BBH's Groundbreaking AR Family Guy Game Showcases Samsung Intelligent Home

Leading global creative agency BBH has harnessed augmented reality (AR) and a Family Guy collaboration to provide Samsung with a highly innovative way to market its products. 

Doorways, which launched at Berlin’s IFA innovations show, is an interactive AR platform that allows the user to step into a different world and fully immerse themselves in all its intricate details. It is designed to bring Samsung’s Intelligent Home devices to life, teach consumers how they work and show the potential of a fully connected home. 

Consumers use a Samsung device to enter a special Doorways display area. The Family Guy game is then overlaid on the location using AR. By mapping the physical space to the virtual Family Guy house, players can walk and look around as they would in real life. Their phones act as a lens into the interior of the Griffin’s house containing Samsung’s Intelligent Home devices. The player will then receive a series of tasks in a story narrative featuring Family Guy’s main character Peter Griffin. These tasks show how connected devices can work together to make life easier and better. 

For example, the player will be asked to find some ‘classy dinner music’. They can then select Spotify on a display panel on the fridge. The user will then be guided by Bixby to the front room where music will automatically transfer to the television and the lighting will change accordingly. This is a simple demonstration of how Samsung’s music continuity system works and a practical application of the concept of device group control.

Doorways players will also be taught how to connect their TV to their fridge to view its contents and select ingredients, connect to their oven to turn it on, set their washing machine to run and reduce the temperature of their fridge to chill wine. 

BBH conceived this creative solution as a response to Samsung’s desire to make the power of smart devices and the Internet of Things (IoT) more fun and accessible. By using the humour of Family Guy as the basis for the game, it engages with Samsung’s key millennial demographic. AR provides an immersive experience and the flexibility to show a range of Samsung’s smart devices in action. It also enables Doorways to be easily taken to key locations across the world. 

Ian Heartfield, Chief Creative Officer at BBH London, said: “For many consumers smart devices and the Internet of Things can seem like a complicated concept. It can be difficult for them to see what these devices can do and how they can all work together to benefit them. This need to bring it all to life for consumers is why we developed Doorways. Harnessing AR and the wit of Family Guy gives Samsung a unique solution to a complex challenge.

The development of Doorways was a collaborative endeavor with MediaMonks working as creative digital production partners and the Family Guy production team partnering with BBH on the narrative and experience. Google provided both technical consultation and its AR Core technology to power Doorways.

Martin Verdult, Managing Director, MediaMonks London, said “AR technology has already graduated from a gimmick to becoming a proven added value for innovative brands. It’s a great way to communicate with consumers in the always on, connected world. We enjoyed collaborating closely with BBH’s creative team on using our AR capabilities and production power at its best to work this tech into the fascinating world of IoT.”

Olivier Rabenschlag, Head of The Exploratory at Google, a key partner, said “The ability to connect the physical to the digital world through AR is what got us excited about this collaboration in the first place. Augmented Images in ARCore let you build AR apps that can respond to 2D images, such as posters or product packaging, in the user's environment. In this instance we are using a physical door from the Family Guy universe as the entry point into an immersive experience and a completely new way to tell a story.”

Samsung’s Intelligent Home devices are connected via a cloud system accessible via its SmartThings app. SmartThings is an open platform that is compatible with mobile devices, home appliances, TV and sensors. 

The Doorways platform will be rolled out at major tech events across the world and prominent locations in cities such as London and New York. The Family Guy augmented reality game will be the first in a series of collaborations with major entertainment properties to educate consumers on different aspects of IoT. 

Credits

Client: Samsung

BBH London:

Chief Creative Officer: Ian Heartfield

Group Chief Marketing Officer: Adam Arnold

Creative Director - Brand Experience: Ross Mawdsley

Associate Interactive Design Director: Niek Van Wingerden

UX Designer: Amy Andrews

Strategy Director: Lilli English

Managing Partner: Carly Avener

Managing Partner, BBH Shanghai: Joanne Liu

Head of Entertainment, BBH LA: William Swann

Business Lead: Claudia Wallace

Account Director: Natalie Barry

Account Executive: Kate Sotheran

Producers: Susan Liu, Melissa Thompson

Assistant Producer: Shail Mehta

Creative Digital Production Partner: Mediamonks