The Air Force Recruiting Service (AFRS) launched an innovative nationwide experiential tour for 2015, “Air Force Performance Lab.” The mobile unit features a futuristic experience highlighting pertinent career fields aimed at tech-minded youth with a heightened interest in Science, Technology, Engineering and Math (STEM). The tour and campaign elements were developed and created by the Air Force’s advertising agency of record GSD&M, in collaboration with vendor partners Next Marketing, FISH Technologies, Craftsmen Industries and Reel FX.
The new Performance Lab is the most personalized mobile tour experience ever produced by AFRS. The tour contains the largest mixed use of technology in an Air Force recruiting experience and is one of the first mobile tour experiences to utilize Kinect2 technology along with Oculus Rift VR.
Each activity on the tour is designed to test a specific skill, including:
• Spatial and Mechanical
• Dexterity
• Situational Awareness
• Logic and Reasoning
• Physical Strength
The individual’s experience is tracked through a digital data capture system that uses RFID technology to collect, consolidate and compute participant’s scores into a personalized assessment while simultaneously providing valuable lead capture data.
Craftsmen’s design and engineering team welcomed the challenges of the various technological elements. “The overall theme of the trailer is stealth and cutting-edge technology, creating a positive lasting impression for the visitors,” said Brian Orf, Craftsmen’s lead engineer.
The Air Force Performance Lab includes:
• Oculus Rift Flight Simulator
• Kinect 2 Pull-Up Bar Challenge
• 42” vertical touchscreen challenge games that test spatial/mechanical, logic/reasoning, and situational awareness skills
• Exploratory career room featuring more than 30 Air Force careers displayed on iPads
• On-site leaderboard displaying real time results of tour participants
• F-16 Thunderbird Display
“Craftsmen was the perfect fabrication partner for this project. They were collaborative, thoughtful and solution-oriented. The end product is more beautiful than we could have ever imagined,” said Adrienne Strange, GSD&M.