Anyone who has ever awkwardly laughed out loud, or shed a tear, in public while listening to a podcast or audiobook has experienced how the medium can augment reality. Listeners are present in the world while simultaneously being in another one altogether. Audible is bringing that experience to life with what it’s calling the world’s largest augmented reality (AR) activation to date.
In cityscapes around the world, Audible is using GroupM’s WinDOOH technology to reify how putting on headphones can kickstart the imagination, no matter what else one happens to be doing. The result is like looking through a giant window where everything is the same, but amplified.
Using 4K all-weather cameras at each location, DOOH.com, the production studio on the project, takes live images of the view behind each screen. The screen then projects varying fanstastical worlds, inspired by popular Audible Original and exclusive titles.
“Unlike traditional AR OOH executions, GroupM’s WinDOOH does not require viewers to use mobile devices to view the interactive elements,” explained Andrew Phipps Newman, CEO at DOOH.com. “Instead, cameras integrated into the screens blend high-end visual effects, graphics, and animations with real-world video feeds. This innovation allows anyone viewing the screen to experience the AR elements with the naked eye.”

According to the brand, this is the first time WinDOOH, or “mass participation AR,” has been used on a global scale, running on screens for four weeks across the U.S. and Canada, including in New York’s Time Square, and for two weeks across the U.K.
GroupM OOH and Wavemaker are the agencies responsible for media.