Last month in the US Walmart began selling AR-enhanced books from US publisher Little Hippo with technology provided by Live Animations, a US-Ukrainian augmented reality startup.
These books include Little Red Riding Hood, The Three Little Pigs, The Velveteen Rabbit, and Masha and The Three Bears, with 250,000 copies in total.
More than half of the pages in the books are animated, making possible “to play with the images, paint them in real time, look for hidden objects and create music,” among other things.
To enjoy Live Animations’ AR features, readers need to download a special mobile app and then point their phone camera at a page. In addition to deep immersion in the texts, the app allows readers to take selfies and record videos with the books’ characters — and immediately share them via social media.
AR for customer loyalty
Live Animations works “to create a magical world for children where everything comes to life” with the help of the AR technology. The startup claims that its first product, nicknamed “Live Notebooks,” which goes hand in hand with the mobile app Live Photo, has no analogue in the world.
Among Live Animations’ current products are several mobile apps, including My Yeti, Gapchinska (named after a famous Ukrainian painter and designer) and Wonderland AR.
“We work with children and family companies around the world, helping brands to stand out, to increase purchase frequency and win the loyalty of their clients,” said Timoshenko.
The company even claims to have caught Disney’s eye. The details of potential cooperation remain undisclosed.
International success story
Timoshenko had “no IT experience, money, and skilled staff” when he launced Live Animations in 2014. Now the company employs 50 people, sells its products in over 27 countries, including Singapore, the US, Russia and Italy.
Live Animation has signed more than 40 contracts with manufacturers from 15 countries, and opened an office in the US, in addition to its Kyiv (Kiev) headquarters.
The company, which has attracted $1 million from an undisclosed individual investor, is now registered in the USA.
“US and European companies are afraid to work with Ukrainian counterparts,” Andrey Timoshenko, the founder of Live Animations, said in a media interview.
Source: Live Animations, Liga Business
