Integrated agency, Lumico, grabs silver Smarties award for Absa VR experience

After two years of living in isolation, the world was thrilled to return to live events. The big question for every company then was: How can I make my first connection a memorable experience?

Lumico and Absa took hands for Nampo 2022, the largest Agri-event in the southern hemisphere, to create a gamified, educational and exciting VR experience that could capture the various business opportunities the bank offers agricultural producers.

“We needed to change how we attract people to the stand,” says Daniël Malherbe, Lumico CEO. “A brochure and TV screen playing a corporate video was no longer enough. We needed something unique.”

With the metaverse and VR on everyone’s lips, technology that was once hard to get and manage had suddenly become very accessible and user-friendly. There was a clear opportunity to bring the Absa offering into the VR world.

We were very impressed with the quality of the experience and how it positioned Absa in the market.

“Lumico contacted me to assist them in building a unique VR experience,” says Dale Deacon, CEO Team Epic, the development team behind the VR world. “With their conceptual and narrative understanding and our technical skills, we could very easily put together a proof of concept for Absa.”

The Absa AgriBusiness team loved the brave, digitally-led direction that was proposed and gave the green light.

The project was first showcased at Nampo and since then at many other Agri-related events. The positive feedback from the attendees was overwhelming, with the stand getting more traffic than before Covid.

“We were very impressed with the quality of the experience and how it positioned Absa in the market,” says Abrie Rautenbach, head: AgriBusiness at Absa. “We believe in taking on new technology to solve our customers' challenges, and this was testament to our teams’ mentality.”

This award recognises the innovative nature of the campaign and has inspired momentum for similar projects in the future. “This will definitely not be the last VR experience Lumico presents to our clients,” concludes Malherbe.

Watch this video to learn more about the exciting Absa VR experience at Nampo: