Xtendr, a technology, design, extended reality (XR) and artificial intelligence (AI) company, has launched bitom, a platform designed to help brands create and manage interactive experiences across physical and digital touchpoints.
The platform allows brands to turn packaging, products, print materials and other touchpoints into programmable surfaces that can be used to create, scale, measure and update consumer experiences in minutes. Powered by AI, XR and gamification, bitom aims to bring digital interactions into the physical world, giving products and other brand assets the potential to serve as ongoing consumer engagement channels.
The platform was developed by Xtendr Founder and CEO Anurag Sachdeva, who spent more than six years leading the Angry Birds business at Rovio across more than 13 countries.
“Taking an IP across markets, partners, and products showed me how difficult it is to keep the conversation with consumers going beyond the initial interaction. At Xtendr, we built connected experiences for some of the region’s biggest brands, and they worked. But building them one at a time made scaling and accessibility, especially for the long-tail brands, a challenge,” said Anurag Sachdeva, Founder and CEO of Xtendr.
“With bitom, we want to change that. Our ambition is to turn traditionally one-way touchpoints into two-way conversations, giving brands and IP owners the ability to create, scale, measure and change experiences in minutes. We have built bitom in India with a global ambition.”, he further added.
Xtendr has worked with more than 70 brands across India, Southeast Asia and the Middle East, including Britannia, ITC, Coca-Cola, Unilever, Perfetti, Kimberly-Clark and Pernod Ricard, creating experiences across packaging, products, print and out-of-home (OOH) media. With bitom, the company aims to make such experiences more accessible and scalable.
The platform is designed for marketers, brands, packaging designers, creators and media planners. It offers four key capabilities: launching experiences across brands, markets and stock-keeping units (SKUs) in minutes; tracking interactions to generate engagement data; updating content even after packaging has entered the market; and making interactive campaigns more accessible to smaller and mid-sized brands that may not have the budgets of larger advertisers.
Bitom also targets the intellectual property (IP) and brand licensing industries. It allows IP owners and licensees to create IP-approved digital and phygital giveaways in minutes, with the aim of reducing lead times, costs and physical waste.
By adding a digital layer to licensed merchandise, the platform can bring characters to life, support product authentication to help combat counterfeiting, create new opportunities for content and fan engagement, and make licensed products measurable engagement channels beyond the initial purchase.
