We had to develop an innovative way for consumers to “put their hands” on the product or the experience had to be as innovative as the camera itself. Our strategic solution was to bring the Olympus PEN® E-PL1 to life in the pages of key magazine partners including Wired magazine and Popular Photography. The in-book four page insert was led by an actual size die-cut replica of the camera. This piece became the conduit for launching our augmented reality experience. When removed, readers were directed to getolympus.com/PEN3d to begin their 3D experience. When held up to a webcam, consumers were able to fully immerse themselves in the E-PL1 functionality on their own terms. This personal experience included the ability to take pictures or video, interact with the seven key art filters, experiment with the flash, and most importantly, share your entire experience across social platforms including Facebook.

Despite augmented reality being a relatively nascent medium, engagement levels exceeded our benchmarks. Over 250,000 people launched the experience at getolympus.com/PEN3d, and one in four shared it via social media. 33% of all tweets about the Olympus PEN® E-PL1 launch were specifically about the augmented reality experience. We clearly developed a powerful story - even insiders wanted to talk about it. Guy Kawasaki tweeted, “Totally cool way to test drive an Olympus camera!” Lastly, giving consumers the power to experience the E-PL1 on their own terms proved fruitful as the average-time-spent with the 3D camera was over three minutes!