Boeing Introduces Gigapixel Next-Generation 737 Created by [wire] stone

SAN FRANCISCO, August 2, 2011 – [wire] stone, an integrated digital marketing agency, today announced a groundbreaking implementation of its emerging experiences with Boeing 737 Explained: a virtual Boeing 737 airplane. [wire] stone harnessed the latest digital technology from Microsoft® to develop a realistic, high-resolution photographic representation of a Boeing 737 based on thousands of images stitched together to create a single, interactive presentation. This immersive experience delivers a rich, compelling way for customers to view and understand the airplane without needing to stand next to one. “If we look at all the approaches that we use to communicate about the 737, most of them are very analytical, enabling us to talk about the financial operating costs, maintenance costs and other attributes,” said Diana Klug, Director of Marketing for Boeing Commercial Airplanes. “We wanted to take the marketing for the 737 to the next level, and the set of tools that we had did not allow us to convey the full range of new features and improvements that we’ve made to the product.”Looking for fresh ways to market the best-selling airplane in aviation history, Boeing tasked [wire] stone with developing an industry-first experience that could highlight detailed design features of the 737 as well as demonstrate the airplane in venues not physically possible with the actual product. From ideation to implementation, [wire] stone leveraged its creative, design and technical talent to create a marketing experience unlike any other. “Boeing 737 Explained is a great example of how [wire] stone is willing to push the envelope in pioneering innovative marketing solutions for our clients,” said Jon Baker, [wire] stone executive director of technology. “[wire] stone not only originated the virtual airplane concept, but we tested and proved it by applying technology from Microsoft in novel ways to create an immersive marketing experience that can be accessed across many form factors, both in- and out-of-browser.”A [wire] stone crew shot images of a United Airlines Boeing 737-900ER from every possible angle with high-resolution digital cameras that were placed on robotic camera mounts, providing stability and exact placement for the cameras and precise sequencing of the resulting images. More than 20,000 frames were captured, and the image files were combined to create a seamless, 17-gigapixel image of the airplane with life-like detail. The project was so extraordinary that it has been submitted to Guinness World Records as the “largest compound photograph of a single object.”To bring Boeing 737 Explained to life, [wire] stone developed the technology underpinnings to drive a rich user experience leveraging the Microsoft software portfolio. Silverlight® Deep Zoom provides rapid zooming in and out of the presentation as well as a 360-degree navigation of the airplane. With Deep Zoom, users can move around the airplane, viewing components as varied as individual rivets, safety details on landing gear and the interiors of jet engine rotors. In addition, Boeing provided annotations on many of the plane’s components to augment the images. In the first known commercial use of Kinect™ in a line-of-business scenario, [wire] stone integrated the gesture-based technology for use in trade shows and other venues that can support massive displays where Boeing 737 Explained can be viewed in real-world dimensions. Users stand a few feet back from a life-size image of a Boeing 737 plane and use Kinect to quickly move around and explore the aircraft. In addition, the solution runs on Windows® 7 and takes advantage of Windows Touch, where sales representatives and customers can use touch gestures to demonstrate different parts of the plane on large and small screens. [wire] stone is hosting the project for Boeing using the Windows Azure® platform. The cloud-based solution provides the performance, scalability and possibility of delivering the presentation to different types of devices—creating new methods of bringing the airplane’s features to customers using a variety of platforms, including PCs, touch devices and even smartphones.The emerging experiences practice at [wire] stone strives to create deeply immersive brand experiences by leveraging the agency’s expertise in rich user experience technologies such as HTML5, multi-touch, gigapixel imaging, Deep Zoom, Kinect and Silverlight. [wire] stone recently opened its first Experience Center in Seattle to explore the ideation and development of solutions that incorporate gesture or motion-based interfaces, 3D modeling and holographic projection, next-generation retail engagement and advanced data visualization. # # #About [wire] stone[wire] stone is a mid-size leader in integrated digital and experiential marketing solutions. Founded in 2000, [wire] stone serves some of the world’s largest and most recognizable brands, including Motorola, FTD, Microsoft, Boeing, ConAgra, HP, Nike and Intel. Through its 175 employees in six U.S. offices and one European office, [wire] stone is committed to delivering excellence in key practice areas that include digital strategy, channel enablement, social engagement and emerging experiences. For more information visit www.wirestone.com. Microsoft, Kinect, Silverlight, Windows 7 and Windows Azure are either registered trademarks or trademarks of Microsoft Corporation in the United States and/or other countries.