#002: How To Choose The Right XR Partner
And make excellent experiences for your cultural organisation as a result
Choosing the right partner can be incredibly difficult, fraught with the risk of wasted expense, disappointment, and frustrating experiences that leave both parties wondering where it all went wrong.
Anyway, enough of personal matters. Welcome back to Innovate Creatively. I’m Ian Ravenscroft. Let’s talk about how to pick the right XR company for your innovative cultural experiences.
Go on, I’ll bite. What’s an XR company?
Good question. An XR company is a provider of production services centred around XR technologies which can encompass augmented, virtual, and mixed realities (AR/VR/MR), virtual production, immersive experiential, 3D scanning, motion capture, generative AI, and advanced mobile and browser experiences. They will often use realtime games engines such as Unreal or Unity to create interactive 3D content, as well as using emerging hardware such as headsets, wearables, 3D scanning, motion tracking, motion capture and so on.
In short, a company providing whole new set of audience engagement capabilities beyond what is possible with video, web, digital, and social.
Why do I need help finding one of those?
Because XR is misunderstood. Frankly, it is a poor catch-all term for the raft of technologies now available to create interactive content, tools, services, and experiences. And as a result most organisations can’t easily unpick which parts of XR can help them achieve their aims. And with good reason.
Some XR companies are technical wizards but creative duds. Some companies are creative visionaries but are technically clueless. Some only do one thing well. Some try to do everything all at once. Some have big in-house teams. While others scale up, white label, or collaborate. It’s a mixed bag, and looks can be deceiving.
Not only that, but the type of partners in a space such as XR are very different to the digital, web, or marketing agencies you might be used to working with. It’s specialised and requires unique combinations of tech, creativity, and approach to get it right. And often you may need unique combinations of suppliers to get the right mix of creative and technical outputs.
Why are you telling me this?
Because I’ve got experience on both sides of this equation and I’ve got it right and wrong in the past myself. I’ve been involved in several XR procurement processes over the years as well as assessing many funding applications for XR projects. I’ve also produced XR projects from the creative production side and I’ve supported a lot of cultural institutions with XR strategy to help identify the right partners and approaches for these kinds of projects. It’s my bag, basically.
Who should I work with then?
The space is new enough to mean large, established studios aren’t your only option here. The key to evaluating a potential partner is considering what range of skills they have to hand, how much they understand your needs as a cultural institution, and whether they can scale to meet your ambitions and audiences.
There is a strong cross-sector approach in XR and immersive, meaning some outside the box thinking can help. XR skills demonstrated in an area like automotive or fashion may still be perfect for your immersive arts experience. It’s generally less likely you’ll find a ready-made off-the-shelf product for your needs.
Got it. What should I be looking for in a partner?
There are so many factors, and some of it is undoubtedly based on relationships and feel, but here I’ll try to give you some starter questions to consider when looking for an XR partner.
Are they Creative and Technical? - Can their creative concepts match the technical execution and vice versa? Some agencies are tech heavy, but lack creative chops. Some have great ideas, but no execution. You need both sides to be working in unison to ensure the output matches your institution's standards but is also accessible, stable, and intuitive. This is where multiple partners can work to round out your collaborative team.
Are they transparent? - They need to be transparent enough to talk about the tech involved, but helpful enough not to blind you with science. XR can be complex under the hood and can feel quite alien, but almost all aspects can be easily explained in simple terms. Beware companies that won’t tell you what platforms and tech they are proposing to build your project in.
What resources do they have? This can be a hard one to gauge. Who is in-house? Who is external? Try to find out who has been there the longest to gauge what their core business and skillset is. It really isn’t a problem if the company partners with other suppliers or scales up for production. It’s normal across games and broadcast, and that’s more the model we’re in. But having a handle on their core expertise is helpful.
What did they actually do on previous projects? - Case studies and websites can be deceptive. Who are the partners on the projects? What did they each bring? And, as always, big IP and recognisable brands don’t always mean the underlying projects were good.
Do they specialise? - Some suppliers pick a technology and stick to it. Others have proprietary products that the use exclusively. Also, beware the marketing agency who claim to do it all. As we’ve mentioned, XR is specialised and usually comes from a games or interactive background, rather than digital and web. Some agencies will say they do websites, apps, VR, AR, immersive and all things in between. I’m yet to be convinced that many of them can.
Are they long-term partners? - XR is an area to grow into. So my view is to find a partner that can develop this space with you over time, rather than shooting for a big, one-and-done project that can’t be built on or repeated. This means having some strategic direction - eg. are you going to start scanning assets for use in future projects? Are you going to test platforms in small experiments? Are you going to select one niche audience to engage first? Ask about a roadmap approach.
Can they offer value? - Providing a budget is one of the best ways to find the right partner in XR. You’ll see what people offer for real money rather than discussing big ideas with no sense of delivery or scope. You’ll be able to tell who is offering realistic value if you set a budget. If you don’t you’ll get finger in the air vagueness, plus much more additional risk. Be open and specific, get better results.
What is their distribution strategy? - Building an XR project is one thing. Sharing it with the world is another. The distribution ecosystem for XR can be very tricky to navigate. Digital stores for VR are limited by audience headset and hardware ownership. And with AR you must debate an app download over mobile, browser-based WebAR. The choices here will impact a lot of your creative, audience access, and ability to scale.
I’m in. What shall I create?
For the cultural sector you are likely to be considering an augmented reality trail to move audiences around your spaces on mobile devices, or providing headset-based virtual reality content in your venues and spaces. You may also be looking at 3D scanning your collections to share the stories of cultural objects in new ways, or you are considering immersive projection and interactive spaces as visitor attractions. And probably a heck of a lot in between. The potential partners across that range alone will vary enormously.
So, what next?
The first step is to have a big think. Define your audience and ask a very big WHY? when deciding if XR can help you engage them with your creative mission. Once you have a sense of who and why and with what message, you can start building a brief based on your aims, but also the realities of your infrastructure, budgets, and ability to support projects of this nature.
My personal view is XR done right can leave lasting impressions on new audiences beyond what is possible with social, web, or digital content. Memorable, engaging, and revelatory experiences are possible. You just need some bold strategy and the right partners help you get there.
Thanks for reading. ‘Til next time folks. In the meantime, let me know what you think on LinkedIn, share this post, and subscribe for free for more Innovate Creatively!
About Me
I’m Ian Ravenscroft. I run Green Raven which helps cultural organisations to create innovatively and innovate creatively. I help you apply new and emerging technologies to creative ideas to engage your audiences. I’m often an advisor, consultant, or producer, helping you make smarter decisions, informed by experience and cross-sector knowledge. Visit my website to see who I’ve helped across arts and beyond.
