Training American
Express employees in AR

Brand: American Express
Agency: Ogilvy

TL;DR

A More Engaging
Way to Train

American Express wanted a new way to train front-line employees and ensure that their brand values were being conveyed to those having conversations with SMB customers and prospects. Tasked with the challenge of making it all happen, global advertising firm Ogilvy reached out to Subvrsive. The vision was to breathe new life into the brand’s traditional training workshops with something new and engaging. Together, we brainstormed ways to do just that.

The result was an interactive employee training experience that has been used to educate over 800 American Express sales agents on how to best engage with SMB customers.

Work

From the Customer’s Perspective

One of the main objectives of the training session was to help American Express sales teams fully understand industry information through the customer’s lens. Things like what it means to be a small business owner, what their daily operations look like, and the challenges they face every day. So, we created a hybrid training experience using both 360 video and augmented reality to drop American Express employees into the shoes of a few such customers.

Work

Meet Stephanie:
A 360 Tour

The first component of the training experience is an immersive 360 video that introduces viewers to Stephanie, the owner and operator of an iron and steel manufacturing plant. The video takes viewers on an immersive tour of the plant as Stephanie talks about the challenges she faces daily and how American Express helps her business to function and grow. During training workshops, viewers can watch the video in a headset or on any desktop or mobile device, and can look up, down and all around to view Stephanie’s story from any perspective they choose.

Work

Living Posters: An AR Experience

For the second part of the training experience, we engineered augmented reality “living posters” that bring stories of customers like Stephanie to life through the magic of AR. When trainees point their mobile devices at the static banners and displays, the still images spring to live with overlaid videos, creating the illusion that they are staring into a true portal. Much like in the 360 video, the small business owners on the posters tell stories about who they are and explain how American Express helps their businesses succeed.

Behind the Scenes

The Client
Experience

Ordinarily, augmented reality projects like this require a lot of work in post-production to bring the vision to life. That means clients must wait days – maybe weeks – to see the finished result, which isn’t always ideal. So, for this American Express shoot, we set up a system that allowed our team to do greenscreen work and add VFX live on set. This allowed the client to see what was happening, offer immediate feedback, and make tweaks in real time to ensure the best possible outcome.

Opportunity

A New Way to
Train Employees

The American Express interactive training experience has been used to train over 800 employees across five locations and has received great feedback across the board. Interactive experiences like this are a great way for companies large and small to train employees more affordably and more efficiently than ever before.