Wardill Motorcycles
A Virtual Retelling of a British Brands History
The Wardill Motorcycle Company ended after an unfortunate crash in front of investors in 1927. Fast forward to now and the company is rebuilding their brand for the 21st century.
They approached CEMET to find a way of using emerging technology to provide customers with a rich and hands-on experience.
Virtual Reality Storytelling
The key to building the Wardill brand is storytelling, drawing on the brand’s rich past and showcasing where it is now. Through virtual reality, CEMET was able to create an immersive story and riding experience that is true to both the history and experience of riding a Wardill 4 motorcycle.
Bike Builder for Web and AR
A Wardill 4 is a fully customisable hand-built motorcycle that is bespoke to each customer. To customise a Wardill 4 remotely, CEMET developed Web and Augmented Reality Applications enabling customers to do this at a time and place convenient to them.
Storytelling in Virtual Reality
In 1903 Henry Wardill Snr set up shop as ‘The Wardill Motor and Cycle Works’ in Carshalton, Surrey, to repair and maintain cars, motorcycles, and bicycles. This was to be the location for telling the marque’s history.
CEMET recreated the history of Wardill in rich detail, when using the virtual reality application the user is slowly transported through the workshop. After passing through the accurately recreated scenes, you are then watching the motorcycle being built. A selection of patents from 1923 are scattered around the desks along with original photographs of the original Wardill 4 covering the walls. This rich environment, accompanied by compelling narration delivered by Mark Wardill himself, provides a complete level of immersion to the user. This then leads on to the user riding the Wardill 4 in a virtual test drive through the Welsh countryside where the motorcycle is now produced.
Roaring Along a Welsh Hillside
The story of Wardill would not be complete without adding modern-day experience too. Once the user emerges out of the workshop all narration stops and the motorcycle roars into action and full control begins.
Designed for use at events the user has no controllers, instead, they are physically sitting on a real Wardill 4. The user places their hands on the handlebars and if they turn, the bike also turns in Virtual Reality, if they pull back on the throttle of the bike, the engine will rev and the motorcycle will move off. This physicality adds a sense of presence and provides a fully immersive experience. This is designed to last around two to three minutes after the initial journey through the workshop, maintaining a level of excitement from beginning to end.
Let’s Make the Perfect Wardill 4
After completing the virtual Reality Experience the customer is able to liaise with the Wardill representatives and begin customising their perfect Wardill 4 using the Bike Builder on a tablet. The customer is able to swap out parts of the motorbike, such as different styles of handlebars and fuel tanks, along with changing the colours of parts. This Bike Building experience can be saved and accessed by the customer at a later date.
A Wardill 4 on Your Driveway
To view the bespoke Wardill 4 customisations in reality, CEMET built an Augmented Reality version of the Bike Builder for use on Android and iOS. This enables customers to view every aspect of their bike before purchase, improving the buying process and allowing the customer to experiment with handlebar heights that suit their style of riding best.
To learn more about Wardill’s latest work, visit their website .