Despite the dominant public perception, 25% of the homeless population are employed and Santander's AR experience dubbed 'In Someone Else's Shoes' aims to highlight some of the struggles faced by this vulnerable and often overlooked group of people.
The emotional and immersive experience let's users witness what life is like for a character named Jen -- a 35 year old homeless woman with a full time job as a nurse's assistant who lives out of her car. The experience spotlights the struggles and stigma, and hopes to re-write the narrative that surrounds homeless people.
The experience was created in partnership with 'Heading Home' an organization that's dedicated to providing the homeless community with more secure housing.
Perception-Shaping AR Experiences
Santander's AR experience Highlights Employed Homeless People
Trend Themes
1. Empathy-driven AR Experiences - Organizations can harness the immersive nature of AR to drive empathy towards societal issues, such as homelessness.
2. Narrative-shifting AR Experiences - Using AR technology, organizations can create and promote new narratives and perceptions around societal issues that are often overlooked.
3. Cause-related AR Experiences - Organizations can partner with causes to leverage AR as a tool that resonates with audiences and drives engagement around the topic at hand.
Industry Implications
1. Nonprofit - Nonprofits can leverage AR technology for immersive storytelling that drives empathy, engagement, and donations.
2. Social Advocacy - Using AR experiences as a tool for social advocacy provides an opportunity for businesses or organizations to create meaningful impact and drive change.
3. Technology - As perception-shaping AR experiences become more popular, innovators in the AR industry have an opportunity to create new tools and products that enable businesses and nonprofits to create immersive, memorable experiences at scale.