ANZ Virtual Garden

Situated in the heart of Sydney in the iconic Martin Place, ANZ's new flagship branch represents an amplified version of ANZ's "digital" branch format and is the largest branch in their network. The branch design included a network of digital media displays - the most prominent being a monolithic 11 meter LED screen in the centre of the 3 storey staircase. The screen came to Deloitte Digital as a blank canvas that was intended to be an iconic brand statement and enhance the customer experience.

Our concept for the wall pushed not only the client's imagination for what could be achieved with the space, but required some serious technology integration to launch successfully. From the initial pitch, Deloitte Digital presented a vision of an ever-changing digital garden, which through live data feeds, would change organically to the environment. Live data makes the wall change its lighting according to the real world sun position. Weather data means that when it rains in Sydney, rain drops appear in the virtual garden and four key seasons also change foliage appearance throughout the year. The wall is rendered dynamically in 3D game development software, so that it's always unique. The real innovation came from the interaction layer - allowing customers to further tailor the wall's appearance through the twitter platform and the hashtag #ANZVirtualGarden. Customers can request a variety of creatures and objects to appear on the wall and adjust their colour and intensity. From different flower types, birds, a variety of insects, mushrooms and even a waterfall - customers are given control to customise the wall to their desires; a celebration of ANZ's brand philosophy of "Your World. Your Way."

A screen of this prominence came with many challenges to succeed. Conceptually, designing for a canvas of this scale tactfully was critical. The concept needed to have universal appeal to all customers. We needed to allow for the fact that although the screen was 11 meters high, the majority of views would be obscured the staircase or other architectural elements. Technically, the wall required a lot of thorough development, logic and testing to ensure the concept behaves autonomously as intended over constant operation. Aesthetically, the wall had to compliment the space and be pleasing to the customer experience. It was important that the visuals worked from a distance - seen as the whole 11 meter height, but also up close when a customer was walking the staircase. Animation was designed to be not too erratic, so as not to startle the customers - a real problem with a screen this scale. Logistically, there were many protocols to navigate and bring this type of technology into a bank environment and prove its security.

From its initial launch, the ANZ Virtual Garden came to life with hundreds of twitter mentions in the first month. It was clear the wall was achieving its intention of enhancing the customer in-branch experience through "surprise and delight". Customers shared tweets, photos and videos of their requests brought to life on the wall. Branch staff also reported that the ANZ Virtual Garden was a common talking point for visiting customers and their "favourite part of the branch".