AWARDS
Mumbrella CommsCon - best use of technology in a campaign
Mumbrella Entertainment - best use of interactive & gaming
Pending: Webby Awards - Games: Technical Achievement
THE CHALLENGE
Open Days are Deakin’s biggest recruitment events of the year, attracting thousands of prospective students. The events provide an amazing opportunity to inform and inspire, as well as stand out, at a time when choosing a university is at the forefront of prospective students’ minds.
We were briefed to create an experience that showcased an emerging technology in a way that was engaging and relevant for prospective students.
THE WORK
The result was Mind Racer – an activation utilising Brain-Computer Interface (BCI) technology, and enabling players to propel a slot car around a race track using only the power of their mind.
To make Mind Racer a technical reality, we took existing BCI technology and integrated it with our own bespoke race control software and hardware – which Hardhat developed from scratch – to be able to drive the slot cars using data received from the BCI headsets. The headset "decoded" patterns in players’ brainwaves and calculated an attention reading (between 0 and 100). This reading was sent to a computer over Bluetooth. The computer was hard-wired into the track and it controlled the speed of the car based on the attention reading.
THE RESULTS
An engaging, and totally innovative activation. Mind Racer met its primary goals of showcasing an emerging technology that was relevant to Deakin, and achieving positive brand awareness.
More than 18,000 people viewed or participated in the activation across the two Deakin Open Days; and as well as this we received 500+ leads; and 190,000+ people were reached in digital channels.