Project Overview
World's Away Music Festival in Monterey, California represented Augmento's largest and most ambitious activation to date. As Title Tech Sponsor, we were tasked with transforming the traditional festival experience through cutting-edge AR/XR technology—and I owned the product from concept to launch.
This wasn't just an app—it was a complete reimagining of how attendees navigate, discover, and engage with a music festival. Over four months, I led product strategy, coordinated cross-functional teams across continents, defined UX flows, and delivered a production-ready application that became the festival's central engagement platform.
🎪 Image: Monterey County Fairgrounds transformed into Mixed Reality playground
My Role & Responsibilities
Product Strategy & Vision
As Lead PM, I owned the entire product lifecycle working directly with Augmento's CEO and the festival organizers:
- Requirements Gathering: Ran discovery workshops with festival stakeholders to understand attendee pain points (wayfinding, discovering artists, engagement between sets)
- Feature Prioritization: Defined MVP scope balancing technical feasibility, development timeline, and festival experience goals
- UX Strategy: Designed user flows for navigation, AR discovery, and gamification that would work in crowded, chaotic festival conditions
- Success Metrics: Established KPIs (adoption rate, engagement time, AR activation completion) to measure impact
Cross-Functional Team Leadership
Managed a globally distributed team spanning design, engineering, and operations:
- Engineering Coordination: Weekly syncs with development team (based in Europe) to review progress, unblock technical challenges
- Design Collaboration: Partnered with Creative Director (Bali-based) on visual identity, AR content, and app aesthetics matching festival branding
- Stakeholder Management: Maintained tight communication loop with festival organizers on content updates, artist schedules, and sponsor integrations
- Vendor Coordination: Worked with external artists creating AR installations to ensure technical compatibility and quality standards
🗺️ Image: Interactive 3D festival map showing live artist schedule and AR waypoints
Key Product Features
📍 3D Interactive Map
Real-time festival navigation with live data showing current and upcoming artist performances, stage locations, and attendee services
🎨 Geo-Located AR Art
20+ AR installations placed throughout festival grounds, discoverable by physical location. Attendees unlock unique digital art experiences tied to specific spots
🎯 Gamified Scavenger Hunt
Point-based game encouraging exploration—collect AR artworks, check-in at stages, discover hidden installations to earn rewards and compete on leaderboards
⏰ Live Schedule Integration
Dynamic artist schedule with real-time updates, personalized notifications for favorited acts, and set reminders to never miss a performance
Product Development Process
Phase 1: Discovery & Planning (Month 1)
- Stakeholder interviews with festival organizers, artists, and past attendees
- Competitive analysis of existing festival apps (Coachella, Bonnaroo) to identify gaps
- Technical feasibility assessment with engineering (AR tracking outdoors, GPS accuracy, offline functionality)
- Created product requirements doc (PRD) and wireframes in Figma
Phase 2: Design & Prototyping (Month 2)
- Iterative design sprints with Creative Director on app visual identity
- AR content creation pipeline established with external artists
- User flow validation through clickable prototypes
- Technical architecture finalized (Unity for AR, backend API for live data)
Phase 3: Development & Testing (Month 3)
- Weekly eng syncs to review feature completion, address bugs
- QA testing on various devices (iOS/Android) in simulated outdoor conditions
- Content integration (artist bios, schedules, AR asset placement)
- Performance optimization for battery life and data usage
Phase 4: Launch Preparation (Month 4)
- App Store / Google Play submission and approval
- Marketing materials and QR codes for festival signage
- Training for festival staff on troubleshooting and support
- Final load testing with simulated concurrent users
📱 Image: App screens showing AR scavenger hunt interface and leaderboard
Overcoming Key Challenges
⚡ Challenge: Outdoor AR Tracking Reliability
Problem: AR experiences traditionally work best indoors with controlled lighting. Festivals are outdoors with variable sun positions, crowded spaces, and moving attendees.
Solution: Worked with engineering to implement hybrid GPS + visual tracking. Used GPS for general proximity detection, then switched to marker-based AR for precise placement. Tested extensively in similar outdoor environments.
Result: Stable AR experiences with 90%+ successful activation rate even in bright sunlight and crowded conditions.
📶 Challenge: Network Congestion with 7,400 Users
Problem: Music festivals typically have overwhelmed cell networks. Our app needed real-time schedule updates and AR content loading.
Solution: Implemented aggressive caching strategy—pre-loaded AR assets and schedule data on app install. Live updates occurred during low-traffic times (early morning). Offline mode for core features.
Result: App remained functional even during peak network congestion. User complaints about connectivity were minimal.
🔋 Challenge: Battery Life Management
Problem: AR and GPS are battery-intensive. Festival-goers needed app to last 8+ hours without access to charging.
Solution: Worked with eng on power optimization: GPS polling intervals reduced, AR rendering throttled when inactive, background refresh limited. Added low-power mode toggle.
Result: Average battery consumption: 15-20% over full day, within acceptable range for festival experience.
Results & Impact
User Adoption & Engagement
Business Impact for Augmento
- Brand Visibility: 60% increase in Augmento awareness within entertainment/events industry
- Contract Renewal: Festival organizers signed 2-year renewal based on success
- Traffic Surge: Heavy Amazon/Google Analytics traffic during and after event
- Sales Pipeline: Generated 5+ qualified leads from festival exposure
- Case Study Value: Became Augmento's flagship reference for enterprise AR activations
Client Feedback
💬 Festival Organizer Testimonial
"Linda transformed our vision into reality. The app became the centerpiece of the festival experience—attendees constantly talked about discovering AR art and competing on the scavenger hunt. Her ability to coordinate teams across time zones and deliver flawlessly was exceptional."
🎊 Image: Attendees engaging with AR art installation using the festival app
Key Lessons Learned
1. Design for Context, Not Just Features
Festivals are loud, crowded, and chaotic. UX decisions had to account for distracted users, glare on screens, and need for instant comprehension. Simple, bold UI won over feature-rich complexity.
2. Technical Constraints Drive Creative Solutions
Network/battery limitations forced us to get creative with caching and offline modes. These constraints actually improved the product—users didn't need perfect connectivity to have a great experience.
3. Gamification Drives Engagement
The scavenger hunt mechanic transformed passive attendees into active explorers. People who might have stayed at one stage all day were motivated to discover the entire festival grounds.
4. Cross-Timezone Collaboration Requires Process
With team members in California, Europe, and Bali, async communication tools (Slack, Otter AI, Figma comments) were essential. Clear documentation and recorded decisions prevented miscommunication.
Reflection
World's Away was a masterclass in end-to-end product management under pressure. Balancing technical constraints, creative ambitions, and tight deadlines while coordinating distributed teams taught me that successful PM work isn't about perfect plans—it's about adaptive execution and clear stakeholder communication.
Seeing 7,400 people actively using something I helped build, watching them discover AR art and compete on leaderboards, validated every late-night sync with Bali and every technical compromise we made for battery life.
This project proved Augmento could deliver enterprise-scale AR experiences, led to contract renewal, and became our most powerful sales asset. That's the impact great product management can have.