REWILD Our Planet

At the 2019 World Economic Forum in Davos, Sir David Attenborough and WWF called for a New Deal for Nature and People in 2020. They urged key decision makers from across the globe to reverse the momentum of global ecological loss through collective action. Our design brief was to solidify this idea of collective action for nature through a creative digital experience, that would extend the social impact of 'Our Planet' into the real world. The challenge was to unlock social connection through AR, a previously segmented form of immersive technology.

We needed to gamify a sequence of social interactions that would encourage widespread behavioural change to prevent the rapid loss of nature. REWILD Our Planet achieves this by combining powerful and emotive audio-visual content from 'Our Planet' with cutting-edge social AR technologies. Creating a digital twin for each venue with our platform, CAPTUR3D AR, allowed us to align virtual environments with physical spaces. Our responsive server then utilised Google’s ARCore to connect multiple mobile devices in AR with split-second accuracy, so users could participate in a purposefully collaborative journey, in real time.

REWILD Our Planet has reached over 30,000 users worldwide, and early research conducted into the user experience indicates that this project has the power to provoke a visceral emotional reaction in a way that is entirely unique from traditional mediums. Users reported feeling that REWILD Our Planet allowed them to digest and connect with information in a useful and visual way. Users had the capacity to empathise with the problems presented, and experience an inspirational realisation that solutions exist; the power for change starts with us.

A world first spatial-multiplayer voting system meant users could vote with their feet. By standing in the zones corresponding to each biome, they decided together which ecosystem to explore. Each realistic 3D biome would display unique animated weather patterns and wild animal encounters to indicate a healthy, vibrant ecosystem. The biome would then crumble away and dewild, the substance texture shifting from visceral imagery to sparse expanses. This direct link between the user's physical presence and virtual dewilding aimed to capture how daily human activities contribute to the greater degradation of our planet. In order to rewild their chosen ecosystem, users needed to combine efforts and physically move around the space to rewild the virtual landscape. The faster they worked together, the faster they were able to restore and rebalance the ecosystem. Once the rewilding was complete, users were encouraged to make a pledge that symbolised their collective responsibility and collective empowerment to make positive change for the good of our planet.