The Campaign

We created DustSee to raise awareness of the dangers of air pollution in Seoul. DustSee is an AR fine dust and air pollution app that shows the harmful particles we can’t see. More importantly, it tells people when they need to wear a mask. DustSee visualizes pollution data like never before. It uses live-sensing to calculate current location, real-time air pollution levels, wind direction and speed, as it shows the fine dust and air pollution around us. The interactive AR filters visualize the particles in three different ways, which allows people to see what’s really in the air. It shows the types and levels of harmful pollutants currently in the air. It allows people to capture photos and videos of the animated air particles, which they can share on social media.

Creative Execution

Our key focus was to take air pollution data and visualize it through AR. We utilized the user’s GPS to get an accurate location. Then we used real-time air pollution and weather data and synced it to the user's location. Finally, we brought all the information together and gave each of the many pollutants their own unique character and shape and then animated them. We created three different AR filters to allow users to see and interact with the pollutants. If the air was unhealthy, DustSee would tell you to wear a mask; and which type to wear. Along with these AR animations, we provided real-time information on the pollutants and how much there were. Once people saw how the air was, they could then capture and share videos and photos on social media alerting others to the fine dust air pollution.

Results

On April 4, 2018, we launched the campaign by releasing DustSee for free and without any ads on the Google Play Store. This campaign went beyond presenting air pollution data in the traditional way. And the response to the initial launch was well received. It also received much positive feedback that attracted attention on social media and news outlets in Seoul. The campaign started conversations that have raised awareness of fine dust and air pollution. And it's changed people’s behavior by letting them know why they should be wearing protective masks. This is an impressive feat for our client, because they’re not known for creating mobile app campaigns that utilize data platforms such as this. Additionally, they’re planning on following up this campaign, using DustSee as the cornerstone for future initiatives.

DustSee is an AR fine dust and air pollution app that shows the harmful particles we can’t see. It lets people visualize pollution data as it uses live-sensing to calculate current location, real-time air pollution levels, wind direction and speed to show the invisible fine dust and air pollution. Interactive AR filters help visualize the particles in various ways, which allows people to clearly see what’s really in the air. It also shows the types and levels of harmful pollutants currently in the air. And it tells people to wear a mask when the air is bad.

The first part of our campaign strategy was to figure out why people don’t wear a protective mask in the first place. The local government has tried to target these people by sending out city-wide text alerts when pollution levels were high. Yet, it hasn’t done much to encourage mask wearing behavior. Upon survey and observation, we noticed that on certain days when air pollution was high the skies were still clear. This made it look like the air was fine when actually it wasn’t. This led us to our key strategy insight; if our target audience can’t see the dangerous particles in the air, we simply have to show them the harmful particles for themselves. Then we utilized GPS, real-time air pollution data and AR technology to leverage our campaign’s call to action for people to see the invisible danger.