Santander Bank, N.A. and ad agency Arnold released a project film and launched a new consumer app for the “In Someone Else’s Shoes” program, a social impact initiative aimed at reminding us that everyone deserves to be treated with respect. The experience seeks to spread respect through understanding of the working homeless, a group that represents 25 percent of the homeless population. By shining a light on some of the challenging realities facing this population, “In Someone Else’s Shoes” offers participants a unique opportunity to immerse themselves in a reality many are unaware of with the hope of building awareness, changing perceptions and helping individuals and families secure more permanent housing.
The “In Someone Else’s Shoes” app gives consumers the opportunity to continue the experience, engaging with cutting edge augmented reality (AR) technology to better understand some of the issues and challenges of being homeless while being employed full-time. The app allows participants to experience immersive day-in-the-life moments drawn from real-life experiences of the working homeless population. For every app download, Santander will donate $1 to organizations committed to getting people into more permanent housing.
“This piece of content was purposely designed to put the viewer in the subject’s shoes and see things from a different point of view,” said James Bray, executive creative director at Arnold. “Together with Santander, we wanted to leverage the power of augmented reality to allow the viewer to empathize and connect with the character. We brought together the best-in-class thinking of our emerging technology team in the Havas group as well as our partner Arcturus to create the end-to-end customer experience.”
The “In Someone Else’s Shoes” experience is a breakthrough in AR technology as the first real-time retargeting volumetric content ever released, as well as the longest AR volumetric piece released to date. The experience is pioneering the integration of volumetric video, photogrammetry and computer graphics.
The program kicked off last month with interactive art installations set up in high foot-traffic, pedestrian areas in Boston. Through the “In Someone Else’s Shoes” immersive AR experience, participants were introduced by video to the plight of the working homeless through the life of “Jen,” a full-time employed nurse’s assistant living in her car, and then step into her shoes through a series of immersive augmented reality experiences depicting a snapshot of her life.
Throughout the “In Someone Else’s Shoes” activation, more than 2,000 people engaged with the immersive experience in Boston, driving more than 4,800 pedometer app downloads, and generating over $200,000 in donations from Santander to Heading Home, a non-profit organization which has been pioneering programs to end homelessness in Greater Boston for four decades. Santander wanted to share the AR technology experience with the broader consumer market via the consumer app, which is available in the Apple App Store or Google Play.
