Albert Heijn and DFFRNT VR BV introduce augmented reality product scanner

All product information and inspiration at your fingertips!

“What ingredients are in this product? Where does it come from? What can I do with it?”

These are the questions that customers think about when they do their grocery shopping. The answer to these and so much more, is now instantly available with the introduction of the Albert Heijn AR Product Scanner. The scanner is an augmented reality app that provides customers with information about ingredients, nutritional values, allergies, recipes and the origin of AH branded products.

Winston Gerschtanowitz, founder of DFFRNT VR BV, said “Customers find it increasingly important to know where products come from and what is in them. With the help of our new Augmented Reality tool, we provide all this information at the press of a button.” Jelmar Hagen, VP of Entertainment, added “We will start with 35 products and scale up quickly across the AH range in the coming months."

Augmented reality

The AH Product Scanner works with augmented reality, a technology that connects the reality and the virtual world. After scanning the front of the product with the phone camera, customers will find data on ingredients, allergies, nutritional values and origin in an attractive and low-threshold way. And because many people puzzle with the question "What shall I eat today?" or “What can make with that?”, the app gives added inspiration with delicious and easy-to-make recipes.

The AH Product Scanner app is available for iOS and Android. In the first phase, 35 products from the meat, fish, chicken and meat departments can be scanned. These products have a  sticker on the packaging that refers to the AH Product Scanner.

Do you want to try the AH Product Scanner? Download the app in the Play Store or Apple Store.

DFFRNT VR BV, the Dutch Museum Association and XSAGA launch the first National Virtual Reality (VR) Museum in the world!

From the 8th April 2017, 400 participating Dutch museums of the National Museum Week are showcasing their most coveted objects via a ground-breaking virtual reality National VR Museum app. As part of the joint initiative by the members of the Dutch Museum Association, each museum chose one piece of art or antiquity to highlight. The general public can use the app to fly around the country in VR, from one province to another, visiting all 400 museums and learning about their most prized possessions. 

“This is the first time anywhere in the world that a national museum association has stepped into the virtual world, a medium that allows countless opportunities for education and promotion,”commented Winston Gerschtanowitz, Founder of DFRRNT VR BV. “400 amazing pieces of art from 400 different museums, all in one virtual place. It’s an incredible user experience,” added Jelmar Hagen, VP of Entertainment at DFFRNT VR BV.

With recent advances in VR technology and DFFRNT VR BV's unique understanding of how to maximise its creative potential, the Dutch Museum Association have fully embraced this new opportunity to expand and enrich the general public’s museum experience.

The National VR Museum app is available to download now in app stores

The Voice to get VR experience

MIPFORMATS: The Voice will become the first major TV format to make the leap to virtual reality after Talpa struck a deal with retail marketing giant TCC Global and DFFRNT VR BV, C21 can reveal.

From this summer Voice-branded headsets will be distributed via major supermarket chains and other outlets TCC works with, allowing consumers to experience what it’s like to perform on stage in front of the panel of judges.
TCC, which operates customer rewards schemes throughout Europe, the Americas and Asia Pacific for the likes of Tesco, Carrefour and more, has acquired loyalty rights to the talent format, including VR experiences.

Working together with DFFRNT VR BV – the company established earlier this year by former Talpa chief commercial officer Winston Gerschtanowitz, ex-2waytraffic, BlazHoffski and Sat.1 exec Taco Ketelaar and entrepreneur Bas Verhart – TCC will distribute The Voice VR headsets via its clients’ outlets.

DFFRNT VR BV is one part of DFFRNT MEDIA and direct-to-consumer digital business, has been shooting 360º footage around the Dutch version of The Voice to form that basis of the experience.

Ketelaar told C21 it would feature a number of different levels, unlocked via shopping loyalty points, allowing the user to see what it’s like being back stage, then to be a contestant themselves and step out in front of the audience and perform.
Local versions, featuring the different judges in each territory are planned as the roll-out begins, with deals already agreed in a number of major European markets. Ketelaar said The Voice VR would allow people to “experience what it’s like being Christina Aguilera.”

Ketelaar told C21 it would feature a number of different levels, unlocked via shopping loyalty points, allowing the user to see what it’s like being back stage, then to be a contestant themselves and step out in front of the audience and perform.
Local versions, featuring the different judges in each territory are planned as the roll-out begins, with deals already agreed in a number of major European markets. Ketelaar said The Voice VR would allow people to “experience what it’s like being Christina Aguilera.”

“This is the first ever TV format to go to VR in this way, especially in combination with a loyalty scheme,” said the exec, who will present the project during a VR-focused session at Mipformats here in Cannes tomorrow. “Content-wise this has never been done before. This is next level entertainment.”

After the surge of interest in VR last year as high-end headsets from the likes of Oculus, HTC and Sony were released and billions of dollars were invested in the sector, the creative scope of the technology is once again a major theme at MipTV 2017, with a handful of VR formats on offer to buyers at the market. But significant questions still remain about uptake.

Ketelaar said that bringing a brand as big as The Voice into the space together with Talpa and TCC would inevitably drive awareness and perhaps go some way towards demonstrating a clear bridge between television and VR. The hit format was this week licensed to broadcasters in Singapore and Malaysia for the first time.