15 May 2025 | Mike Boland

AWE Talks: Selling Beer with Bigfoot and AI

AWE USA 2024

See the summarized takeaways below, along with the full session video. Stay tuned for more video highlights each week and check out the full library of conference sessions on AWE’s YouTube Channel.

Speakers
Jessica Owens, Molson Coors
Jason Yim, Trigger

Key Takeaways & Analysis
– Immersive marketing has evolved rapidly over the past five years. 
– It's no longer just branded lenses and product try-ons... AI has changed the game.
   – This introduces the art of chat agents for fun and informative customer interactions
   – These AI-fueled experiences can even sidestep visual AR effects and still be engaging. 
– All of this was demonstrated by Molson Coors, and its work with AR agency Trigger. 
   – It created an animated Bigfoot character that users can ask open-ended questions.
   – It was trained to answer questions in a cheeky way, centered on Molson Coors products.
   – To keep it fun, it was also trained in adjacent lifestyle topics like sports and social activity. 
   – This was all readily accessible through QR codes in restaurants and sporting venues. 
   – Altogether, the goal was to engage users in fun interactions, rather than blatant marketing.
– It also aligned with brand goals for things that are localized, personalized, and immersive.
   – For example, localization stems from Bigfoot's lore, endemic to the Pacific Northwest.
   – It also carried inherent advantages of immersive marketing, such as high dwell times. 
– Another advantage is that the experience wasn't repetitive, in the way AR lenses can be. 
   – This came from the AI component: chat interactions were wide-ranging and varied.
– But the same advantage led to some challenges, such as legal compliance. 
   – There was a great deal of internal legal scrutiny around the character interactions.
   – This is always a challenge, amplified by Molson Coors' status as an alcohol brand.
– Going forward, the brand wants to replicate the success in other markets. 
   – That includes local-endemic characters and themes (think: salty neighbor in Boston).
– Other takeaways include the fact that these chat characters can have several personas.
   – For example, Bigfoot was fun and whimsical... it could instead be informative. 
   – That will depend on brand goals... but there's ample potential and possibilities. 


For more color and depth, see the full panel discussion below... 




  Want more XR insights and multimedia? ARtillery Intelligence offers an indexed and searchable library of XR intelligence known as ARtillery Pro. See more here.