What do you get when you think of the press, amazing wheels, a royal visitor, celebrities and sponsors together? “Some kind of event involving cars?” Well you are on the right track here! You would be right to think it was day 1 at a motor show – SIAM 2017 Motor show – to be precise.
When XN Creations was asked to return to work in collaboration with Michelin, Wattbike Events and PR company Imagination, little did we know that this would take us to Monaco let alone experience a very royal encounter in Monte Carlo!
Building on the earlier success at the Shell Econ Marathon 2016 last year Michelin decided to roll out the concept around the world to showcase their energy efficient car tyre they again sought creativity in software. They wanted a way for people not only to know that their tyre was energy efficient, they wanted them to feel the efficiency.
Now you may think its quite hard to get excited about a car tyre – right?! But… take our idea to put two people on static bikes racing head to head over two laps of a virtual course, with a programmatically reduced tyre resistance after lap one, it was easy to simulate what it would feel like to use more energy efficient tyres, particularly those of the quality that Michelin produce. When you add this to a display stand and invite the general public to “have a go” it’s also a great crowd puller and it certainly helps when Prince Albert II shows an interest. We felt very honoured that he took time out to view the concept, particularly as His Highness is so well known for his passion to protect the environment and has such strong sporting links.
It was useful to observe the software interaction at the client-participant interface and go behind the scenes at such a prestigious event. We are delighted to be working with this trio again.