Outthink Hidden: IBM Offers New Augmented Reality Experience
IBM (NYSE: IBM) and The New York Times Company’s (NYSE: NYT) T Brand Studio announced Thursday the launch of “Outthink Hidden,” an augmented reality (AR) experience that brings unsung heroes of innovation to life.
It is inspired by the 20th Century Fox film, “Hidden Figures,” and launches inside the new T Brand Studio AR app.
The movie, which will be in theaters today (January 6), recounts the true story of three female African American mathematicians as the heroes at NASA during the 1960s Space Race. Their calculations for spaceship trajectories, which helped put John Glenn in orbit, involved programming a first-of its-kind IBM mainframe.
“Outthink Hidden” explores the stories of heroes featured in “Hidden Figures” as part of 10 innovators in STEM (science, technology, engineering and mathematics). Similar to a virtual museum, people can explore an array of 3D computer graphics renderings, written histories and audio and video narratives.
It is available via the T Brand Studio AR app for free download on iTunes and Google Play. The AR content can be activated on a mobile device, through select print editions of The New York Times, or at physical plinths at CES in Las Vegas, January 5-8. In addition, the content can be activated at one of 150 “geofenced” locations across the U.S.
Unlike virtual reality (VR) apps, where immersive content is experienced via a headset, AR enables people to view a physical space through a different medium (in this case, a mobile device screen). It uses sensors to activate a digital layer that augments the space using visuals such as 3D images, descriptive text, video and audio.
“Outthink Hidden” is the first experience within T Brand Studio AR and it is the first project produced by integrated experience design agency Fake Love since it was acquired by The New York Times Company in August 2016. “Outthink Hidden” was co-created with IBM and its agency partner, Ogilvy & Mather.
