CHE Proximity launches augmented reality arm, led by Charlotte Bruton
CHE Proximity has added a new augmented (AR) and virtual reality (VR) arm to the business, CHEP Mixed Reality.
Mixed Reality will be led by Charlotte Bruton, who has joined CHE Proximity from McCann in Sydney where she was the national digital and innovation director.
New head of CHEP Mixed Reality Charlotte Bruton with chief technology officer Mark Gretton
Previously, Bruton was an executive producer at Frost Collective.
Mixed Reality will leverage CHE Proximity’s engineering team which currently covers commerce cloud, marketing cloud, ad cloud and data cloud teams. In her new role, Bruton will be integrating augmented reality experiences into the agency’s work. She will also be partnering with Amazon and Google to run workshops up-skilling clients on Mixed Reality.
Mark Gretton, CHE Proximity’s chief technology officer, explained: “At CHE Proximity we’ve built up a team of over 120 technical practitioners across our Melbourne, Sydney and Brisbane locations and we’re constantly looking to bring in new skills that help our clients grow and transform their customer experiences. It’s incredibly exciting to welcome Charlotte who can focus solely on value creation in this space.”
Bruton said the ambition for Mix Reality is to come up with brand experiences that deliver long-term customer engagement.
“Too often AR and VR branded experiences deliver exciting and entertaining but short-lived brand engagement. In leading the Mixed Reality practice we’ll be valuing experience and content innovation over the gimmicks of the technology, ensuring our work is long-lasting and meaningful in driving customer behaviour. I’m excited to be joining CHEP and launching a practice that’ll further enhance their Connected Creativity design approach,” Bruton said.
CHE Proximity CEO, Chris Howatson, commented on the launch: “We know immersive technologies are already transforming how companies interact with their customers. Augmented reality in particular will fast feature in our everyday, and we’re prepared to ready our clients for that change.”
I hear good things about AR, it’s about to take off!
(said someone in 2009)
Surely they’d need more than just an arm.
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Why to agencies think they need to sell this to us (clients)?
We’re not idiots. We know the penetration of AR & VR.
If we want a seeded case study video that gets PR buzz… sure – but let’s sell it as that, instead of this rubbish.
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Nice one. Listen mate, AR and VR are the next big thing in advertising whether you lot like it or not. Personally I’m waiting for subliminal advertising to make a comeback, now that’s the real deal.
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Mark looks a little uncomfortable.
Is it because he knows AR and VR have been a thing for quite a while now and treating them as a newfangled client need is embarrassing?
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Strong move CHEP!
You can’t go on Instagram, Snapchat or TikTok without seeing augmented reality technology at use.
Is it right for brands? Maybe, maybe not.
Would it be naive to completely dismiss AR in your future digital planning? 100% it would be.
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I too am an innovations director and part-time traveller of time – or in layman’s terms, ‘a growth futurist’
I stepped into CHE’s wharf of wisdom to glimpse their augmented future. What I witnessed was a hybrid-cloud of connected thinking – a bold and transformative experience that would disrupt everything we know about the customer experience. Their growth mantra will inevitably give rise to entrepreneurial units such as CHE Blockchain, CHE IoT, CHE Artificial Intelligence and CHE Quantum Computing. CHE will elevate the digital landscape for marketers and augment like no other agency before it. They are a true unicorn.
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They are smart operators at CHE however I find this one confusing. AR is hardly a new technology with companies like IKEA doing it well since 2012(ish).
I would expect this would just be another channel that gets introduced to a campaign when relevant. Having an AR department to me is a bit like having a mobile app department – isnt it just one of the services you offer as an agency as the need arrives?
Still, I wish them continued success.
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