. For Arilyn to create this experience for our audience with such a low bar to participate is truly amazing!" said Stockmann's In-Store Marketing Manager, Kati Parkkinen.
The mobile game is available through mobile devices' browsers - no app downloads, installations or registrations are needed. You can start the game here and finish it in Stockmann stores in Helsinki, Vantaa, Espoo, Tampere, Turku, Tallinn and Riga.
