26 years of digital innovation: the Engine Creative story so far
Northampton-based Engine Creative has been at the forefront of the digital innovation sector for more than a quarter of a century. Client Services Director Andy Wise tells us about the evolution of Engine Creative and the new technologies firing imagination within their current and forthcoming projects.
We were established in 1997, in the very early days of the internet and pre-Google.
We've always been interested in what's new, what can we do to solve problems and make positive things happen for our clients.
That's gone from building websites using Flash in our early days through many different technologies to where we are now, developing innovative digital solutions for global brands.
The reason we're in Northampton is that our founders studied Graphic Design at Nene College.
As the company grew, they found creative and digital talent from the local area and as an economy, Northampton has shown it can be flexible and dynamic and has adapted to demand over time to specialise in different areas - whether that's logistics, high performance engineering or whatever makes sense for the region.
When we start working with any client, we start by going through a comprehensive Discovery process in structured workshop sessions. We're always questioning the client. We find out what the business objectives are, understand their audience needs and define technical requirements.
From these insights we’re then able to provide a comprehensive service for our clients covering brand transformation, content creation and digital experience. Once a project is delivered, we use data analytics and insights and feed that back into developing and improving the solution and we build long-term partnerships with our clients.
Augmented Reality and Spatial Computing
We've been working with Augmented Reality (AR) technology for 12 years since our first project with the BBC - this is a long time to have been working in an area that's still seen as innovative!
Along the way, we've delivered for major brands including Tesco and Argos and, more recently, Mastercard and UPS. A lot of the work we do with AR now is in B2B, but the majority of the early work we did was consumer-facing AR campaigns.
We recognised the huge potential of AR very early on and did a lot of work in the publishing sector, including the world's first AR magazine for Top Gear. We saw there was new technology that could trigger digital content including video content and social feeds from printed publications that would deliver another level of engagement for readers.
The more we worked on AR solutions, the more we could see that digital experiences would be less about desktop, mobile and tablet screens in the future and more about a seamless integration of digital interactions and content into the physical world.
That's taken a long time to come to fruition but we're seeing it now with the launch of the Vision Pro, Apple's new spatial computing headset.
Spatial computing is the evolution of AR and is neatly explained as follows:
“To eliminate the boundaries between the physical and digital realms, allowing for more natural and immersive interactions with digital technology."
REYDAR AR and 3D Platform
It's important to talk about digital innovation and be able to explain complicated concepts in a way that engages people, but you also have to deliver.
Around 2016 we realised we were doing a lot of bespoke AR projects and the cost and effort of doing each project was quite high. We decided to consolidate our knowledge into REYDAR, which is our AR and 3D platform that now underpins all of our AR projects and enables us to quickly and efficiently deliver immersive 3D and AR experiences. We've got some big clients including Canon, Dell, UPS and Samsung on board with REYDAR and it’s constantly evolving as a platform.
For example, our REYDAR Virtual Product Viewer uses AR and 3D visualisations to take product demonstrations to the next level, offering an immersive and engaging experience that static 2D images simply can’t match.
We can create 3D versions of any product, which customers can then explore in 3D and AR with multiple uses including new product demos, or staff training to show how a product is built or fits together.
Whenever we demonstrate the technology to potential clients we always get immediate engagement and a positive reaction to it and that's what we get excited about.
Check out our REYDAR Product Visualisation and Augmented Reality Floor Visualiser.
With REYDAR, we can also build immersive learning experiences for organisations to offer next level learning experiences. Our work with Arden University blends 3D and AR with traditional learning techniques to create a visual and realistic criminal investigation process from start to finish.
Embracing AI to enhance creativity
As part of our commitment to digital innovation, we’ve been using AI for a couple of years. Then when public access was opened up to ChatGPT we knew this was a seriously exciting step forward, and we produced a white paper recently on what AI means to creative industries.
On the whole, other than a few outliers, we had quite pragmatic feedback from people working in the creative industry. The view overall was that it's just another new technology - it's incredibly powerful and fast-moving and wide-ranging, but it's simply something new that creative professionals can use to help them be more productive.
We also think that the proliferation of AI means anything that is genuinely unique and creative will stand out even more. You can outsource content creation really cheaply around the world and that part of the market will be squeezed by AI, but I don't think the quality end of the market for content creation will suffer.
We've used generative AI audio to pitch to a client where we had a concept which is very visual but they rely heavily on radio ads for their campaigns. So we used AI to generate a specific voiceover, which helped the client to easily understand how the radio ad concept could fit into the overall campaign concept.
Using different AI tools, we're able to give clients a really strong idea of what the finished product could look and sound like before committing to full creative production.
Unlocking the potential of digital innovation
We always want to push things forward and are keen to connect with innovation leads from businesses in Northamptonshire that could really benefit from the service we offer.
If there are any Digital, Marketing, and Product experts who are looking to explore how the very latest technology can enhance their products, services, processes, and culture, and want to design new and improved ways of doing things then get in touch.