A Plymouth creative design and marketing agency has appointed a university professor to head its new immersive tech division and use the latest virtual reality technology to help clients build their brands.
Bluestone360 has chosen Professor Bob Stone, emeritus professor at the University of Birmingham, to head up the new Bluestone360 Immersive team.
The academic and the company worked together to on the successful 1620 Virtual Mayflower and Barbican project, in 2020, which saw them producing a virtual rendering of the Mayflower to mark 400 years since the ship sailed from Plymouth to America. They also produced a 3D recreation of Plymouth’s famous Barbican waterfront, as it would have looked in 1620.
The collaboration realised Bluestone360’s ambition to be able to create immersive experiences, whether augmented reality (AR), virtual reality (VR) or mixed reality (MR) for brands, virtual tourism, training and well being.
The newly formed Bluestone360 Immersive set-up will exist alongside the existing branding, creative and consumer team, with the addition of AR, VR and MR ensuring clients have access to the latest immersive technologies.
Bluestone360 aims to leverage this relationship to provide “exciting brand engagement” which could be through virtual destinations, immersive learning or well being.
The company, based at Plymouth’s Royal William Yard, said that over the years there have been many “false and unrealistic promises” as to what the technology can deliver.
But by working with one of the world's foremost experts with more than 34 years in the field Bluestone360 is confident its clients will be in good hands.
Prof Stone, emeritus Professor in XR (the overarching term for AR, VR and MR) and human factors, has worked in many areas, including aerospace, defence, healthcare and education, working with companies such as BAE Systems, British Nuclear Fuels, and the European and Russian Space Agencies.
Prof Stone said: “We’re really looking forward to developing an unbeatable virtual, augmented and mixed reality capability with Bluestone360, based on a decade of research and development projects undertaken in the area, from submarine training at Devonport, to healthcare and heritage projects exploiting the rich coastline and moorland region of the South West.
“It’s taken some time to find a local company we feel comfortable working with, but the synergies that exist between our two organisations offer exciting opportunities for the future”.
Bluestone360 - whose clients include Ginsters, Wrigley, Riverford and Burts Snacks - said that interaction with a brand across various “touchpoints” is how people build trust in that brand. Creating new experiences feeds on the innate human curiosity to explore, the firm said, and brands that can offer something new are more likely to be seen, heard and remembered by those that matter the most to them.
Steve Kyffin, Bluestone360’s managing director, who founded the business in 1988 along with Mervyn Orchard, said: “This is an exciting opportunity with one of the leading experts in the field. We can use the latest developments to help our clients innovate, engage and help their customers and consumers in so many ways, working with new talent under the expert eye of Prof Bob Stone who has been recently recognised for the groundbreaking work that they do.”
