Toys”R”Us and Blue Star partner up to bring the Easter egg hunt into 21st century with new app

Communications services leader Blue Star has today announced a new partnership with Toys”R”Us. The two brands have pioneered an Australian-first with an advanced augmented reality (AR) experience and movie-making app, which is bringing Easter to life for kids of all ages in a retail environment.

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The virtual Easter Egg Hunt will work on any iOS or Android device and will see smartphone and tablet users interact with Toys”R”Us mascot Geoffrey the Giraffe and his Easter bunny friends, leading them on a virtual adventure through the store to find Geoffrey’s Playground.

Characters will appear to be bouncing around the store in the augmented space. Once the playground is reached, kids can create a short video through the app dancing alongside their virtual friends, and redeem a Free Treat[1]. The mini movie of the experience can then be shared on social media using #TRUMagic.

Consumers can activate the app by pointing their mobile device at a flyer or advertisement

Toys”R”Us chief toy tester, 10 year old Stephanie Apoleski, demonstrated the #TRUMagic experience. 

National marketing manager Toys”R”Us Australia, Brooklyn Troy, said that rolling out its first augmented-reality play experience was part of the company’s key strategic focus as kids become increasingly technologically savvy.

Says Troy: “We wanted to push the boundaries with our in-store Easter experience this year, and we’ve created something which is sure to be a winning experience for anyone coming into a Toys”R”Us store. The ability to interact with the surroundings using augmented reality and our smart devices means we can bring our Easter Hunt to life, and see Geoffrey the Giraffe and his bouncing Easter bunnies, all in 4D.

“We also wanted to make it possible for parents and children to be able to share this experience with friends by adding an AR-movie making element to the TRU Magic App.”

Having followed the virtual bunnies to Geoffrey’s Playground, an AR-movie can be made to share with family and friends

Says David Francis, head of interactive at Blue Star: “We are delighted to partner with Toys”R”Us to create a dynamic and engaging campaign, pioneering new experiences for Australians. The opportunities of Augmented Reality are huge – the experience is literally turning the Toys”R”Us stores into a virtual theme park, with kids and families spending quality leisure time, interacting with their favourite characters. They can then jump into the experience, and dance alongside Geoffrey and friends whilst creating their own video content to take with them and share on social platforms.”

Says Az Yousaf, Blue Star’s digital services director: “The TRU Magic experience promises to be fantastic Easter fun, but it is also the first in what we expect will be a major trend towards Augmented Reality campaigns in bricks and mortar retail environments. The solution that we came up with leverages the huge number of comm’s that Toys “R” Us have in place including catalogues, social and email marketing, and drives that audience into store. We believe this technology will become a key component of the marketing plans for Australia’s leading companies. Augmented reality is a particularly powerful tool for creating retail experiences that surprise and delight customers in equal measure.”

The experience can be activated at Toys”R”Us stores nationwide by opening the app and pointing devices at in-store markers.

The campaign is open for the entire Easter period, from Wednesday 1 – Sunday 12 April. To participate, users can simply download the free TRU Magic App on the App Store or on Google Play, and activate it by scanning a TRU Magic marker in-store at any of the 34 Toys”R”Us locations across Australia in ACT, NSW, QLD, SA, VIC and WA.