The global leader in animal health and medicine, Zoetis has more than 10,000 employees across 45 countries and is the world’s largest producer of medicine and vaccines for animals and livestock.
Several of Zoetis’ animal health diagnosis products — bench-top blood and chemistry analyzers, for example — are too bulky and heavy for sales reps to bring to customers’ offices and trade shows for sales demos. This presents a significant business challenge, as many customers simply are not willing to purchase such significant machinery sight unseen.
To address this, Zoetis partnered with CitrusBits to create three augmented reality experiences that would allow potential clients to virtually demo each product as if the products were physically right in front of them.
In order for this solution to succeed, the challenge here was twofold: Zoetis needed the experiences to be incredibly impressive with hyper-realistic, 3D models you could interact with and inspect from different angles, but also be medically and scientifically accurate in their depiction of common lab procedures.
We understood that hyper-realistic 3D models were absolutely critical to the project’s success, so we set out to capture every possible detail from the physical samples we were granted access to. We used 3D cameras and precision measuring tools to ensure our 3D assets were designed with maximal accuracy. Once the initial CAD models were built, we went a step further and implemented custom shaders to ensure the products’ distinctive textures and high degree of polish would come through.
Vivid 2D & 3D animations
While having realistic 3D depictions of these incredible machines appear from thin air was already impressive in its own right, we understood we’d have to take it a step further for this to truly be a game-changing sales tactic.
Our team proceeded to breathe life into the hyper-realistic 3D models by adding intricate 2D and 3D animations, such as a centrifuge rotating as it processes a blood sample, to show exactly how each product functions. To do this accurately, we collaborated closely and frequently with three different Zoetis product teams to ensure every animation was perfect.
Hybrid method for activation
No client’s office or animal care facility has the same exact layout, so Zoetis reps needed the flexibility to perform the AR-based demo in any setting.
To provide such flexibility, our team designed the app to allow users to activate the AR experiences using either plane recognition – allowing any flat surface to be seen with computer vision and used to place the machines convincingly – or image-based markers to activate the experience at true scale.
CitrusBits completed all three AR experiences ahead of the project deadline of Zoetis’ largest trade show of the year. The AR experiences made their debut at the show and generated quite the buzz around the products they’ve helped bring to life and the innovative delivery mechanism.
Zoetis has now rolled this cutting-edge, AR sales tactic out to hundreds of sales reps throughout the country with every expectation that it will continue to elevate their sales success.
