Total Immersion's augmented reality promotion for McDonald's

Total Immersion announced the deployment in a press release dated December 17, 2009, from Los Angeles. The company had teamed up with McDonald's on a global promotion for 20th Century Fox's film Avatar, which opened on December 18. It was billed as the most extensive use of augmented reality to date.

The promotion started earlier in the month on McDonald's packaging, in restaurants in 40 markets, and reached the web on December 18. In the United States the side of each Big Mac box carried a perforated card called the Thrill Card, and the offer ran through January. The card opened an up-close view of Pandora's environments and showed details about the characters, animals and plants of the film. The release called the combination of film and filmgoers worldwide the biggest mass deployment of augmented reality so far.

Held in front of a webcam, the card became a window into three environments from the film's world of Pandora: the Pandoran Rainforest, the Hallelujah Mountains and the Tree of Souls. Players steered the experience by moving and tilting the card.

Each environment came with its own small task. In the rainforest, players touched the bioluminescent Anemonids and watched the scene light up. In the mountains they crossed shaky vine bridges and had to keep their balance. Under the willow tree they searched for woodsprites and watched them come to life.

Bruno Uzzan, then chief executive of Total Immersion, called the promotion the widest use of augmented reality the company had seen and expected digital experiences to accompany physical products more and more. The promotion was a consumer campaign, not a training course. It is covered here as an example of augmented reality reaching a mass audience.

Total Immersion described itself in 2009 as a global leader in augmented reality, working in the field from 1999 onward. Its D'Fusion technology integrates real-time interactive 3D graphics into a live video stream. The company listed offices in France, the United Kingdom, Asia and the United States, and a network of more than 50 partners.

The company's website, t-immersion.com, does not answer in November 2026, with or without the www prefix. No page loads at the domain name. The games directory lists the experience itself as unconfirmed.