Ocean Outdoor presents real world and metaverse collaboration in London’s Piccadilly Circus

A mock-up of what visitors to Picadilly Circus will see on the DOOH screens on 2 July

London’s Pride Parade on Saturday, 2 July is the backdrop for the world’s first real world and metaverse collaboration to be seen on digital out of home (DOOH) screens.

The event is being presented by Ocean Outdoor in partnership with digital arts studio The Immersive Kind and Landsec, owner of the Piccadilly Lights.

For 10 minutes at 1.30pm on 2 July , the iconic London screen in Piccadilly Circus will broadcast an immersive digital cultural experience which is also viewable virtually across the metaverse, the web and via mobile and virtual reality (VR).

Created by The Immersive Kind and inspired by queer LGBTQ+ metaverse creators and the explosion of crypto fashion in Web3, the DOOH activation highlights the work of queer artists who are pioneering crypto art in the metaverse and beyond.

The Piccadilly Lights sequence sees a series of different avatars created by Kadine James and MCVISUALS on rainbow catwalks and meeting together on a futuristic Pride dance floor.

The screen, which forms part of the route for the Pride in London parade, will feature a QR code which will take audiences to the virtual realm.

“Building on Ocean’s entry into the metaverse, for the first time we are able to unite the real and digital worlds,” said Ocean Labs Director, Catherine Morgan. “Marking 50 Years of Pride, the world’s most famous ad space celebrates a significant cultural moment, perfectly demonstrating the intersection between digital out of home, real life and VR experiences in other worlds.”

Last year, Ocean launched the first stage in its metaverse strategy, auctioning three NFT billboards in partnership with Admix via the world’s largest NFT marketplace, OpenSea, and displayed by the successful bidders within the social VR platform Somnium Space. This enables Ocean Labs and the Ocean UK sales team to sell an engaged 16 to 34 audience as a cohesive physical and virtual combined offer.