2015 proved to be an award winning
and interesting time for skignz, as well as externally, in the world of AR.
The landscape of AR changed quite
significantly throughout 2015, as either acquisitions, or investments were
made, reducing the number of companies in the market. Blippar invested heavily
(increasing their worth to circa £1.4b) whilst also acquiring their biggest
rival, Layar.
Other companies such as Apple
acquired Metaio and Google invested even further ($542m) into MagicLeap.
Other companies apps were not renewed and
many digital/ad/creative agencies had to look for other ways to offer their
client AR experiences, with Junaio being acquired and stopping its SDK for others
to use. In addition, INTEL acquired
RECON.
Also across the wider market, Apple
introduced the ability to be able to open one app from another, something that
was not previously available on the iTunes App store.
We know that skignz are focussed on
AR, however VR's emergence over the past few months made some waves, with more
progress from Occults Rift and even Facebook. Founder & CEO Mark
Zuckerberg, quoting our own Co-founder & CMO Si Brown, stated that "Why look at your phone, when you can look through it!".
Other VR progress was made in line
with the huge interest in the technology. The first Oculus Rift Headsets were due to be
shipped in the final quarter of 2015.
Moving on to skignz, the biggest
difference you will have seen is the aesthetics of the skignz website and the
skignz app. Considerable time was spent in developing 'version 2.0' for IOS
with Android being currently finalised.
In addition to the new look and
feel, skignz were present at many outdoor events such as PRIDE LDN,
Glastonbury, EDC & Leeds Festival.
The feedback on the tech and also the
performance exceeded even our high expectations.
Another key milestone was the
development and introduction of the 'ARtAbove' channel, allowing ANY Artist,
ANYWHERE in the World to place their own Art ANYWHERE they want, essentially
making the whole world a gallery.
This was developed in conjunction with artist
Martin McCloon and was even showcased at Disgraceland (Banksy's Installation in
Weston Super-mare), actually subverting the subversive.
2015 was an award winning year for skignz as they were voted as 'The UK's Most Disruptive Tech Startup' by Ignite, 'TechAwards NE', 'Thinking Digital' and the 'Marketing Award' at the BNBA'15. 2016 has already started with a bang, with skignz being shortlisted again in the BNBA'16 and last week coming Runner up in KPMG's 'Best British Mobile Startup'.
skignz increased their team with key
additions of Jamie Clarke (Head of DV Partnerships) and David Murphy (Head of
Sports Partnerships) both settling in quickly and hitting the ground running
across the many conferences and events in the final quarter of the year.
In the final weeks of the year
skignz launched their #skignzsanta experience, which allowed parents to follow
the 12 days lead up to Christmas eve whilst learning each day how to set up
their own personalised #skignzsanta.
Parents placed two skignz outside their
homes so when Santa was close (following on the NORAD or Google Santa websites)
parents could show 'Santa' flying past through their magic santa camera
Smartphone or tablet.
Initially they saw what looked like Santa in his sleigh being led away by his reindeers, then parents 'panned
across the sky' to reveal a special 'personalised note' to their child(ren),
telling them he can only deliver when they are fast asleep.
The hundreds of people who did this
across the globe said their children were simply ‘blown away’ by the
experience, and getting them to sleep was a lot easier than normal!
We will be looking into doing a
similar thing for Christmas 2016 but we have a lot of other interesting and
exciting 'skignz' projects to deliver before then...
And as always for further information on skignz then please visit us on the usual Social Media channels or drop us a line info@skignz.com
Last year, skignz were winners in the Marketing category. However, this year skignz came Runner up in the Creative & Digital Media category. 
