Alfa Romeo’s F1 Team ORLEN partnered with globally renowned artist BOOGIE to create an Art Car promoting the Dutch Grand Prix this week.
Using augmented reality (AR) solutions from JigSpace, the partnership saw Sauber Motorsport’s Yan Lefort, Commercial Director, and Christian Dautenheimer, Head of Brand Management, collaborate to realise the project.
The joint effort began after the company entered F1 with several key drivers such as Finn Valtteri Bottas, Zhou Guanyu, and others to pilot the groundbreaking C42 vehicle.
JigSpace-Alfa Romeo’s C42 Case Study
The team had to leverage limited resources for large-scale marketing and campaigning to engage fans while innovating its approach to reaching fan bases worldwide with immersive technologies.
Additionally, it needed a stable, secure solution to reach millions of fans while eliminating barriers to access. Prior to the partnership, the company did not have dedicated resources to develop the initiative.
JigSpace stepped in to realise the project, allowing the C42 to debut with spatial computing technologies.
Pedro Cebrián, Head of Digital and Content, JigSpace, said at the time,
“To compete with the widespread accessibility of simply sharing a video (consider YouTube and social media channels), the C42 needed to be viewed and shared in AR with the same ease of use. JigSpace’s clever use of the Web AR viewer supercharges this user experience. It is simple and delightful to use. We are proud to be the first F1 team to provide this kind of immersive experience to our fans”
Both the XR company and F1 Team ORLEN collaborated to build a 3D model of the artwork for use across all augmented reality (AR) devices. This led to the Melbourne, Victoria-based firm’s successful venture operating parallel to the release of its open, user-generated knowledge platform and webAR viewer, it explained at the time.
The platform also leverages Apple App Clips, WebAR, and other technologies, democratising the technology for all users to view the project. Users can scan QR codes to access the experience without the need for an app.
JigSpace’s webAR viewer also packs a massive no-code solution for showcasing immersive presentations, models, and other digital assets.
Zac Duff, Chief Executive, JigSpace, added,
“The end-user doesn’t have to know anything about the technology to experience the power of Jig The technology is transparent. We’re showing that the metaverse isn’t just a destination, it’s a mode for communicating in the same way we experience our reality – in 3D. With Jig, you don’t need to know any of that. You simply click a link or scan a QR code and you’re there. All the complexity is abstracted away.”
Work on the C42 generated over 500,000 views in the first 24 hours of the project, leading to more fan engagement in 2022 than in any previous season.
It garnered over 1.6 million views, over 6,000 saves, and hundreds of thousands of likes on its social media channels.
Frédéric Vasseur, Team Principal, Alfa Romeo F1 Team ORLEN, concluded,
“JigSpace is just so useful for communicating the revolutionary design and beauty of our car, in an immediately accessible way. That’s why this partnership is so exciting for us. By using JigSpace we can show just how incredible our 2022 car is and give all F1 fans an intuitive, engaging experience that simply wasn’t possible before.”
The Centrepiece: Boogie-Team ORLEN Art Car
The Dutch Grand Prix took place in Zandvoort, Netherlands on Sunday, offering fans an immersive experience to promote the huge Formula One contest. Dutch F1 legend Max Verstappen took home first prize at the event.
BOOGIE designed the project to engage fans and audiences at the event, kicking off the 2023 F1 season.
Over the last year, fans across multiple countries have viewed the experience across the United Kingdom, Switzerland, and the Netherlands. Both in-person and at home, fans could check out the digital art to raise funds for the Save the Children Switzerland charity.
Ahead of the Alfa Romeo’s F1 Team’s C43 launch, BOOGIE created the artwork to debut at Waldhaus Flims in the Swiss Alps. The German-born artist has collaborated with some of the world’s largest brands and artists.
JigSpace, the team’s extended reality (XR) partner, later converted the artwork into a tailored 3D model, using a bespoke livery designed by BOOGIE, to engage audiences across locations with the former’s AR technologies.
🚨| Some of the details in the Alfa Romeo garage/cars for this Dutch GP.
The decorations, not only in the car but also in the garages are inspired on the art car made by the artist BOOGIE at the start of the year, which will be displayed in the Fan Zone.
📷: @alfaromeostake pic.twitter.com/szqqq8ZIhT
— Formula World (@Formula_World__) August 23, 2023
Esteemed venues such as the Dolder Grand Hotel in Zurich, hosted an art exhibition for the work to promote FI motorsports and the Alfa Romeo spirit of design.
The phygital art car will later auction for the Save the Children fundraiser. The official EA Sports F1 ’23 video game will also feature the artwork as a downloadable digital asset in the top-selling video game.
Alessandro Alunni Bravi, Alfa Romeo F1 Team Representative, said in a statement,
“This project has brought Alfa Romeo F1 Team Stake closer to the fans in each phase of its development. It has been an exciting, ground-breaking journey the team has been proud to undertake, alongside trusted partners and an inspiring artist […] We pride ourselves for having created a multi-brand powerhouse, where team and partners work together for exciting project, and the whole weekend is living proof of this.”
Furthermore, Bravi said that Team ORLEN prided itself on creating a “multi-brand powerhouse” that allowed it to work with teams for the exciting project. “The whole weekend is living proof of this,” he concluded.
