Welcome To The Jim Beam Virtual Bar Where You Are The Bartender

Jim Beam is using web-based augmented reality (WebAR) to turn customers into bartenders where they can mix up their perfect Jim Beam Highball from behind a virtual bar. The experience, which is accessed directly in the mobile browser with no app required, features four virtual bar locations all stocked with Jim Beam varieties, mixers, ice and garnishes.

Customers who access the WebAR experience with their smartphones choose from four different bars including an outdoor patio called Backyard Jams and the high-end Beam Bar. Once selected, the customer places the virtual bar in their space where they are presented with a stocked bar to make their virtual drink. After selecting the right glass, customers need to aim at the selected glass to flick ice into it before swiping on the screen to select between Jim Beam Bourbon, Jim Beam Apple or Jim Beam Honey. After swiping up on the screen to pour the Jim Beam in the glass, customers then pick their mixer and their garnish to complete their drink. For those that chose lemon or lime as a garnish, users need to swipe up to cut the citrus and then pinch on the screen to squeeze it in the glass.

The WebAR experience was created in 8th Wall by Arcade, in a collaboration with brand experience agency, Quantum.

The Virtual Bar WebAR experience ends with the option to take a photo of the Highball just mixed, complete with the list of ingredients you selected. Customers can save the photo and then share it with their friends and social networks. Customers can also choose to move their phone beyond the bar to take a peek at the full virtual bar area and access a “Jim Beam Welcoming Offers” blackboard in the bars to be sent to offers from Jim Beam.

The Jim Beam Always Welcome web app is the one-stop-shop for everything Jim Beam, including the virtual bar, tailored highball suggestions, a flagship global music series and more!

Try it yourself by visiting the new ‘Jim Beam Welcomes‘ digital experience on your mobile.

This article was first published on the 8th Wall blog.

Causing a sustainable stir

Arcade CSO, Alex Book, was recently invited to join a panel discussing sustainability in the drinks industry. ‘Causing A Sustainable Stir’ was the fourth webinar in a series called ‘Positively Charged’, a fascinating concept led by the founders of Avallen, who are on a mission to create the world’s most planet positive spirits brand.

Alex joined Avallen’s Steph Jordan and Tim Etherington-Judge, along with Bacardi’s industry legend Jacob Briars, Ara Carvallo from Barra Mexico and Diageo’s influential brand ambassador, Jemma Ba. Following his fellow panellists’ fascinating perspectives on the potential for more planet positive behaviour in the industry, Alex took participants through the many sustainability benefits offered by immersive technologies, using examples of spatial experiences created by Arcade and other immersive practitioners.

You can read a short report from the webinar by clicking the image below, or watch the webinar in its entirety hier.