Mixed Reality Expo Experience for STC at Mobile World Congress
YORD built a mixed reality layer for stc's stand at Mobile World Congress, turning a physical scale model of a city into something visitors could explore rather than simply look at. Scanning AR tracker points with an iPad, or wearing a HoloLens, visitors saw 3D city models rise over the physical platforms — one showing the city as it is, one showing it as a connected future — populated with custom assets such as drones, future vehicles, green rooftops and holographic displays, and guided by integrated English voiceover narration.
Improve customer experience
STC wanted its Mobile World Congress stand to do more than display a physical model city. The brief was to extend the 'Past' and 'Present' sections of the exhibition with a mixed reality layer that turned passive viewing into active exploration, so that visitors would spend longer at the stand, understand STC's vision for the connected city, and leave with qualified conversations rather than as passers-by.
The agency's contribution
YORD owned the design and development end-to-end. We built the AR tracker system that recognizes the physical platforms in real time and renders the 3D city models on top of them, modeled the custom assets (drones, future vehicles, green rooftops, holographic displays), produced the English voiceover narration and its integration, and optimized the application for stable performance on iPad and HoloLens in a crowded trade-show environment.
What was delivered
31% conversion rate on site. Figure provided by YORD from the activation; the underlying counting method and baseline have not been independently verified here.
Measurement period: Mobile World Congress 2023, duration of the event
Challenge
The stand was built around a physical model city divided into 'Past' and 'Present' sections. On its own it was a static object: impressive to walk past, but giving visitors no way to engage with stc's vision of a connected city, and giving the stand team no natural opening for a conversation.
The technical difficulty sat in the environment. AR tracker points had to recognise the platforms and render large 3D models in real time, reliably, on a busy exhibition floor with changing light and constant movement — while voiceover narration stayed clear and intelligible over the noise of the hall.
Solution
We fitted two horizontal platforms with AR tracker points. Visitors scanned them through an iPad camera, or used a HoloLens, and saw the corresponding 3D city model appear registered to the physical model beneath it.
Our scope covered the full build:
- AR tracker system for real-time recognition and registration of the physical platforms
- Two 3D city models, present-day and future
- Custom 3D assets: drones, future vehicles, green rooftops, holographic displays
- English voiceover narration, written and integrated into the application flow
- Performance optimisation and on-site support for the duration of the show
Results
The activation recorded a 31% conversion rate on site during the show.
Beyond the number, the mixed reality layer changed how the stand worked: visitors moved from looking at a model to exploring it, which gave the stand team a longer and more substantial conversation to build on.
