Captivatar

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the COO of UviaUS, an experiential marketing agency.

What challenge were you trying to address with Captivatar?

We hired Captivatar for their AR development services. 

What was the scope of their involvement?

We first engaged Captivatar to do an outreach program for our services. They created an AR program that we attached to the tactile part of our presentation. Their resources worked directly with our creative teams to develop the AR experience we were seeking. We relied on them as subject matter experts that made adjustments to our creative materials when necessary. 

Captivatar handled the entire development process, while we provided them with creative materials. In some instances, we gave them visuals of our goals, along with creative artwork of the physical deliverable that we’d give to the end clients. We gave them these materials to ensure the deliverables were in sync with one another.

Moreover, the theme of the outreach was connecting with people who wanted to reach the summit of their mountains. The key piece of this project was an AR-based 3D model of Mount Everest. There were various pathways up to the summit. 

Along the way, end users could touch various places within the AR experience. These places would open up other models that would give them more information about that section of the mountain. We then helped them understand how the models correlated to the marketing experience and challenges they might face as they tried to reach the summit of their goals. We provided the copy and script to be displayed within the models, and Captivator wrote the code to display them. 

We’ve since engaged them for three other campaigns, where they’ve handled AR-related tasks. Our relationship has been active throughout 2021, and we’re starting a new project with them this month.  

What is the team composition?

Our main point of contact is Gustavo (Co-Founder); we funnel all information through him. He works with a team of developers — he meets with us to know about our projects and then brings in subject matter experts within his team. These include coders and 3D modelers. 

How did you come to work with Captivatar?

We reached out to them via 8th Wall, a hosting platform for AR-based websites. Our team gave them an overview of our goals, and they gave us samples of their work. We started the engagement and hired them from there.

How much have you invested with them?

We’ve invested roughly $60,000. 

What is the status of this engagement?

Our engagement started in April 2021, and it’s ongoing.

What evidence can you share that demonstrates the impact of the engagement? 

We’ve received feedback from every user that received our outreach box. Around 80% of them have sat down and met with us to talk about our future endeavors. On top of that, we’ve booked around three projects from this outreach campaign; we’ve signed three actual deals out of the 30 cases we’ve sent out. From our point of view, this project has been successful. Overall, everything has been delivered within our final expectations.

How did Captivatar perform from a project management standpoint?

Captivatar has done a phenomenal job in terms of communication. The team is highly responsive; whenever a member of my team reaches out to them, we can always expect to hear back from them within the same day. 

Moreover, they always come to the table with a proper sense of urgency. Their resources are transparent about any delays. If something’s going to take longer than originally planned, Captivatar will proactively communicate with us to ensure we can make plans accordingly. 

In terms of tools, we use emails for our day-to-day communication and virtual calls for weekly meetings. As an organization, we use Teamwork as our project management platform. We’ve invited their developers into the platform. Much of our communication happens on this platform if not via emails. 

What did you find most impressive about them?

Captivatar has access to a large network of developers, so they have people with the right skills to solve any problem at hand. Having Gustavo as our point person makes everything easier for us. We don’t have to search for individual developers. He does that for us within the network he controls. 

On top of that, we’re hosting the project on 8th Wall, and they’re a member of that platform. As a result, they understand the hurdles that we have to overcome to meet 8th Wall’s requirements. This makes it easy for us to work with them. 

Are there any areas they could improve?

No, there aren’t any. If anything, we’ve learned that we have to be a little more clear about our expectations. This is more of a learning deficiency on our side. 

For instance, a couple of the delays we’ve experienced have been caused by mismatched understanding — Captivatar developed what we asked them to develop, but we realized that what we asked them wasn’t what we truly wanted. This has been an issue on our end, but it’s been a good learning experience for both our teams. 

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Don’t be afraid to ask questions if you’re not well-versed with any topic. Gustavo is truly easy to work with, and he’s amenable to answering questions. He’s not arrogant or condescending — he works with you as a partner. 

Please describe your company and your position there.

Escape Room owner

For what projects/services did your company hire Captivatar?

Captivatar was consulted to develop and produce the gaming video that interfaces with our ship's wheel to provide the players with the experience of driving a pirate ship for our physical adventure game.

How did you select this vendor and what were the deciding factors?

Captivatar was selected based on past experience with working with these guys and their capacity to not only provide the needed services, but in a prompt and professional manner.

Describe the project in detail and walk through the stages of the project.

First person driver, we provided the requirements and Captivatar built the world and features for the game.

How many resources from the vendor's team worked with you, and what were their positions?

With primarily worked with 3 different individuals. One developer, one team lead, and one of the partners.

Can you share any outcomes from the project that demonstrate progress or success?

Game implementation is still pending, so difficult to tell at this time.

How effective was the workflow between your team and theirs?

Our regular communication with the team was smooth.

What did you find most impressive or unique about this company?

Impressive how quick and responsive for the development stood out.

Are there any areas for improvement or something they could have done differently?

Customization of particular elements in the game would have really put them over the top.

Please describe your company and your position there.

I'm the CEO of a start-up company which blends Automotive Marketing (Vehicle Wraps and Lettering) with Augmented Reality.

For what projects/services did your company hire Captivatar, and what were your goals?

We wanted to create a new way of vehicle advertising using Augmented Reality. I own a wrap/sign company so we had that side covered but we had no clue on how to implement AR, we just thought it would be the natural evolution of advertising and wanted to jump on the idea before it became mainstream.

How did you select this vendor and what were the deciding factors?

I had worked with another AR company initially on our concept. We had come up with a prototype and I was happy with the results, however, that company quickly turned to their own ideas for this type of marketing and we decided to part ways. I found Captivatar through Clutch and was impressed by their reviews and their website. I reached out to Captivatar through email and we had a phone call set up within an hour to discuss our project further.

Describe the scope of work in detail, including the project steps, key deliverables, and technologies used.

Captivatar helped us come up with not only application-based solutions but also web-based solutions for our advertising ideas. Our initial concept was a 3D zombie character which "broke out" of the hood of a car when a QR code was scanned on the vehicle. Not only did they create the AR application quickly and accurately, but they also added a few other interactive concepts for our unveiling at a wrap convention. Although we were on a time crunch, the Captivatar Team was able to create a user friendly app and web AR mirror app within one month!

How many people from the vendor's team worked with you, and what were their positions?

Since we work with Captivatar a lot, I've worked with many different people on their team. The two co-founders are amazing to work with and have great insight and ideas on how to create and improve upon the technologies we utilize in Smart Wrapps. I also work a lot with the development team, from the Technology Director to Programing Associates, everyone at Captivatar is extremely knowledgeable on the AR/VR/XR technologies and dedicated to providing amazing results.

Can you share any measurable outcomes of the project or general feedback about the deliverables?

We are still working on building a platform to launch for our Smart Wrapps software, but we have done several small projects that have had great results. Our Zombie AR experience was a huge success at our unveiling of Smart Wrapps in June of 2021 and we immediately had a massive interest from industry leaders on the technologies we were utilizing. We also created an interactive bug game which generated quite a "buzz" at the event and had a large number of participants enjoying our AR project. Every project we create with Captivatar generates more and more interest with our Smart Wrapps technology and AR in general.

Describe their project management style, including communication tools and timeliness.

Captivatar has been very easy to work with. We've done project where it was just a simple phone conversation to multi-faceted projects where we set up weekly virtual meetings. They are very flexible and responsive to our communication needs. Each project we give them gets a dedicated team who we work with hand-in-hand until the project is completed. It makes things very easy and streamlined.

What did you find most impressive or unique about this company?

From day one, Captivatar has backed our ideas 100% and have dedicated time into helping us not only turn those ideas into reality but also teaching us about the technologies and how we can improve upon them. One of the co-founders even joined us for our initial unveiling and helped us showcase the technology. I've been very impressed by their personal approach and dedication to their profession. They take the time to build a relationship and understand their clients wants and needs to provide the best solutions.

Are there any areas for improvement or something they could have done differently?

I honestly have no complaints or ways for Captivatar to improve on their operations. I have been completely satisfied in every aspect while working with them.

Please describe your company and your position there.

Business Development for a Creative Production company based in LA.

For what projects/services did your company hire Captivatar, and what were your goals?

We have been developing a few experimental proof of concept projects with Captivatar. Our goals were to see what was possible on the platform.

How did you select Captivatar and what were the deciding factors?

I selected Captivatar as they were willing to work with us, not for us - which is a critical piece of building out next-generation experiences. I felt like Gustavo and his team were best suited to provide creative solutions to problems, instead of telling us something was not possible.

Describe the scope of work in detail, including the project steps, key deliverables, and technologies used.

I can not go into detail of nature of the work as these are all developmental projects. However, I can say that Captivatar was timely and great communicators throughout the project.

How many people from the vendor's team worked with you, and what were their positions?

I had direct contact with Gustavo, Captivatar's Head of Product.

Can you share any measurable outcomes of the project or general feedback about the deliverables?

Project was created on time and within budget. The deliverables exceeded expectations.

Describe their project management style, including communication tools and timelines.

Gustavo was very communicative throughout the project and his team was able to meet each of the milestones on the timeline in a efficient manner.

What did you find most impressive or unique about this company?

Their ability to work with us to find creative solutions to problems was impressive.

Are there any areas for improvement or something they could have done differently?

No.