The Guinness World Record for the Largest Augmented Reality (AR) Screen has been awarded to the Department of Culture and Tourism – Abu Dhabi for an AR experience which made use of the Piccadilly Lights digital billboard in London.

The AR experience captured images of people near the statue of Eros in the city’s Piccadilly Circus and digitally placed them, using 3D AR overlays, among some of Abu Dhabi’s most famous tourism landmarks.

The AR experience ran across 548 sq m (5,904 sq ft) of screen, according to the Guinness World Records website. The flagship Picadilly Lights DOOH is an outwardly curved, true 4K -capable display supplied by Daktronics and managed by DOOH specialist Ocean Outdoor on behalf of commercial property owner Landsec.

Ali Al Shaiba, acting executive director of tourism and marketing at DCT – Abu Dhabi, said: “The world-record-breaking augmented-reality experience took over Piccadilly Lights for two weeks, showcasing the UAE capital’s most famous landmarks in a pioneering way. When conceptualising the campaign, we knew we wanted to do more than just bring Abu Dhabi’s famous sights to life at one of London’s most iconic landmarks. We also wanted to capitalise on the scale of the experience by breaking a Guinness World Records title for the World’s Largest Augmented Reality (AR) Screen.”

The augmented reality screen gave a starring role to passers-by, Al Shaiba said. “By standing near the fountain in the square, people are captured by the high-tech, on-site audience camera – used specifically for advertising for the first time for this campaign – transporting them to some of Abu Dhabi’s most famous attractions – think family-friendly indoor theme park Ferrari World Abu Dhabi, wildlife haven Sir Bani Yas Island, and the stunning Sheikh Zayed Grand Mosque – on the screen. Each one of the capital’s landmarks has been brought vividly to life in London using innovative 3D augmented-reality overlays.”

The interactive activation played at 10 minutes to the hour, every hour, for two weeks in early December – also providing people a chance to win a trip to Abu Dhabi, with Etihad Holidays. To win a trip, people were required to take a selfie of themselves enjoying the augmented-reality experience, share it at competition.visitabudhabi.ae, and ask family and friends to vote for the photo. The picture with the most votes won.

The timing of the campaign – shown through part of November and December – was strategic, with the screen incorporating a weather overlay that triggers weather-specific messages. “At this time of year, it is traditionally cold in London, while in Abu Dhabi the weather is wonderfully temperate. With this campaign, we wanted to encourage people to swap rainy, windy days for fun in sunny Abu Dhabi,” said Al Shaiba.

No personal audience data was collected or stored during the making or activation of this campaign.